For the 2nd year in a row, heather and I went to Washington DC for Bruery’s annual Black Tuesday release party. This is only the 2nd year they’ve done this on the East Coast but since they’re a California based brewery, we don’t give them a hard time for that. I have been a Bruery member of some kind since 2012 when I co-opted my membership with Eric who lived near the brewery. When he graduated from their Reserve Society to Hoarders, I went with him and when he called it quits, I did as well. A gap year later, Chris locally joined me in joining RS again but then after shipping costs got too high, we too took a year off. Then Bruery announced a DC store with pickups on our coast and the biggest issue we had up to then was the shipping costs (and legalities of such an affair) so in 2017 we re-joined for the 2018 season and renewed for 2019 and while I will not be renewing for 2020, I will miss this event.
Black Tuesday is in its 10th year of production as a staple special release from Bruery. I love Black Tuesday base just as much as the variants and while most variants are never bottled, they do come out at the annual parties where single keg one-offs are produced. This year’s highlights:
Oh yeah, not the kind of beer tasting for someone who has issues with blood sugar regulation. It doesn’t help that the dessert pairings were comprised of 80% table sugar. We had an absolute blast. It’s all you can drink but honestly, how many 19-22% ABV Imperial Stouts can you actually consume in 3 hours without just being full and miserable long before the buzz even sets in? The food was fantastic. Cinnamon Toast Crunch Chocolate Rain was a highlight for me followed by Spicy Island Back Tuesday and Chcolate Reign.
Heather and I haven’t had a go-away vacation in a while and even though the trip was booked entirely with airline points, we had a blast. Getting back to the hotel at 9PM, changing and going down to Dupont Circle, walking past all of the embassies. We do that every time we’re in dc. It was 45F and raining and I had a snow-cone. Good times.
I’ll share the rest in photos:
Heather and I grabbed some Crowlers (Can Growlers) to go and a very special bottle released to Bruery Hoarders only this year which is a very wine forward version of Black Tuesday. Was great to get that bottle after hearing such great things.