John Zadlo / Courtesy Goose Island Beer Company

Any successful beer project is seldom by accident, and we’re pretty sure John Zadlo would agree.

From the first time John Zadlo tasted Bourbon County Brand Stout at a Goose Island Beer Company event, something clicked. Now, as Senior Brand Manager, John oversees the entire barrel-aged portfolio, guiding each release from concept to glass.

With over a decade of experience across sales and marketing, he has built a career around turning great beer into memorable stories that are captured in the glass.

Maybe it was because John was so distracted putting the final marketing touches on the 2025 Black Friday Bourbon County Brand Stout rollout that he agreed to subject himself to American Craft Beer’s “5 Stupid Questions.”

And since he was so accommodating, we snuck in a couple of bonus questions, because that’s how we roll…

ACB: John, thanks so much for making time for us. Can you tell us a little more about your background and how you ended up at Goose Island Beer Company?  Was the brewing biz always in the cards for you?

My first venture into beer started when I worked in hospitality, managing restaurants. I loved working directly with consumers, and I think that was a big part of what shaped my perspective on the industry today. I sort of ignored beer at first and focused primarily on wine and spirits, but it wasn’t until I went to an event hosted by Goose Island, where I sampled Bourbon County Stout for the first time, that I realized I was wrong about beer and completely dove in headfirst.

Since then, I’ve been on the marketing and business side of beer for 10 years now, and I’m loving my transition to working on the brand side managing our barrel-aging program here at Goose Island.

ACB: As Senior Brand Manager at Goose Island Beer Company, you’re a key player in overseeing the annual Bourbon County Brand Stout release. No pressure there, right? What’s all that entail?

No pressure at all! My role in the annual Bourbon County Brand Stout release is to lead the brand development from beginning to end. That means working very closely with our brewers and barrel team on recipe development and concepts, as well as managing our partnerships with the distilleries. I visit distilleries quite often in this role, in part to foster these relationships but also to check in on the barrels. Barrels are such an important ingredient, and it’s something we don’t take for granted.

Beyond that, despite being the originators of bourbon barrel-aged stout, I spend a lot of time teaching people about our history and the style. It’s really important to me that, while this is a premium release, these beers are still very approachable. My favorite moment is when I get people who say they are not beer drinkers to tell me they love Bourbon County Stout.

(Courtesy Goose Island Beer Company)

ACB: We’ve always felt that the importance of a beer’s packaging can’t be underestimated, especially with regard to a project as prestigious as Bourbon County Brand Stout release. This year’s stout variants come in a variety of artful packaging choices. Can you share what went into 2025’s special packaging, and some of the ideas behind some of those choices?

Absolutely. The big packaging change is the new format for our Original Stout in a 4pk of 10oz bottles. That project alone was three years in the making. We wanted the bottle to still have that iconic shape from the 16.9oz bottles but offer consumers a more accessible size that works for any occasion. The 10oz really ended up being that perfect balance of approachability while still feeling familiar to someone who might be used to purchasing a 12oz 4pk.

New this year is our Chicago-only brand, Bourbon County Brand Proprietor’s Stout. Since the brand name is always the same but the concept is always different, we leaned into focusing on the inspiration behind the flavors. This year was inspired by Baklava, so we pulled that front and center on the packaging while calling out the ingredients.

The barrel-forward variants are where we thread together our branding with our distillery partners. These beers are made with true collaboration in mind. Since these are just handshake agreements, we’ve built a lot of trust with our partners, with the projects being multiple years in the making. Because of that, I like to ensure that the packaging itself tells our shared stories—from our 2025 Reserve Stout showcasing the cutout of the Parker’s label shape in both the windows and the interior reveal, to our Double Barrel Stout literally showing two pieces of packaging coming together to enclose the one bottle.

ACB: And speaking of packaging, this year Goose Island is debuting Bourbon County Brand Original Stout in a new 10-ounce four-pack bottles format. Why did the company decide to go this route?

This decision was all about increasing the occasion. As I mentioned, while it’s a very premium beer, there is still a lot of natural accessibility to the palate. I think in the beer world we view barrel-aged stouts as beers for advanced beer drinkers, but the reality is that there are a ton of relatable flavors like vanilla, chocolate, and caramelized sweetness that folks can really latch onto.

The 10oz bottle makes it easier for people to try without having to commit to a larger bottle. We’ve already seen a ton of interest from bars and restaurants, so we are confident this provides a new opportunity for folks to enjoy our Original Stout for any type of occasion.

ACB: In the world of special beer releases, the Bourbon County Brand Stout Black Friday release is legend, fans used to line up all night to get their hands on all of them. With the maturing of the craft beer biz and the enhanced distribution that came with Anheuser-Busch’s acquisition of Goose Island Beer Company in 2011, we’ve got to think the local intensity may have also evolved. What’s a Black Friday Bourbon County Brand Stout rollout feel like in Chicago nowadays?

My favorite thing about working on this brand is just how incredibly passionate the Bourbon County community is. Something that really stood out to me was when I worked my first Proprietor’s Day (our Bourbon County fest we host outside our brewery). There were people who literally flew in the same day from all over the world just to have their first chances to try the lineup. You also get people who mostly speak on online forums meeting each other for the first time at Prop Day.

For Black Friday, we still see a pretty committed tradition surrounding Bourbon County. The biggest difference is that people’s buying habits have shifted a little bit, and I think it’s ultimately for the better. Instead of seeing people mule beer from Chicago and sell it across the country on secondary, we are better able to meet consumers where they are and bring our longstanding Chicago tradition to our fans across the country.

(Courtesy Goose Island Beer)

ACB: The Bourbon County Brand Stout line is now available in all 50 states, right? What about up in Canada, the UK and EU?

We prioritize the US first and foremost. Some states have alcohol laws that don’t allow us to get the full family into all 50 states. For global, we do see a bit of Bourbon County make it out there, but the focus is here at home.

ACB: We’ve learned that you view beer marketing as a form of storytelling. So what are some of the memorable stories that this year’s Bourbon County Brand Stout variants tell?

Love this question. One of the many things that makes a Bourbon County release unique is that all of these beers come out together as a family on one day. Instead of staggering a release over a year, we know these beers often get sampled together, either in a flight or at home with friends and family. It’s because of that that we always like to make sure that, beyond creating beers that speak to multiple types of drinkers and palates, they also have a larger story to tell within the beer itself.

This year, to celebrate the evolution of our Original Stout in the new 10oz bottle, the lineup tells the story of how our Original Stout evolves as it ages in bourbon barrels. Each beer celebrates a unique characteristic of Original and brings it to the forefront of the palate.

In Chocolate Praline, it highlights the rich cocoa character you find in the roasted malt and the nuttiness that comes naturally as Original ages. We amplified that with hazelnuts, cashews, almonds, and cocoa nibs, then balanced it out with dates that evoke the caramelized sweetness from the barrel. In Cherries Jubilee, there is a signature stonefruit profile you find in every Original that we amplify with Montmorency cherries.

Our Reserve tells the story of the importance of time as an ingredient, with our stouts spending a full two years in very mature Parker’s Heritage 17th Edition rye whiskey barrels to bring the oak front and center. Double Barrel doubles down on what bourbon offers to our stout by using not one but two freshly emptied Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond casks.

Lastly, our Proprietor’s marries all of those characteristics together: nuttiness with pistachios and walnuts, cinnamon that calls out the spice of whiskey barrels, and honey that weaves in that expressive caramelized malt and toasted barrel personality.

 ACB: Enough of these marketing questions, you’re a beer guy first. And we know it’s probably not fair to ask you about some of this year’s highlights, but we will anyhow. What are some of your personal favorites that Bourbon County Brand Stout fans can look forward to this Black Friday?

While I, of course, did not base the decision to transition to the 10oz bottle solely on my own selfish desire for a smaller bottle, I’m just so excited to have these on hand for myself without having to share.

I’ll just say that because of that switch to a new format, do what we do and try Original alongside each of the variants. It’s such a fun experience to see how these beers all come from the same base, and how time, barrel, and ingredients come together to create five definitively unique beers.

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