Black Tuesday - Grand Reserve (2025)
The Bruery

375mL bottle into a tulip. Pours a dark nearly opaque black with very little head or carbonation, even after a pretty vigorous pour.

Aroma is a super dense and concentrated blend of bitter dark roasted malt, dry cocoa nibs, charred oak bourbon barrel, vanilla, rum-drenched dark stone fruits, and roasted nuts.

Taste is likewise extremely strong and concentrated yet also exquisitely balanced—tons of sweet bourbon up front balanced by dark roasty malt, followed by notes of caramel, vanilla, and toasted coconut. Chocolate-covered cherries as it warms. This might be the stoutiest stout I’ve ever tasted. I can’t really think of how this could be much better.

Mouthfeel is chewy and coating with a lingering, delicious finish. The alcohol actually numbs my lips and gums. Nice warming in my chest as I swallow.

Overall this beer takes the imperial stout to its logical extreme, but in a good way. Not an everyday beer by any means, but one every stout fan should try at least once. Just excellent stuff.

 

Look - Pours a solid block color with a decent head with larger than normal bubbles that disappears in under a minute.

Smell - Bourbon, malt, vanilla, chocolate, and oak.

Taste - Bourbon, figs, and malt.

Feel - Feels just a bit hot at 21.9%ABV, though still easily drinkable for that level.

Overall - A very nice stout, but a bit strong for my liking, and a little too much bourbon flavor. I love bourbon in my beer, but this is a bit much for my liking.

12.7 ounce bottle, 2025 edition, bottled 04/17/25. Served in a snifter, the beer pours dark brown/black with not quite an inch tan head that stuck around a little while. Decent amount of lacing. Aroma is nice, the brew smells like roasted malt, dark chocolate, vanilla, oak, bourbon and caramel. Taste is similar to the aroma, but with the addition of some burnt/charred malt, dark bread and molasses flavors. Good amount of barrel character, and no one flavor overpowers the others. Mouthfeel/body is full, it's coating and a bit syrupy with a moderate amount of carbonation. Has a kick for sure, but doesn't seem as boozy as you'd think considering the ABV. I liked this one a lot, worth trying especially if you like stronger imperial stouts!

A blend of milk chocolate/baker's chocolate, vanilla-nougat, balanced oak, and a vanilla-bourbon barrel boozy nose on this one! Taste follows the nose exactly with a great balance between the semi-sweet chocolate malt notes upfront, and the oak bourbon barrels on the backend. If I am nitpicking here, the only area in which this may have fell short IMO is in the mouthfeel department. For being triple barrel-aged, I was expecting this to be a little more viscous on the palate. More viscosity would have helped to amplify and accentuate all the nuances IMO. Outside of that, this is really good and so well-done!