Brueonico
The Bruery

Review: 2465
Name: Brueonico
Brewer: The Bruery
Location: Placentia, CA
Style: Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout
ABV: 19.5%
Canned: 7 Sept 2022
Date: 27 July 2025
I am heading back to the cellar for another Bruery beer. It is a bit hot for an imperial stout, but oh well. I am using a tulip glass and serving the beer at a temperature of 50 degrees. The hard pour created a frothy, foamy, half-fingered light tan head with no retention. The quick dissipation left no lacing on the glass. The pitch-black beer has dark mahogany hues, it is opaque, and charts at SRM 34. I was hoping for some head retention, but this is a high ABV beer.
Nosing the beer, I detect notes of dark chocolate, vanilla, coconut, raisins, bourbon, char, wood, and strawberries. Smelling
The mouthfeel is tart, finishing light and refreshing. The body is light with medium-plus carbonation. Smelling the beer again, I notice caramel, molasses, dark roasted malts, bread, light graham crackers, malty sweetness, earthiness, and leather.
The first sip revealed notes of dark chocolate, strawberries, wood, vanilla, medium-roasted coffee, caramel, and coconut, finishing with a hint of bourbon heat. Sipping the beer again, I taste bread, molasses, oats, dark-roasted malts, malty sweetness, earthiness, and leather, with a hint of tobacco.
The mouthfeel is coating and chewy, finishing a bit hot. The body is medium-light and has a hint of carbonation.
Final Thought: Brueonico is an amalgamation of ingredients that work together, almost. Most could not taste the strawberries, but I found it overpowering, especially alongside the bourbon barrel. The beer was a bit hot, something The Bruery rarely lets slip by. I was hoping the granola, more specifically the oats, would bring some creamy thickness to the beer—another solid offering from The Bruery, not my favorite.

Black color with a thin beige head. Dark chocolate, vanilla, raisins, honey, and coconut in the aroma. Did not catch too much of strawberries. Rich, warming taste with bourbon notes.

Bottled on 9/7/2022; consumed on 2/18/2025

Pours an inky black hue capped with a bit over a finger of sudsy, beige-tinged foam; modest head retention leaves a paper-thin cap and collar quickly fizzling away as a sparse few legs of lacing trickle down the walls of the glass.

Aromas open to deft touches of strawberry creme and toasted coconut shavings, peaking with vanilla granola cereal as waves of cocoa and bourbon accent.

Taste brings a sweet strawberry tart upfront meeting sinewy char through the mid-palate, seeing coconut build as heavy oak prickles with ripe bourbon heat over time.

Mouthfeel offers a medium-light body and minimal carbonation; ample char grazes as warmth builds over the mid-palate, leaving gently sticky residuals over the finish.

Strawberry can trend pointed at times, dominant and vaguely untethered, though ultimately suits the overall approach of this eclectic amalgam of adjuncts; a fun, boozy barrel-aged stout.

 

From the 12.7 oz bottle in a snifter with a big thanks to Bluejacket74 for this fine imperial!
This monster pours a coal blacksih brown with a fain head of fizzling khaki foam that fades to a thin
ring with nice legs. Nose of astringent booze, berries, coconut, vanilla, and dark brown sugars
mingling with vinous brandy and bourbon. Flavors surpass the nose with vanilla, bourbon, oak,
strawberry and dark fruits, subtle tobacco, astringent booze, graham cracker notes (granola I assume)
along vinous brandy notes. Mouth feel is medium full tilting towards full with light carbonation and
a medium dry to fuller dry finish from the warming booze.

Overall, an amazing blend of flavors from the masters of blending. To be honest, of the
breweries that give us overly sweet and unbalanced brews, The Bruery does the sweet
side of imperial stouts with aplomb! Balanced and not cloying....a feat rarely achieved!

Cheers

Pours a clear, dark brown color, opaque in the glass; no lasting head except fro a thin, partial arc of light tan bubbles inside the glass. Very enjoyable smell of roasted and charred grains; a hint of vanilla; cacao nibs. Rich and complex flavors; milk chocolate and whiskey; berry-like taste, strawberry or raspberry; vanilla and coconut; a kind of subliminal spiciness. Heavy, silky body; oily; nice boozy warmth permeates the residual sugar density.

The beer isn't much for looks but really comes through with the taste. As it warms, deeper, fuller aromas tickle the nose while the flavor blossoms with more distinct impressions of the beer's adjuncts. Awfully damn good!

Pouring temperature: 39 °F; bottling info: n/a
Source: unknown (likely Tavour)

12.7 ounce bottle, 2022 edition, bottled 09/07/22. Served in a Teku, the beer pours dark brown/black with not quite an inch tan cola-like head that fizzled away quickly enough. Small amount of lacing. Aroma is nice, the brew smells like strawberries, roasted malt, vanilla, granola, coconut and some honey. Taste is similar to the aroma, but with the addition of some dark fruit, oak and dark bready flavors. Does lean sweet tasting overall, definitely has a dessert like vibe to it. Mouthfeel/body is full, it's slick and rich with a good amount of carbonation. The 19.5% ABV is well hidden too but I'm sure it'll catch up to me later. I thought this was a good overall imperial stout, kinda wish the sweetness was dialed down some but it's still pretty tasty. Worth trying for sure if you get the chance!

 

Another holiday Saturday wrapping presents, another heavily-adjuncted BT variant. Not complaining at all about that!

This one pours just like all the others, beautiful khaki head that dissolves quickly into nothing. I was a little concerned upon opening as I lost an ounce or so as it gushed onto the counter, but upon tasting, I think I can attribute that to the brisk jog up the basement stairs.

The nose is just sweeter than normal BT, none of the additives really standing out. I think I get some coconut, but overall it smells heavy of dark fruits, namely raisin.

The taste yields lots of sweetness, and some bourbon at the end, but as has been with most of these BT variants, the sweetness is not over the top. The most pleasant ingredient popping out to me is strawberry, followed by vanilla. Kinda getting a vanilla-dipped strawberry vibe here. Weirdly, the raisin/dark fruit is nowhere to be found in the taste; it’s all in the nose.

Really good beer, but I dug last year’s neopolitan-themed take more than this. I think there’s too much going on here, but still a very good sipper.