The Bruery Black Tuesday Imperial Stout

Brewed by The Bruery
Style: Imperial Stout
Placentia, California USA

Big thanks to Will for this. Aroma of oak, lots of sweetness, ripe red fruit, vanilla, and alcohol. Yum! Has a distinct sharpness to it. Taste is sweet, like diabeetus, slightly bitter, but mostly sweet. Loads of chocolate, and vanilla bean. Ripe red fruit, again, and oak. Tastes like a good version of Dark Lord Barrel-Aged. Viscous, bitter, ripe red fruit and vanilla round out the finish. Sticks to you like AIDS. Damn.

Rich malt scotch like alcohol blast in the aroma,some maple and dark fruit there, by the aroma ,you would think your going to get a sharp alcohol burn as it goes down,but hello, smooth, full,dark malt,vanilla and wood bourbon flavors ,and that little bit of maple sweetness . Other then a thicker body and a hair more complexity,there is little that separates this from a Utopia,except maybe 130 bucks

Rating #750. Bottle shared by Sparky27 on Black Friday -- thank you, good sir! Pours oily black with a fleeting brown head. Smells amazing. Reminds of the grape playdough aroma of the bourbon in BCS and the vitamin quality of BA Decadence 07. Huffing this seems reasonable. Tastes of further vanilla, bourbon, and vitamin in the flavor with added notes of milk cocoa and caramel -- almost like a 3 Musketeers bar. A bit too sweet in flavor, but a beer worth celebrating, for sure.

650ml bottle
Thanks to someone at a small tasting for sharing a bottle of this early in the night. As far as barrel aged imperial stouts go it is balanced enough to not be a total mess. On the other hand I don’t think it is quite up to par with some of the other world class offerings that are just as elusive. Were I to run across this again I would definitely consider buying one. However I would not go out of my way to do so.

Aroma / Appearance - Deep black and oily like all other heavy imperial stouts it takes on a life of its own outside the bottle. The chocolately head and vinous lacing give it more depth and show off the amount of alcohol this one hides. The nose is more bourbony than I like but is offset by the baseline of chocolate, vanilla, raspberries, and coffee that sparkle underneath the surface.

Flavor / Palate - The first sensation is the alcohol which tastes a bit like a nip of bourbon was poured into the bottle. Once things settle down chocolate, coffee beans, and a sweetnesss that borders on cloying transition to a smoky finish. Heavy and textured it is a great beer on its own merits but when compared to any number of other stouts falls a bit short of true greatness.

Sample at Black Friday tasteing. The wood and rich vanilla on the nose was great. Black body with tan head. Rich vanilla chcolate flavor with some some roast. Smooth on the palate. Sparky27 is to thank for this one I think.

Big thanks to kiefdog for sharing this beauty. Pours glass staining darkness with brown edges and short lived dark tan head. The aroma is pretty insane with rich notes of roast, caramel, Canadian maple syrup, bourbon booze heat and coconut. The taste is silky smooth and yet punishing my palate with pure yum right from the start. I get sweetness from maple syrup, creamy caramel candy and some milk chocolate. It then quickly moves into bourbon, coconut, vanilla and another surge of maple syrup. It ends with lingering blending smooth and silky notes of caramel, coconut, maple syrup and a bit of bourbon. Wow!

I purchsed a couple bottle from the brewery and handed them out as gifts. A great beer to share with friends.

Right up there with the Dark Horizon First Edition as one of my top Imperial Stouts. Very tasty Caramel, Molasses, Brown Sugar, Vanilla, Prune, Plum, and Oak mix. These same ingredients create a top notch and heavy aroma that is noticeable with each sampling. Thick body with slight Head. Overall it’s very good right now and see no reason to age here.