Black Tuesday - Stacks Reserve - Blueberry
The Bruery

Black Tuesday - Stacks Reserve - Blueberry pours black, with a tiny tan head. The aroma has notes of blueberry, pancakes, and maple syrup. The flavor is sweet, blueberry pancakes, with maple syrup on top. Good feel. Overall, a breakfast, pancake stout.

Review: 2377
Name: Stacks Reserve Blueberry
Brewery: The Bruery
Location: Placentia, CA
Style: Barrel Aged Stout
ABV: 19.1%
Canned: 2024
Date: 25 April 2025
I purchased this box last year. It has three other Stacks Reserve in the box. I am serving the beer at 50 degrees in a tulip glass. The pour created an airy, two-fingered, light tan head with poor retention. The quick dissipation left no lacing on the glass. The color is inky black with a mahogany-red hue and is semi-transparent, charting at 36. This beer's appearance is average; I would have liked to see a long-lasting head, but it is understandable because of the ABV.
Nosing the glass, I smelled berries, bourbon, oak, char, leather, floral, raisins, dark brown sugar, earthiness, dark chocolate, espresso, caramel, dark roasted malts, maple, bready, cake, vanilla, malty sweetness, and toffee.
Sipping the beer, I taste dark chocolate, espresso, bourbon, maple, char, berries, leather, wood resin, treacle, pancakes, caramel, toffee, oak, floral esters, fruity sweetness, dark toasted bread crust, malty sweetness, anise, and grassy.
The mouthfeel is warming, finishing smooth. The body is heavy and has medium-low carbonation.
The best way to describe this beer is as a pancake soaked in a bourbon barrel stout covered in a berry compote with maple syrup. That description sounds gross, but it is delicious. The barrel aging is heavy but somehow not overpowering. Stack Reserve Blueberry is a fantastic beer with lots of complexity but with well-balanced flavors.

Courtesy of @roguer from '25 BIF, bottled labeled 2024 edition.

Pours jet black with a bubbly, one-finger khaki-colored head. Head appears airy (not creamy), recesses quickly, and has brownish specs almost akin to cinnamon. Smell is heavy blueberry, so much so you don't even need to be that far away from the glass. Nosed up reminds me a lot of the blue sour straws (think thin candy ropes), hints of vanilla and maple. Taste is, unsurprisingly, blueberry-forward, followed by oak, char, and bourbon. Maple firmly takes a backseat, maybe even rides in a separate car but amplifies the sweetness of this beer. Fairly prickly carbonation with a thinner body for a 19%'er and has somewhat of a slick finish as it warms. Finish wraps up blueberry pancakes and slight bitter oakyness. This is probably the best blueberry stout I have had but I'm still in the camp, save the berries for breakfast and smoothies.

12.7 ounce bottle, 2024 edition, bottled 09/27/24. Served in a Bruery Hoarders Society chalice, the beer pours dark brown/black with about an inch tan head that fizzled away somewhat quickly. Not much lacing at all. I like the aroma, the brew smells like blueberries, maple, vanilla, roasted malt, caramel and a bit of bourbon. I think the taste is similar to the aroma, but with the addition of some oak, burnt/charred malt and dark bready flavors. The blueberry and to a lesser extent the maple flavors stand out to me compared to the others. It leans sweeter tasting for sure but it's not too strongly sweet. Mouthfeel/body is full, it's coating and a bit rich with a moderate amount of carbonation. It has a kick but doesn't seem like it's 19.1% ABV when drinking it. I thought this one was pretty good, definitely recommend this one to people who like blueberries and maple, or even just sweeter tasting stouts in general!