Black Tuesday - Blender's Choice (2024)
The Bruery

750mL (2024) into a tulip. Pours an opaque oily black with a decent-sized head for a 20%+ imperial stout. Settles quickly to nearly still, and looks like 10W-40 in my glass.

Aroma is rich and complex: dark roasty bitter malt, vanilla, caramel, dark chocolate, oaky char.

Taste is likewise dense, rich, and complex. Tons going on here. Bittersweet dark chocolate malt, vanilla, caramel, toffee, bourbon, port wine, sticky dried stone fruits.

Mouthfeel is chewy and sticky with a body reminiscent of molten lead.

Overall, as one might expect from a beer with this lineage, Black Tuesday Blender’s Choice leaves little to be desired. Excellent stuff. And dangerous.

From 1/17/26. A memorable beer.

 

Bruery Black Tuesday Blender's Choice 2025 BBA Imperial Stout, 19.9% ABV. Pours brownish black, with a half-finger beige head that left an oily sheen. Aroma is complex; bourbon, vanilla, moleasses, spice, dark fruit, faint chocolate, football leather, and grape. Taste is alcohol, rye spice, vanilla, leather, and light chocolate, slightly sweet, moderately bitter, oodles of alcohol/bourbon burn. Excellent mouthfeel, overall outstanding. The booziness is second only to Dystopias and Utopias.

Superb. You don’t need a description to try it and it will be very subjective anyway with all that’s going on.

 

Review: 2366
Name: Black Tuesday Blenders Choice
Brewery: The Bruery
Location: Placentia, CA
Style: Barrel Aged Imperial Stout
ABV: 21.1%
Canned: 09/13/2024
Date: 19 April 2025
I was pulling a beer out of my cellar when this bottle tumbled out—yes, I was sober. The beer landed on the cap, pried a tiny piece, and broke the seal. I am a crazy beer person; that action irritated me. I wanted to age this beer for another three or four years. I am using a tulip glass and serving the beer at 50 degrees. The pour created an airy, half-fingered, dark tan head with terrible retention. The fast dissipation left no lacing on the glass. The color is inky black with dark mahogany hues, charting at SRM 38, and opaque. This beer's appearance is average, considering the high ABV.
Nosing the glass, I smell molasses, vinous, dried cherries, plums, dark roasted malts, figs, oak, char, bourbon, leather, raisins, dates, toffee, caramel, dark chocolate, espresso, and earthiness. Smelling the glass again, I noticed tobacco, floral, and grassy.
Sipping the beer, I taste toasted bread, vinous, red wine, dried cherries, toffee, anise, figs, raisins, toffee, caramel, dark chocolate, Maillard, brown sugar, flower bouquet, grassy, light smokiness, oak, whiskey, char, dark roasted malts, espresso, and earthiness.
The mouthfeel is smooth and chewy. The body is heavy and low in carbonation.
This beer is delicious. The depth of its finish in Madeira Barrels is like the cherry on top. The complexity and depth of the beer are unreal, and the balance and harmony are near perfection. I am sad the floor opened this beer early, but I am glad it is open.

Black Tuesday Blender's Choice pours black with a small, long-lasting tan head. The aroma has notes of vanilla and oak. The flavor has lots of vanilla, hints of fig, and lots of barrel, with a sweet spice. Good feel. Overall, big beer, heavier on the vanilla with lots of noticeable barrel flavors.

Baker's chocolate, jammy red wine grapes and sweet port, dark red fruits, and a oaky, wine barrel and bourbon barrel nose on this one! Taste follows very closely with a medium-bodied, chocolate bitter, and an oak barrel, bourbon boozy finish. Whoa! For being 21.1% ABV, this drinks pretty balanced and not overdone in the booze department. I was looking for more port/wine notes initially, but as it warmed and opened up, it added a nice touch on the backend. This is well done and a good sipper!

 

 

From the 750ml bottle in a snifter via Bluejacket74......DUDE....WOW! THANKS!
This monster pours a blackish brown with dark tea highlights and a moderate
head of fizzling khaki foam that settles to a thin ring with some excellent legs.
Nose of bourbon, oak, dark berry notes of blackberry, blueberry, and raspberry,
vanilla, and dark roasted malts. Flavors find 11 on the amplifier. Dark berry notes
dance about vinous grappa and brandy, rich mellow bourbon, oak, vanilla, brulee,
dark roasted malts, tobacco, leather, dark rye bread, and mild earthy malts. Mouth
feel is full, smooth, rich as the day is long, moderately slick, coating, light carbonation,
and a dry finish.

This one will leave a reviewer breathless. Improves with warmth and keeps expanding.
For example, warmth gives rise to dark cherry and licorice / anise notes with
definite Merlot / Cab notes with grape must touches.

UNREAL.

Cheers

750 ml bottle, 2022 edition, looks like the bottling date is 09/09/22 but it's hard to read so the month could be wrong. Served in a snifter, the beer pours dark brown/black with about an inch or so tan head that stuck around for a little bit. Not much lacing at all. Aroma is nice, the brew smells like dark fruit, oak, bourbon, vanilla and roasted malt. Taste is similar to the aroma, but with the addition of some burnt/charred malt, dark bread, dark chocolate, caramel and a hint of licorice. Mouthfeel/body is full, it's syrupy and slick with a moderate amount of carbonation. Definitely a sipping brew, and worth trying if you're able to. I liked it a lot!

Look: Stygian dark. Impressive mocha head on the pour that mostly subsides.
Smell: super rich yet mellow, woody, bourbon, roasty goodness.
Taste: and the taste lives up to the nose. Been lucky enough to have had many BT variants, Reserve, Grand Reserve. This is its own thing.