WEEK 202---Black Tuesday beer memories

Was informed by tasting group geek friend that KL craft market is seeing some bottles for sale from The Bruery--including the big one that is Black Tuesday. Upon hearing this---somehow triggered some memories of our own early encounters with The Bruery and in particular the then hard to seek in Asia Black Tuesday(there were some Bruery bottles available for sale in Japan market but never seen BT ) as well the other weekday bottles.

啤迷朋友通知说本地craft beer专卖店多年後终于出现美国酿坊The Bruery一些作品可买，其中包括大名鼎鼎的Black Tuesday，一定程度来说这是有着某种进程象征意义的，

在本地craft beer前前后后大概十年左右历程中能直接在本地店家买到的美国大黑啤/大酒并不多，实际上用凤毛麟角来形容一点也不为过。这其中自然跟国家政策对酒精类商品不友善，本地craft beer市场基本来说认知不够，进口商和专卖吧或瓶子店数量有限等等客观主观因素影响有关。

说起黑色星期二系列，犹记得多年前我们几位分享会啤迷成员第一次有幸在本地喝到当时来说亚洲市场基本一瓶难求盛名大黑啤时的味蕾震撼，看到如今喜爱黑啤的新朋友可以直接在本地店家买到，难免勾起一些当时记忆和感慨。

It was one fine day back in 2015---absolutely by chance/luck that i got wind of a total stranger from US is coming to town with 2 bags full of top notch beers ( the likes of The Breury- Russian River- The Alchemist & more )--so i got in touch with Shawn the stranger via Insta chat---and the rest was history( link :- 2015 stranger tasting with Shawn ). 

以黑色星期二为主的系列黑啤（包括Grey Monday， Mocha Wednesday，Chocolate Rain等等）无疑是The Bruery最为啤迷称道作品，那时候的亚洲市场应该只有日本能找到The Bruery一些其他类型瓶子（但基本找不到黑色星期二系列大酒），2015年因为机缘巧合我们几位本地啤迷第一次能在吉隆坡两天内开喝由一位陌生美国啤迷带来分享的好几款The Bruery系列大酒是件相当于开了个亚洲以致欧美来说都是顶级水平的私人啤酒庆典那样的大事。(链接在上）

7-8 years ago, the #KLtastinggroup was still very much in it's early forming period--there were and still are 5 of us in the group--back then the way forward was to seek help from US/Europe geek friends to sent in beer mails--and obviously US brew was the focus in particular dark brew/big hitters from the likes of Alesmith--Cigar City--Three Floyds--The Bruery, as well as hops & saison / sours from the likes of Hill Farmstead--Russian River--The Alchemist and so on were the main seek ).

Among the US dark brew/big hitters we have tasted then--obviously The Bruery did shook some of our early years palate---and not only just Black Tuesday or Mocha Wednesday or Grey Monday or Chocolate Rain--but also others from The Bruery--in particular their anniversary brew from 2014 Sucre(one of the tasting group guys mentioned this as the one big beer which changed/shaped his idea about what beer can be)& 2015 Cuivre---as well as Smoking Wood bourbon  & rye whiskey variants--just to name a few.

七八年前我们几位的分享会还处在萌芽期，通过美国啤迷朋友帮忙自己找酒运来本地以满足亚洲市场找不到想要瓶子的缺憾，当时来说The Bruery是绝对重点对象（其他重点目标包括诸如Alesmith，Cigar City，Three Floyds，Russian River，The Alchemist还有Hill Farmstead等盛名美国酿坊特定作品）。

虽说黑色星期二系列是重点目标也是早期帮助我们几位打下鉴赏大黑啤基础的美国大酒（之一二三。。），不过这并不意味着值得一提的The Bruery作品就只那样，分享会成员当时喝到并留下一定印象的包括酿坊2014周年纪念作Sucre，2015周年作Cuivre以及充满烟熏和波本旧桶风味的桶陈黑啤Smoking Wood等等。

Fast forward to 2022--we know how craft beer is at times very trend dominated--just look at how NEIPAs has swept the market--as well how Pastry Stouts is the in-thing in recent times-- the in trend situation would mean certain breweries/beers are much more sought after than the rest--even names like The Breury is no exception to the in trend game where Black Tuesday is still very much a solid big dark brew but it is no longer the gone by the seconds sort of "hyped"/"most sought after FOMO" beer it probably was years ago.

随着时间推移加上craft beer潮流关系，近几年甜点黑啤（pastry stouts）大行其道意味着一些被啤迷追捧新贵酿坊的冒起，强者如The Bruery的风头自然也无可避免的被掩盖，或许对我们几位来说黑色星期二系列已成为啤酒探寻过程中的经典作品（这样说并不带贬义），黑色星期二系列作品依然是实力派大酒，虽然因为酒精度偏很高（17-18度是小事，超过20度也常有）对我们几位已再没有开始那么吸引，不过对新人来说The Bruery大黑啤作品仍是可提升味蕾鉴赏力的习题，还没试过的新人们可以小酌细味试试，更何况如今的黑色星期二已不限于750毫升瓶装而是有了更小容量的罐装可供选择，更适合了解喝少嚐多乐趣的新朋友。

To see some Bruery's bottles including Black Tuesday being made available for sale here in KL is quite a mark for the local scene--for the past 10 years or so--to put it quite bluntly--the local craft market has seen really few big hitters from the US being imported for sale here--hence to see Black Tuesday 2021 available locally both in bottle & can is quite a moment.  Though personally and tasting group wise Black Tuesday( in part due to it's high abv) is no longer what we seek for -- it is still a big dark brew that newbies should try out-- still very much a proper palate training big beer imho.