The Bruery (2025)

Doing well! You’re right though, posting has definitely tapered off…I always appreciate your posts.

Tried the bakery sticky bun Saturday. Great base, but a little too cinnamon forward for my taste. Unfortunately I don’t think that’s a flavor that mellows with time.

Only other was melange a quad. Lots of rich barrel flavors as I think others have noted.

I grabbed another popular opinion and bba 3s coco. Both of those were spot on, when I had them a few weeks ago.

I am generally liking the smaller bottle format. They go fast but allow for more variation in an evening.

 

I'll chime in! I always enjoy your reviews @ernh! (Also others!) I usually just lurk/browse, but I have been a Bruery Fan for a while now. My all-time favs from them are Petit Mardi (in which I learned from this thread were back up on the site and immediately purchased 3! Ha!) And One & Dunn Imperial Grand Reserve...which to me hangs with or is even better than any SP BBT's that I have had! Oh! And As Far As the Rye Can See was phenomenal as well!

I visited the taproom about 10 days ago and had three good ones!

Critical Alignment - Baker's chocolate, a hint of jammy blackberries, and a vanilla-bourbon barrel boozy nose on this one! Taste follows with a full and soft, dark chocolate, dark berry fruity, a hint of rye-spice, and a balanced bourbon barrel finish. This was really good and probably best of the three!

The Crumbfather (2025) - Milk chocolate, cinnamon and salted caramel covered pecans, and a vanilla-bourbon barrel nose on this one! Taste follows with a slightly thin, cinnamon and all-spiced chocolate and a subtle barrel finish. Good but the finish came up just a touch short IMO.

Barrel-Aged Three's Cocompany (2025) - Milk chocolate, subtle vanilla and coconut, and a bourbon barrel nose on this one! Subtle aromatics here...Taste follows with a delicious and balanced chocolate, coconut and vanilla finish...barrel is subtle on the palate. Palate>nose here, but delicious! This was good, but I think I preferred the previous batch of this when it came out in cans in 2021.

Others that I have been impressed with recently: Heavenly Blis, Hoarders Cuvée #2, Black Tuesday Blender's Choice (2024), and Vanilla Villain.

Cheers!

Oh! I'm not sure it has been mentioned here, but has anybody else seen The Bruery bottles show up on Tavour?! What's that about?

 

This month's releases certainly put a hurting on the ol wallet, but they are all right up my alley. Really looking forward to BTGR, and I'm always a fan of the Anny beers. Genuinely curious to see how the lower ABV of Meubles compares to Cire (which I did find kinda hot), and it's interesting that the specified the barrels this year. Blenders Choice has an interesting combo of barrels that could work really well with Anny base, though wine barrels always give me pause these days. One & Dunn became truly special once it hit Grand Reserve Levels, but it's been so long since the first one that I'm curious to see how this simpler version goes...

Recent cellar dive: Demon Water has dropped off considerably. Was my favorite of that distiller box a while back, but it's not doing great now. Still get a little of that rum character, but it's faded considerably.

 

PSA: the first two bottles of Good Company I had were in my opinion fantastic. I just had a third last week and seems to not be holding up as well as when it first came out. It was good, just not great.

 

I had One & Dunn recently and there was something different to me. Wonder if it's this barrel change. Had a hint of smokiness and wasn't as enjoyable to me. However, I need to revisit it and have it on its own. After a tasting of the anni's and a couple others, I think the One & Dunn might have hit different since my palette was worn.

 

For some reason, Poterie is the one for me, that year just absolutely was the right mix

 

Had a Tuesday Morning last night and it was perfection.

 

S

Sadly, I agree. I really liked the last one much better. This batch is good, but not one where I will likely go back for more.

 

I've had bourbon barrel-aged wine, it's interesting, but I gather the bourbon sorta overwhelms all the subtle stuff wine dorks like about wine. On the other hand, wine doesn't seem to take on bourbon barrel character anywhere near as much as stouts/barleywines.

Anywho, largely agree on Meubles Blender's Choice. Lots of vinous notes, even some faint tannins, not getting brandy or bourbon aside from generic spirit barrel character. A nice change of pace, but I think the regular ol Meubles is slightly better, and the reduction in ABV makes a big difference for both. The 15-17% range seems to be best for Anny ales. I thought Cire (and especially Cire Blender's Choice) was very good, but not as good as these... Also appreciated being able to try these side by side.

I also agree with this! One & Dunn BBA is very good, but I want to say that the original rye version was better (though who knows, it's been several years). I will say that I let this sucker warm up more than usual and those last sips were the best... But if this is going to get the same Reserve, Grand Reserve, Impy Grand Reserve treatments, we might be in for a treat. This base seems to take age/barrels very well...


Black Tuesday Grand Reserve is also quite good. I think regular Reserve is the sweet spot for Black Tuesday, but the triple Bourbon treatment is one of the better Grand Reserves that I've had. Standard BT character amped up, a little hot, but a beautiful fruit note emerges as it warms. Excellent.

 

I know the anniversary party this year is a more intimate affair, but does anyone know if we’ll get any more details this week about it?