Thomas Rutherford
The Bruery

750mL bottle into a tulip. Pours completely still, deep reddish mahogany, completely transparent.

Aroma is mostly a mix of vinous and chocolatey notes. Oak, red currant, black grapes, vanilla, pipe tobacco, spice.

Taste is decidedly vinous with the stout characteristics playing backup. Cabernet Sauvignon, oak, chocolate. A touch of smoke.

Mouthfeel is smooth and slick—zero carbonation but it goes down like a fine red wine. Coats the palate nicely.

Overall, though it’s difficult to review this beer to style, it’s definitely delicious and well made. I’d it an imperial stout? I don’t know. But it’s one of the most unique beers I’ve ever had. And 5 years of aging doesn’t seem to have harmed it either.

 

A: Poured into a Bruery glass to a deep black and purpleish beer with no head and no lacing due to being bottled still
S: Smells of red berries, spicy oak, a hint of alcohol along with a touch of roasted malts
T: Taste is red berries, a hint of leather, a slight acidity from the grapes, oak, and a little cocoa powder. Slight roasted malts and a hint of coffee but mostly grapes running the show. On the finish there's more red berries, cassis, oak, leather, roasted malts and cocoa powder.
M: This beer has a moderate amount of heft on the palate. Carbonation is nonexistent and the beer has a drying finish due to the high ABV.
O: Overall there's not much Black Tuesday to be found in this beer, but that's par for the course with the series. This one is definitely on the wine forward side. I'm a bit of a fan though. As long as you know what you're getting it's great, but I can understand how this would leave people disappointed.

750ml corked bottle poured into a teku

A- pours a brownish purple and flat, so no head. There are some bubbles that pop up though upon swirling

S- aroma is bursting with cabernet; black currant, black licorice, raspberry, cherry pie, vinous red grapes and an almost buttery french oak undertones. The base beer gives notes of cocoa, bitter dark chocolate, char, vanilla & booze

T- juicy and tart up front with a flow of cabernet, giving black currant, jammy raspberry and ripe cherry. Mid-palate gives notes of anise, with Black Tuesday notes of dark chocolate, which seem to enhance the dark berry notes. The finish brings out some oaky notes, as well as sharp tannins that push forward a lingering juicy berry note of black currant and cherry

M- medium body with zero carbonation leads to a medium viscous mouthfeel and a mouth drying finish

O- fans of cabernet and BT will enjoy this one, as they work really well together

Garnet black with no head; raspberry + cherry on the nose with vanilla + tannic notes but then also ash, figh, black currant + a thread of booze; black cherry, black raspberry, bits of cocos, prune juice, espresso, black pepper + a big boozy hit; smooth, hot, medium,.

3.75 4.5 4 4 3.75

Grapes! This brings the fruit, tannins + booze of a big Cab.
And it helps to think of it that way: a wine with bits of stout rather than an RIS with bits of claret.
Smooth, intricate, boozy, curious, disjointed… reading Garrett Oliver on all the ways beer outperforms wine with food, I did wonder what they intended to accomplish with this.

More a conversation piece than a beer, though still fun to share.

Corked bottle with probably the thickest glass I've ever seen a beer bottled. Deep red/purple hue. Smell is basically a nice Cab. Taste is heavily vinous with a nice big kick. Very dry on the tongue. Overall one of the best beer/wine hybrids I've had.