The Bruery (2025)

Finally shipped the last few months of releases, so I'm playing a bit of catch up:

Flying High - Deep barrel character, tons of caramelization and oak character, brown sugar, dried figs, quite rich but relatively nimble for its age and strength. Interesting to see the effects of a nice barrel and extra age on the already great BT base. This is probably my favorite release of the year so far... Glad I loaded up on some extras!

April Showers - Sticky sweet and boozy Belgian Strong Pale Ale, standard fruity esters and spicy phenols present, along with some dry hopping character, but none of these are as pronounced as the sweetness or alcohol heat. Decent, but I prefer my Belgian pales to be a bit lower in ABV and drier...

May Flowers - Beautiful robey tonez, nice looking beer, less Belgian and more floral than April Showers, but a similar underlying sticky sweetness and booziness anchors the beer. Fine but not as good as April Showers and it's not like that was lighting my world on fire... Still a little strange to be getting these non-BA beers in the included society offerings...

The Madeira Affair - The Bruers’ weird obsession with Madeira finally pays off, this is fantastic, BT base plays very well with these Madeira barrels. Tons of oak and vinous fruit on top of standard BT stout notes. Great! (Not my favorite treatment of BT or anything, but I'm happy to have an extra bottle of this around because it was included and it's so, so much better than expected...)

Agree, Tranquil Moonlight was a highlight last year and I've been meaning to revisit (so I'm glad to hear its still doing well). It is a double-barrel-aged BT variant with standard bourbon BT followed by additional aging in Westward American Whiskey barrels. I think the barrels are obviously well suited, but the double-barrel treatment always brings "bolder and more interesting" character in my experience...

More to come, still have some Hoarders Cuvee and some coconut stouts on deck...

 

Opened a bottle of mama floater. Have to give that one a shout out—did not expect to enjoy that treatment, but it works really well with the monster base

 

Not sure if this is really blowing up on social media or just my feed because I went to Shake Shack… but everyone seems to be raving about the Dubai Pistachio Chocolate. @BrueryDC you need to get on it! Sequel to Pistachio Mustachio?

 

More catching up:

Thrill Rider - The disparate elements don’t really come together the way they should and it’s oddly boozy, but it’s ultimately a fine coconut stout, especially as it warms. Lower-Middle Tier Bruery coconut stout, fine, but not remarkable.

Hoarders Cuvee 2025 - Solid barrel aged stout with a nice bit of vinous, jammy fruit that is well balanced and not overpowering. Thankfully almost no agave wheatwine in evidence at all either. The vinous notes become more pronounced as it warms, quite nice. As these things go, not quite as pronounced as the true wine hybrids that Bruery has done, but still pretty good. Weird that there's another Hoarder's Cuvee coming that's "adjuncted" when this already has adjuncts, but whatever.

Barrel-Aged Three's Cocompany - Pretty good toasted coconut character, much better than Thrill Rider, but Bruery has made better coconut stouts (let’s say top of the middle tier for this sort of thing - those "Dem Coconuts" beers from a couple years ago were better)

At this point, I think I'm caught up to everything but the July releases. May be a bit before my next shipment, but I've been hitting the cellar more recently, so I'll probably hit a few of those soon enough...

 

Stopped by the TR for a pick up. Tried the new Bakery. Nice chocolate foam and the solid base this series usually has. I can’t say the walnuts were present for me, so nothing too defined in the rocky road profile, but a solid drinkable chocolatey stout. (Call out for a rebrew of Melange 15 (I think?). That was an outstanding Rocky Road treatment)

Also tried the Saigon coffee. A sweet coffee brew as advertised. Another nice option for something at the bottom end of double digit ABV.

 

How are ya'll feeling about the value of the 2025 Reserve Society so far? Does the smaller format seem to work for folks? What about the quality of included beers?

For me, this month's included membership beer being a single 375ml of a non-barrel aged beer, especially when preceded by a 4 pack of Mischief the previous month feels a bit underwhelming.

Giving us beers that are open to the public as part of our membership feels.... not special?

I often check the website to see what we should be inspecting, and here's what is currently listed for 2025 Reserve.

January
Chocolate Salty BBLs $19.00
Fabled Fate $8.00

February
Smoking Souls: Twice Burned $23.00
Mélange à Quad Reserve $23.00

March
Midnight in Bruges $20.00
Midnight in Bruges $20.00

April (single 375 this month)
Bourbon Barrel-Aged Three's CoCompany $17.00
--

May
May Flowers (2025 $12.00
Meubles $21.00

June
Mischief $16.00
Thrill Rider $17.00

July (single 375 this month)
Bakery: Rocky Road Brownie $12.00
--

August
Coffee is Life $22.00
Coffee is Life $22.00

September (both of these are listed, and I assume it's a mistake as the site is often wrong)
Sticky Chunk (2025) $17.00
Sticky Chunk (2025) $17.00
Crafted by Society $22.00
Crafted by Society $22.00

October
Henna Monster $22.00
Henna Monster $22.00

November
Barrel-aged Gingerbread Stout $22.00
Barrel-aged Gingerbread Stout $22.00

December
Double Stuff inspired cookie stout concept $22.00
Double Stuff inspired cookie stout concept $22.00

What do ya'll think? How is 2025 shaking out for everyone?

 

Hoarders: love the format change, great variety this year, but I do agree the non-BA stuff doesn't feel special and would prefer it's not part of the selection

 

This reminds me: Did Anyone attend the mixer event they had a few months ago? I can;t recall whether it was open to both or just members but if it was a free for all (of sorts) then i mucked up by not attending

 

It’s about that time again: who are we losing next year?

being able to ship cellar beers for free with $200+ regular orders next year will be great!

that being said - if membership costs go up it’s going to be a tough decision. I don’t need 4 packs of mischief in lieu of ba beer.

 

I’m in. Next year‘s preview looks promising. And i’ve been pretty happy with what they’ve been putting out— and I’m getting better at only buying what I know I like. I do like the smaller format (most of the time) too.
On an unrelated note, finally opened Honey and Dunn. Not a big mead fan so only got the one included. Love how thick it pours. But interesting, my wife and I both get blueberry for some reason. Not bad overall, but not my favorite of the year