Black Tuesday

A-Opens with a nice hiss and pours a black so dark the lord of the pit himself couldn't see his way out. Head builds nicely but reduces to a fine dark brown skin. This dames got legs for days a quick swirl around the snifter coats the sides very well.

S-Burbon, vanilla, black strap molasses, a bit of boozyness that seems to come more from the bourbon then the brew itself but what do I know. As it warms the aromas really open up and brings out dark fruits and brown sugar. Wow factor on the smell for sure.

T-Big time bourbon and dark roasty malts. Vanilla bean and fudge, coco power and that blackstrap again. The barrel aging really shows but it does not over shadow this amazing brew.

m- Thick and viscous, smooth and creamy. It coats the mouth and then the perfect amount carb fizzes up and carries the liquid to a new level of complexity. I love a thick beer and this one is up there but not too much that one cant appreciated it.

D-Well I wish I had twice as much. Yes, it is a huge beer with lots of abv but it is by no means overly hot. As it warms a bit more of the heat comes out so Im thinking with some time this will be a perfect 5 in my book. Amazing beer from an amazing brewery, keep up the good work.

Serving type: bottle

Reviewed on: 11-21-2009 01:28:37 | id: 1042257

Well, I first heard about Black Tuesday back in early summer. Naurally, being a lover of great stout like myself, I have been dying to try this one. Endless thanks to davod23, the best trading partner in the world. Bottle shared with dear friend and fellow BA Hopfu on a rainy Tuesday afternoon alongside 09 Goose Island BCS and 09 KBS for comparison in the ever-faithful Duvel glass at cellar temperature. So onto the 19.5%, 20 malt, 15 month bourbon barrel-aged beast!
Wow, stunning packaging from choice of inks, paper and wax on this bottle. Admirable attention to detail in every respect. A gentle pour into the glass renders a one inch dark khaki head that soon recedes to the liquid surface. Rich, viscuous retention on the glass suggests some serious liquid extract. The body is black and dense as any world-class Imperial Stout. The aromatics are fantastic! One of the most lush dessert scents like Vahlrona lava cake and pure vanilla extract. No trace of booziness anywhere. My senses are fully engaged in anticipation at this point. Anchors aweigh, my boys! The attack is phenomenal. All sorts of extravagant analogies such as young vintage port, chocolate cream liquer, and black barleywine coming to mind. Neither the bourbon nor barrel component is overdone. The sweetness however is a slight challenge for me...moreso than I expected, but at these extremes is very well-managed. The finish becomes slightly one-dimensional due to the sweetness, but does reveal traces of alcohol. Ultimately delicious in every way, I truly believe that another year in the barrel would have made this even more integrated. It certainly deserves its place in the pantheon of all-time greatest stouts. While in the bar of my dreams, this would certainly be on tap, but I can't say that it is my all-time favorite. I will be checking in regularly to see how it ages though. So does it set a new benchmark for it's category? Absolutely. I, however, believe that The Bruery has the potential to produce even better beers than this one. It just reminds me how grateful I am to be alive during this unprecedented golden age of craft beer.

Serving type: bottle

Reviewed on: 11-20-2009 12:26:15 | id: 1042036

A bottle of this fortuitously made its way to the Rochester BA Tasting this past Saturday at the Tap and Mallet. My heartfelt thanks go out to Richard and Daren for making this possible. While I don't usually review beers I've had at tastings, I had a decent 3-4 oz. serving of this. While that may be too small an amount to review most beers, due to the nature of this amazing brew I don't think I would drink more than about 8 oz. of it at a time anyway (though I would definitely want to). Therefore, I feel justified in posting the notes and ratings that I took down at the tasting.

A: Pours pitch black with a beautiful tan head. Just a little lacing, but I can also see lots of legs sliding down the sides of the glass.

S: Bourbon, vanilla, chocolate, some oak, and warm, stinging alcohol. Definitely not your typical appear, but still quite amazing.

T: Similar to the nose, but even better! Bourbon is very apparent, but is complemented quite well by flavors of vanilla, molasses, caramel, and chocolate. Some toasty malts are also apparent. Heat from the alcohol is pretty apparent, but it works well with everything that is going on.

M: Amazingly smooth, very little carbonation. Warms just like brandy or bourbon going down.

D: The epitome of a sipper. As I noted above, I wouldn't want to drink a lot of this in one sitting, but a good 8-12 oz serving would probably last you well over an hour if treated right. The flavors and aroma and so complex and amazing - I wish I had a few bottles of this to sip on during the cold winter months. I was ready for a let down after all the hype, but after trying this I think most of the hype is definitely deserved. I'm not sure it deserves to be on the ridiculously high pedestal most traders put it on, but it is most certainly one of the best beers I've ever had the pleasure of tasting.

Serving type: bottle

Reviewed on: 11-19-2009 16:28:59 | id: 1041370

Bottle opened with largadeer and dyan on 11/6/2009 and poured into a snifter. The beer is black with a gigantic toffee head and excellent retention. Legs are evident on the sides of the glass.

The aroma is fantastic, with a dark fruit profile comprised of grapes, dark cherries, and plums. Molasses and maple are both evident. The aroma shows no indication of the near 20% alcohol content of the elixir. Vanilla, chocolate, oak, and brown sugar are all present. Bourbon is at a nice moderate level and all the elements are well balanced.

The flavor opens up with maple, toffee, chocolate, bourbon, and oak. It's delicious. The beer has a nice level of sweetness and the warming in the finish is the only indication of the alcohol content. Dark fruits are again evident, and I detect Blackstrap molasses.

The beer is full bodied with a nice medium level of draft carbonation. The carbonation level has indeed carried through to the bottles. The mouthfeel is creamy, silky, chewy, and at times it is sticky.

The bottle is every bit as delicious as the tap version. I'm glad I have case upon case of the stuff. This will be great to drink again, but it will also be great for cakes, pork roasts, steaks, and mixed drinks.

Serving type: bottle

Reviewed on: 11-19-2009 07:25:28 | id: 1041306

Thanks goes out to ___ for providing the bottle, went into some small snifters and split with friends. Review 475.

Midnight sky black with some dark muddy spots towards the edges. The beer pours thick and oil like and just looks like some gooey syrup. You may want to put some plastic down on your couch before enjoying this near 20%er, things could get tricky. Not really any head, save for a few small patches of brown bubbles. Nothing in terms of lace but there is a brown dirty film that remains on the glass.

Smells like sweet heaven. Black Tuesday has a bold nose, and it reaches far from the glass. An equal amount of roasted malt and chocolate attack the senses, opening my eyes. A nice vanilla base and minimal coffee. The bourbon is huge and makes me smile. BT smells like a souped up Bourbon County Stout mixed with a small bit of World Wide Stout, but with even more malt sweetness. Some molasses and licorice. The alcohol is masked very well but it's not 100% out of the way.

Tuesday is big, It's huge in fact. The two main tastes is dark rich chocolate and roasted malts working in unison together. Under that is more malt giving off more sweetness plus caramel. Expensive bourbon makes a move next and leaves my mouth a bit hot and boozy, but im loving it. The bourbon shines with temp. changes. Some oak from the barrel. Surprised not to get a lot of coffee out of BT, it's very minimal. For a beer this size I was expecting some soy sauce, luckily there was none, phew. Molasses and more malt in the finish, this stuff is big.

The alcohol is masked well but I can still tell it's there easily with a slight hotness, it's small and not in the way. BT is thick and viscous, chewy and RAW. Kind of goes down like a light syrup while taking small sips. This has a certain slickness going down leaving all the ingredients on the tounge, and then finishing with some hot booze. The bourbon seems to be sticking around the longest.

Slowly and surely I will make it through this darkness. BT demands some time and patience and a plate of assorted chocolates to heighten the experience. Spread the love and share with a friend or two or you may not make it into work the next morning. For the amount of alcohol and sweetness this beer is very approachable. I believe that while aging this may do something to the taste and heat, it wont exactly benefit greatly as it's huge and great right now

Black Tuesday actually reminded me of some of those big foreign stouts including some Mikeller stuff, Dark Horizon and the like, only with the American twist of doing it even bigger.

Serving type: bottle

Reviewed on: 11-16-2009 20:33:46 | id: 1039558

Cracked open a bottle of this last night with some friends. Pours viscous black with mocha head. Smells amazing - we all kept sniffing this over and over before even taking a sip. Sweet bourbon, brown sugar, and vanilla are all quite prominent. Tastes quite bourbony and sweet, with more brown sugar and vanilla. Maybe a hint of butterscotch in there too. After sampling this at GABF, I wasn't sure if I'd find it to be too sweet for my taste. Thankfully that was not the case. This tastes to me like Goose Island BCS squared. Body is very thick, and well supported by ample carbonation. Overall, an extremely delicious brew.

Serving type: bottle

Reviewed on: 11-15-2009 18:49:35 | id: 1038743

Well, had a chance to sample one of my precious few remaining bottles of this. It's made its way from tap to bottle spectacularly. I really don't have too much to change about my review (I invariably only review a beer once, regardless of how many serving variations I have, but I'll make an exception this one time). I'll put in all caps the differences.

Pours a dark black, with a surprisingly robust bubbling brown head. IF ANYTHING, IT MIGHT BE MORE CARBONATED IN THE BOTTLED VERSION, AS I REMEMBER THE HEAD DYING DOWN FASTER FOR THE ON-TAP VERSION. YAY FORCED CARBONATION.

Smells like molasses, brown sugar, heavenly bourbon (these guys have the f****g best bourbon barrels), vanilla, and a bit of spicy ... nuttiness? Caramel? Insane. Tons of roasted chocolate and malt.

Taste delivers on the promise of the smell. Just wondrous. More bourbon, more roasted bitter chocolate malt with an undercurrent of sweet milk chocolate, a crazy pecan/woody/earthy nutty aftertaste, that "vanilla in the raw" flavor, and layered brown sugar/molasses. Hints of oak/wood. This is absolutely great. IT'S BEEN IN THE BARREL A BIT LONGER, AND MAY BE A BIT STRONGER IN THE BOURBON AND VANILLA.

For what it is, the drinkability is dangerous and insane. Sticky, chewy, and thick. Rivals Dark Lord, Darkness, PtY, and World Wide Stout for thickest, chewiest beer I've ever tried.

One of a handful of beers I could legitimately call the best I've ever had. I will treasure this "twenty malt" version.

Serving type: bottle

Reviewed on: 11-15-2009 07:40:11 | id: 1038608

Bottle courtesy of RoyMunson.

Pours a very dark brown, damn near black in color. A nice mocha colored head on the pour. Looks very inviting.
Smell is dark molasses, some tobacco, and a little bit of alcohol in the nose. Smell is good.
Taste is incredibly smooth and creamy. Did I say creamy, this beer is absolutely ridonculous.
Plenty of roasted molasses, with a very nice dark chocolate flavor, milk shake material.
Plenty of hotness and alcohol coming through in the flavor. This is a good beer, but I doubt it's worth what people are giving up. I would take Vanilla Bean Dark Lord over this beer easily.

Serving type: bottle

Reviewed on: 11-15-2009 01:44:59 | id: 1038334

Huge thanks to Roymunson for sharing this during Munsonfest.

A: Pitch black, very thick but not quite motor oil or Dark Lord. Moderate head on the pour with just a bit of retention. Some wispy lacing.

S: Deep, rich fucking malts. Not burnt but very roasty with loads of deep sugary molasses. You can definitely tell that it's a huge beer bu the alcohol only comes out a bit and is already melding well.

T/M: I want to hate this beer bit I can't. This is very good. Deep, rich malts, but again, not burn. Deeply sweet molasses and caramel. Some muted hops but not huge like Expo. Damn fine alcohol line, not much heat but plenty of flavor that melds nicely. Light, flavorful wood with some vanilla but not tons of bourbon. Body is full but not heavy and very very creamy.

D: 19.5? I would never guess this past 12 or so but still incredibly drinkable. Like I said.... I want to hate this beer because of the hype but damn.... This is an incredible beer.

Serving type: bottle

Reviewed on: 11-15-2009 00:47:04 | id: 1038268

A- Poured about ten ounces into a Bruery tulip glass. Black Tuesday appears motor oil-black with a brief showing of light-brown foam that dissipates to a thin film over the beer and a thick ring along the inside of the glass. No lacing at all.

S- Bourbon whiskey, oak wood, and vanilla backed by hugely sweet notes of dark chocolate, molasses, anise, and dark fruits caramelized in brown sugar. There's little indication that this beer is almost 20% alcohol.

T- The initial taste is of suagry dark fruits- choclate covered raisins and dates- and loads of syrupy sweetness. Bourbon whiskey and oak barrel accent every flavor from start to finish. The 19.5% ABV is remarkeably well-hidden and the finish leaves deeply sweet flavors of chocolate syrup along with a mild espresso bitterness clinging to the palate and the sides of the mouth. There's just a touch of alcohol heat in the chest after each sip. The final taste is of woody bourbon barrel and molasses.

M- A rich, creamy mouthfeel with fine, delicate carbonation bubbles that provide just the right amount of balancing effervescnece to the viscous and slightly syrupy texture.

D- This is incredibly drinkable stuff given the immense ABV and the massively sweet flavors. I was able to finish my entire glass and was left wanting more.

One of the best beers I've ever had. I'll be interested to see what a few years of age will do, if anything.

Serving type: bottle

Reviewed on: 11-14-2009 08:29:57 | id: 1037899