Black Tuesday - Pistachio And Vanilla
The Bruery

Review: 2375
Name: Black Tuesday Pistachio Vanilla
Brewery: The Bruery
Location: Placentia, CA
Style: Barrel Aged Stout
ABV: 19.2%
Canned: 09/06/2019
Date: 25 April 2025
During COVID-19, I purchased this box from the Bruery with several different Black Tuesday variants; this beer is from that box. I am serving the beer at 50 degrees in a tulip glass. The pour created an airy, one-fingered, dark tan head with poor retention. The quick dissipation left no lacing on the glass. The color is jet black with a rusty-red hue and is semi-transparent, charting at 36. This beer's appearance is average; I would have liked to see a longer-lasting head, but it is understandable because of the ABV.
Nosing the glass, I smelled vanilla, nuttiness, anise, bourbon, oak, char, leather, molasses, raisins, dark brown sugar, earthiness, dark chocolate, medium-roasted coffee, caramel, raisins, and toffee.
Sipping the beer, I taste dark chocolate, espresso, nuttiness, roasted coffee, bourbon, vanilla, char, Maillard, leather, wood resin, molasses, treacle, caramel, toffee, oak, oats, and grassy.
The mouthfeel is chewy, finish luscious, and smooth with some warming. The body is heavy and has low carbonation.
I recently reviewed a beer with loads of vanilla, and it was overdone. This one is nearly perfect. The vanilla does not come off chemically or harshly. The pistachio does get lost in the big, bold, dark-roasted malts and barrel aging. The dark-roasted malts and barrel aging take center stage here. The beer is delicious with big, bold tastes; I do not know how the pistachio had a chance to display its flavors.

Bottled on 9/13/2019; consumed on 3/28/2025

Pours an inky black body with brownish hues and capped with a finger of short-lived, pale khaki foam, leaving a near-blank surface encompassed by a stalwart ring of froth and minimal-no lacing around the walls of the glass.

Aroma wafts pistachio subtleties melded with silky vanilla as dark cocoa fudge peaks and a level yet boozy barrel builds.

Taste opens to notes of cosmic brownies and dark cacao, with hints of pistachio cream and burnt vanilla easing over the mid-palate and fading through the back end, where burly barrel heat compliments the finish with an oaky roast.

Mouthfeel brings a medium-light body and a modest spritz of carbonation, levying boozy heat over the palate as subtle creaminess finds a delicately flaky, roast balance over time.

Clearly subdued with age yet amplified in contrast by hefty bourbon heat, a gentler profile espouses the finer details of nuttiness and vanilla against a looming intensity.

A: Poured into a snifter to a black beer topped by a dense and slightly rocky half finger of light tan head which fades quickly to a collar around the edge of the glass with minimal lacing
S: Smells of huge bourbon barrels and molasses up front with some roasted malts. Honestly not really picking up the adjuncts on this one.
T: Taste is smooth vanilla, bourbon barrels, slight pistachio, caramel, roasted malts, molasses and more oak. On the swallow there's more vanilla, some pistachio, bourbon barrels, roasted malts, espresso, and oak. This beer has a super long finish and the pistachio is definitely there on the very back end.
M: This beer has a body which is on the lighter side of medium. Carbonation is low but adequate while the beer has a drying finish due to the ABV.
O: Overall this one is definitely on the subtle side of things, but it's still quite good. The amped up vanilla is nice but the pistachio seems to be absent. I've been sitting on this for awhile so that could be why.

 

This was one of the last beers during Thanksgiving week 2021. Its the 375.

You might not believe this, but I ain't shitting you. This beer, pours black. Smallish brown head film 1/7". The aroma was the usual Black Tuesday dosing of massive amounts of roasted malt and massive amounts of bourbon. Not really advancing the notion that this brings the pistachio aroma. Vanilla? Not yet.

Taste does reveal that this adjunct variation is legitimately in the beer. A toasted nutty presence and extra vanilla doing lifting in both the taste and mouth feel departments. Boozy yes, but you know, what 19% beer isn't? Chill out and sip. So the requisite waves of chocolate malt, bourbon, oak. But now with nuts and more vanilla than normal from the barrel. Its satisfying that they didn't jack up a legendary beer variant wise like so many of the collector nerd industries do.

As the previous reviewer aptly notes, this beer comes off more like Vanilla BT, the pistachio has a lot to contend with. But at the end of the day, its still pretty damn good. I wish Bruery would make more of their classics available year round (instead of a million 10%+ plus beers) but alas we went in different directions.

When you wake up I'll be gone.

 

 

2020 Release
375ml bottle poured into a teku

A- pours brown in color with a one-finger foamy khaki head that reduces to a ring around the glass

S- typical boozy and bold BT aromas of chocolate, caramel, molasses & toffee up front. Undertones of vanilla bean, wet oak, barrel juice, booze soaked raisins. There is a slightly nutty aroma but hard to establish as pistachio

T- sweet and boozy up front opening with notes of chocolate, caramel & toffee, brown sugar and molasses. Mid-palate brings out a sweet and creamy vanilla note, as well some raisin and fig. The finish brings out the bourbon barrel, adding sharp oak and barrel juice. Lingers of booze and bourbon. Having trouble finding the pistachio

M- medium body with moderate carbonation leads to a slightly foamy mouthfeel that continues into a boozy, warming and mouth coating finish, plenty of booze on the linger

O- this one drinks more like regular BT with a vanilla addition, as expected, pistachio is up against some strong ingredients and tends to be overshadowed

 

 

 

I have just had the rare privilege of tasting four Black Tuesday variants from the bottle at a special Bruery event at Brewski in Brisbane. All were absolutely exceptional. This was the most subtle (not a word I would have chosen if it were not alongside the other three). A great beer and an incredible experience!

Bottle poured into snifter from Black Tuesday Anniversary box.

Dark brown with thin fizzy light brown head. Minimal head retention.

Nose: Major raisin/dark fruit presence characteristic of Black Tuesday with a nice vanilla component. Pistachios doesn’t come through much on the nose, mostly raisin + bourbon + vanilla.

Taste: Raisin, vanilla, bourbon up front. Pistachio is more present here than the nose. Tons of depth. Finish is slightly boozy. Phenomenal.

Feel: Body seems a touch fuller than standard BT,