Things aren’t looking real good for Blockbuster Video these days. Most of the stores closed down four years ago. And an effort by HBO’s John Oliver to save one of the last remaining ones failed. But the last remaining Blockbuster might have a key weapon in luring in customers in a streaming age: its own beer.
The store has teamed up with 10 Barrel Brewing, an AB InBev-owned craft brewer in Bend, Ore., to create The Last Blockbuster, a new beer designed to be paired with your DVD rental and buttered popcorn.
The beer is a light-bodied black ale that the brewery says has nuances of red licorice. It will be released on Sept. 21 for a limited time. The store and brewery plan a block party to let people try The Last Blockbuster (presumably both the beer and the movie rental store). It will also be served in 10 Barrel pub locations, which are located in Oregon; Boise, Idaho; San Diego, Calif.; and Denver, Colo.
Blockbuster’s final stores have held on for years after Dish Network shut down the majority of them after buying the company. A sense of nostalgia or curiosity has thrust them in the spotlight of late, though. In April, John Oliver and HBO’s Last Week Tonightbought the jockstrap Russell Crowe wore in Cinderella Man for $7,000 (and other props) and donated them to two Blockbuster locations in Alaska.
Even with that publicity boost, though, the stores closed in July.