I'm in Los Angeles for the weekend after booking spur of the moment tickets last week. My portfolio for ad school is due Wednesday and I wanted to get out of town and have my mind off it for a bit, so I'm back in the town I've called home for the last 9 years. We hear from Karl that there's an incredibly special beer pouring at The Bruery Provisions store, and of course that's the one place we don't really need an excuse to visit in the first place. Is it true that Black Tuesday is pouring here? Will we be too late?!
Black Tuesday, as you can read on the label below, is an Imperial Stout Aged in Bourbon Barrels. It's over 18% alcohol and it's been a Holy Grail for David and I for years now.
Every year the Bruery creates the opportunity to purchase a bottle of the brew online on a Tuesday and pick it up at the Bruery a week later. They sell out quickly and the website frequently crashes, so we've never been able to buy a bottle. But apparently The Bruery has made more this year. It's one of the highest rated beers on Beeradvocate, I believe, and it should be. Look at the price of the bottles on eBay:
Anyway, so we arrive and they not only have the Black Tuesday on tap, but the special edition Melange #3 which is 15.5% is also available. I'm stoked! These are beers off my bucket list.
So the Melange #3 is a blend of three bourbon barrel aged strong ales. White Oak Sap is a wheat wine, especially made for the Melange, is combined with The Bruery anniversary series old ale (I believe the Cuir) and the imperial stout, Black Tuesday. Talk about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. It's the beer on the left in the picture. It has an incredibly complex palate with chocolate, dark fruits, oak, vanilla and rich toffee. I mean, wow, so smooth. You can barely taste the alcohol too. It's one of those beers I could drink every day for the rest of my life. For $8 we are poured 4 oz of the Melange and 2oz of the Black Tuesday, on the right.
The Black Tuesday is aged in bourbon barrels for over a year and it has rich caramel, toasted malt, vanilla, and anise as some of the flavors. What's amazing is not only the complexity, but how well hidden the alcohol is. This is the 3rd beer I've tasted that's 18% and you can barely taste the alcohol. The other two were made by Dogfish Head, and the alcohol comes through like a hammer. Here it's a feather pillow. If the Melange is a beer I could wish to drink everyday, the Black Tuesday is my Friday night after work and special events drink. It's too powerful and too amazing to be drunk everyday, there needs to be an occasion, albeit a weekly occasion to drink this. What I love about the Bruery is they could make a living off making these two beers, but they're innovators and would become bored only making two beers. But God I wish they would. If these and a Bruery Mischief are the only beers in my beer closet for the rest of my life, I would survive.
After only drinking 6 oz of beer, both of us have a weird buzz going on. It's a very heady, kind of high, buzz because while we sipped these, the sips were incredibly potent and hit us all at once. Wild to be buzzed on half a can of beer. I must be feeling goofy because for these beers, I'd rather not be buzzed and continue drinking their complexity. But you can't always get what you want, right?
These beers were on my bucket list and I feel so incredibly appreciative towards life after drinking something this fantastic. Sounds a little sappy but true, it's pure greatness. The Black Tuesday has a 98 out of 100 rating on beer advocate:
B.A. Black Tuesday. Like Spinal Tap's drummers, I'm a bit worried about spontaneous combustion right now. BAD BOYS rating to both, obviously. Thank you David for driving down here.
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