Craft breweries serve up liquor treats to celebrate Halloween

So begins a new love affair: Third Space Brewing, which won gold at the Great American Beer Festival last month for its Unite the Clans Scottish Ale Style beer, introduces its In the Spirit barrel-aged beer series this Saturday. 

Barrel-aging is new to the brewery, but not the brewmaster. Kevin Wright created Pugachev's Cobra, a Russian Imperial Stout named for an aerobatic maneuver featured in "Top Gun" when he was a brewer at California's Hangar 24 Brewing. He's been barrel-aging beer since 2010 and last February, he started filling barrels at Third Space. 

The series opens with the Haunted Barrel Barrel-aged Candy Bar Porter, an Imperial Porter brewed with coconut — Wright and others each toasted 15 pounds of coconut in their home ovens — and aged for six months in bourbon barrels with vanilla, cinnamon and cocoa. Sales run from noon to 10 p.m. at the brewery, 1505 W. St. Paul Ave. Each 750-milliliter bottle costs $20 and there is a three-bottle limit. 

A variant of that called Haunted Hazelnut — an Imperial porter aged in rum barrels and blended with cocoa nibs, vanilla and hazelnut — will be released in smaller bottles. The 500-milliliter bottles cost $20 each. There is a one-bottle limit. 

Upcoming barrel-aged releases include Liquid Layers Spiced Barleywine aged in bourbon, rye, port or rum barrels. The beer will be available only on tap at the brewery on Nov. 24, Black Friday. It also will be available as a sampler with the nonbarrel-aged 2016 Liquid Layers and this year's Liquid Layers. 

On Dec. 9, Third Space will release a Russian Imperial Stout aged in bourbon and brandy barrels. The release begins at noon. On March 17, St. Patrick's Day, the brewery will release a third coffee beer (Mocha Java and Java Blanca are the others), an Imperial Cream Stout aged in Jameson barrels and blended with Stone Creek Coffee.

There's more beer for Halloween: 

Thursday: Come dressed as your favorite artist for the Untitled Art Halloween Bash at Sugar Maple, 441 E. Lincoln Ave. The party begins at 6 p.m. and features brews from the Untitled Art series including English Barleywine — Pastreywine with coffee and chocolate done in collaboration with Horas Aged Ales; Hazelnut Imperial Stout, an imperial milk stout with hazelnuts done in collaboration with Mikerphone Brewing; Hazy IIPA V2; and Tangy IPA. an India Pale Ale brewed with Tang, done in collaboration with Mikerphone Brewing. See the event page on Facebook.

Thursday: Lakefront Brewery hosts Food Fright MKE 2017 from 7 to 11 p.m. at the brewery, 1872 N. Commerce St. Tickets are $45 and include small plates from 13 local restaurants; a "Foodie Face-Off;" live music from 5 Card Studs along with DJ Cat Reince; haunted brewery tours with Russ Klisch and Lakefront staff; and more. Costumes encouraged. See the event page at Facebook. 

Friday: City Lights Brewing hosts a Halloween Bash and costume contest (with cash prizes) from 7 to 10 p.m. at the brewery, 2200 W. Mount Vernon Ave.

Saturday: Enlightened Brewing Company, 2018 S. 1st St., joins its neighbors like Eagle Park Brewing, Top Note Tonics, Bittercube, Twisted Path Distillery and more based in the Lincoln Warehouse for a party Saturday that might be best described as "liquor treat." Lincoln Scare-house Party, a Halloween-themed street party, begins at 2 p.m. and runs until midnight on 1st St. in front of the warehouse, a street that's already closed for bridge construction. Look for food trucks starting in the afternoon. Costumes aren't required but are encouraged. See the event page on Facebook. 

Saturday: Company Brewing, 735 E. Center St., celebrates the holiday with Ain't a Thang But Chicken Wang Halloween North vs. South with DJ Tarik Moody and live music. See the Company Brewing Facebook page.

Saturday: If you aren't wooed by the crazy Halloween party plans 3 Sheeps has in mind, then maybe the chance to try Bourbon Barrel-Aged Cashmere Hammer straight from the tap will do the trick. The plan is to convert the taproom into the "3th St. Ale House," a poke and a nod to the city's 8th Street Ale Haus. 3 Sheeps is at 1837 North Ave., Sheboygan, and the party starts at 7 p.m. There's a costume contest.

Oct. 31: MobCraft takes advantage of its (Expletive) Crazy brew (with pumpkin) to host a Halloween Party starting at 3 p.m. The party includes $5 mystery cans of beer and a costume contest, according to the event page on Facebook. 

Oct. 31: Louie rises on Halloween when Milwaukee Brewing releases barrel-aged Louie's Resurrection from 6 to 9 p.m. at the brewery, 613 S. 2nd St. Tickets are $5 and are available at the event page on Facebook.

Nov. 1: Restaurant Meraki, 939 S. 2nd St., pairs fall foods with Founders beers like Dirty Bastard Scotch Pale Ale with French onion soup starting with a reception at 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $55 and reservations are available at (414) 897-7230.

Nov. 4-5: The Journal Sentinel hosts Food & Wine Experience at the Wisconsin Center.

Contact Kathy at kathy.flanigan@jrn.com. Create your own tour of Wisconsin breweries with Beer Near, an interactive listing of the state's beer producers.