Black Tuesday - Blueberry Pancake
The Bruery

Review: 2387
Name: Black Tuesday - Blueberry Pancake
Brewery: The Bruery
Location: Placentia, CA
Style: Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout
ABV: 19.2%
Canned: 16 September 2019
Date: 5 May 2025
I have several Bruery beers that I need to review; this is only the tip of the iceberg. I am serving the beer at 50 degrees in a tulip glass. The pour created a half-fingered, dark tan head with poor retention. The color is black, with dark rusty brown hues. It is semi-transparent and charting at SRM 36. Overall, it is an average showing for a high-ABV stout.
Nosing the glass, I smell toffee, blueberries, cake, light-roasted coffee, a skosh of char, Maillard, whiskey, dark chocolate, bready, dark roasted malts, wood resin, maple syrup, treacle, caramel, earthiness, dark-roasted malts, and malty sweetness.
Sipping the glass, I taste maple, blueberries, dark chocolate, char, toffee, medium coffee, molasses, caramel, dates, bready, whiskey, wood resin, earthiness, cake, malty sweetness, and tobacco.
The mouthfeel is chewy and coating, finishing silky soft with a slight warming. The body is heavy and low in carbonation.
This beer's maple and blueberries are strong, followed closely by the barrel aging. Generally, when I get a beer that states it has blueberries, I have difficulty detecting that specific flavor; it usually comes across as berry-ish. The blueberries are epic, with a lovely tarty freshness that perfectly accompanies the maple syrup. Although the ABV is high, it is well hidden. Blueberry Pancake is a fantastic beer!

A: Poured into a snifter to a black beer which is topped by a dense and slightly rocky finger or light tan head which fades quickly to collar around the edge of the glass
S: Smells of blueberries, bourbon barrels, and maple with a touch of roasted malts.
T: Taste is juicy blueberries up front with some oak, roasted malts, maple, caramel and vanilla, hints of molasses as well. On the finish there's more blueberries, maple, bourbon barrels, roasted malts, and slight coffee.
M: The beer has a body which is on the medium side of things with a slightly oily feel. Carbonation is low but adequate for the style while the beer has a drying finish due to the ABV.
O: Overall this is a really good beer. Really great flavors and complexity with some very well hidden ABV.

Bottled on 9/16/2019; consumed on 9/24/2022

Pours a jet-mahogany and sits in the glass with deeper black tendencies; capped with a finger of sickly-pale almond-hued/vague blue foam, the mediocre head retention yields a choppy cap, expansive, frothy collar, and no lacing holding to the walls of the glass.

Aroma bursts forth with jammy blueberry, encouraging distant wisps of pancake batter as soft maple impresses upon a rounded malt undercurrent and underlying cocoa; the bourbon barrel is airy and somewhat hot, though is largely cut by the more domineering fruit presence and leaves subtle touches of whiskeyed nuance.

Taste shows cocoa intertwined with jammy blueberry, with toasty maple lingering to distant oak over the mid-palate as vague shreds of pancake batter scrape the back end alongside hot, bourbon-laden vanillins.

Mouthfeel brings a medium-light body and a subtle prickle of carbonation dispersing to a spritzy grit and residual spike of bourbon heat warming steadily into the back end, leaving a mild fruity twang before drying naturally through the finish.

A blueberry overload, well-done yet still overpowering with 3 years in the bottle; solid pancake vibes flow beneath expansive bourbon heat and subtler malt contrasts.

 

 

 

 

 

375ml bottle poured into a tulip

A- pours deep brown in color with a one-finger khaki colored head that has a bit of a bluish hue, that reduces to a ring around the glass

S- bold aromas of blueberry and maple pancakes jump from the glass, the blueberry has a jammy-like aroma that is really pronounced. Undertones of chocolate, cocoa nibs, caramel, vanilla cream, chocolate cake, oaky bourbon barrel, booze and a hint of coconut

T- bold blueberries lead the way; blueberry preserves, freshly smashed blueberry, tons of bright, fresh blueberry. Mid-palate brings out a subtle but noticeable maple sweetness, that is complimented by notes of chocolate & caramel from the base beer, as well as raisins, figs and a hint of pipe tobacco. Chocolate cake, confectioners sugar and creamy vanilla bring out the finish, as the bourbon barrel notes start to come forward, providing a hint of coconut and emphasizing the vanilla note as well. The linger gives stewed blueberries and blueberry jam, as well as a maple sweetness that sticks around

M- medium body with moderate carbonation leads to a slightly foamy mouthfeel that continues into a warming, slightly oily finish

O- the best BT variant I've had to date, the blueberry and maple are so pronounced, yet balance brilliantly with the base beer and barrel treatment. An outstanding sipper

 

 

 

I have never really enjoyed a berry flavored stout before this - an astonishing beer - sweet with strong blueberry flavor. It is impressive that this is so well balanced and that the flavors are so well integrated despite really pushing the boundaries!

 

 

This beer has blueberries galore on the nose and taste. Very smooth and you wouldn’t know the abv by drinking it.

 

Look: The color is very dark brown. A loosely packed brown head with thin bubbles form, but eventually disappeared to a very thin ring around the edge of my glass. The beer and head have picked up some color from the blueberries as well. The shade of brown is quite odd as a result. There’s just a purple tint in the foam before it fades away.

Nose: Fresh, tart and sweet blueberry. Some maple syrup, but not the most maple forward aroma I’ve had in a beer. It’s not overly sweet and the fruit has a natural aroma. Very nice. There’s a lot of blueberry and dark dried fruit here including raisins and prunes, which must be the base stout. There is a bready, yellow cake-like aroma that when combined with everything is blueberry pancake with maple syrup. The bourbon barrel is present. Vanilla, toasted coconut, and very oak forward. You even get a dusting of confectioners sugar just like you would on a short stack.

Taste: Mildly tart, fresh blueberry. Sweet blueberry pie filling. Sweet, slightly burnt sugar blueberry compote. Something on the finish is ever so slightly smokey for me. Pancakey. You can taste the alcohol, but it’s not hot and this beer is really drinkable for over 19% ABV.

Feel: Low carbonation, sticky residual sweetness left on the lips. Very warming on the palate and in the pipes.

Overall: As a lover of blueberry and maple, this beer speaks to me. It says dirty things. A huge, warming, dark dried fruit base stout layered with straight up blueberry pancakes with maple syrup. No two ways about it. Unreal.