Fast forward to today, people still feel the economy’s giant boot pressed firmly on their necks…losing life savings and homes all at the hands of the top 1% that control banks and corporations. At least we have delicious craft beer to sip and reminisce about the good old days before the world was a fanny pack filled with hot steamy Liger turds on a toboggan going off a cliff only to land in a penguin exhibit. Have you smelled a penguin exhibit? Good lord! So stinky!

Surely everyone has read about the Wall Street crash of 1929. Black Tuesday, October 29, 1929, saw a $30 Billion prolapse on the New York Stock Exchange. People lost life savings, houses and businesses. With prohibition also a factor of the time, poor bastards didn’t even have a delicious Bourbon Barrel aged Imperial Stout to fall back on. I’m sure they were pissed!

Every year around September, the buzz about The Bruery’s Black Tuesday begins. The Bruery Reserve Society emails are broadcast to every major beer news outlet, blog, and beer related forum. People want that beer! Imperial Stouts (or RIS) are one of my favorite styles of beer; yet I’ve never tried Black Tuesday. I wouldn’t mind a glass to enjoy next to a crackling fireplace, snuggled up with my gam-endowed wife while smooth jazz plays on a vintage 1979 RCA HiFi. What makes Black Tuesday so hyped? Is it better than other Imperial Stouts? What’s the story behind it?

Through my formidable detective work (youtube) I learned how Black Tuesday was born at the Bruery. Head ‘Bruer’ Tyler King was at the Yard House hammered drunk sloshing a half-yard of Racer 5 (allegedly). He was thinking of a recipe to deplete all the half-bags of malt lying around. He came up with a “kitchen sink” Imperial Stout that would do the job. During the 16 hour brue day for the beer, a mash paddle was accidentally left in the tun and got stuck in a valve. There was hot mash spewing everywhere! “Patrick was burned on the arms…it was bad” says Tyler. They aged the beer in bourbon barrels and the rest is history. The name derives from the color of the beer and the historic connotations of the historic stock market crash eighty years prior. I’m not sure if the price is a throwback to the $30 Billion lost back in 1929, as bottles are $30. It is also released on the last Tuesday of October, giving a nod to the wall street crash date.

Purchasing a bottle of black Tuesday is similar to traders in 1929 trying to sell off their worthless shares on the NY Stock Exchange floor. Black Tuesday morning at 10AM, the Bruery website sale opens; freezes, and every last drop is gone-baby-gone! If you happen to be a big Bruery fan, you can also join The Bruery Reserve Society; which gives you priority to purchase three bottles. The release party is Black Tuesday evening on 10/25 hosted in two sessions. The party sold out in five minutes! Feel free to drop by with your protest sign “I AM THE 99%”!