Placentia is lining up a four-beer launch window: The Bruery November releases land Tuesday, Nov. 3, with Island Meringue, The Malt Mill, Vanilla Volley and a new 12 Days of Christmas Ale all arriving the same day. The Bruery announced the lineup in an Oct. 26 email to customers, saying “All four releases arrive Tuesday, November 3!”
The email, archived on Milled, describes each beer but doesn’t list strengths. The ABVs below come from the bottle labels, which MyBeerBuzz published in August, so they’re the label numbers rather than figures from the release announcement.
The Bruery November releases side by side
| Beer | Style (per The Bruery) | ABV (label) | Barrels and adjuncts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Island Meringue | Barrel-aged sour blonde ale | 5.7% | Coconut, vanilla marshmallow fluff, vanilla, graham cracker flavor |
| The Malt Mill | American whiskey barrel-aged imperial stout | 19.7% | Westward Whiskey American single malt barrels |
| Vanilla Volley | Bourbon barrel-aged barleywine ale | 15.7% | Four Roses bourbon barrels; vanilla beans from Madagascar, Uganda, Ecuador and Congo |
| 12 Days of Christmas Ale | French oak-fermented Belgian-style dubbel with spices | Not published | French oak fermentation; spices |
Styles from The Bruery’s Oct. 26 release email. ABVs and barrel details from bottle labels as published by MyBeerBuzz.
The three barrel-aged bottles
Island Meringue is the lightweight of the group at 5.7%, a sour blonde built around coconut and vanilla marshmallow fluff. The Malt Mill sits at the other end at 19.7%, an imperial stout aged in Westward Whiskey American single malt barrels. Vanilla Volley is a 15.7% barleywine that spent time in Four Roses barrels before getting vanilla beans from four countries. MyBeerBuzz lists all three in 12.7-ounce bottles.
The labels carry The Bruery’s own tasting notes. Vanilla Volley’s, for example, mentions toffee, oak, vanilla, toasted caramel and marshmallow, and suggests sticky toffee pudding as a pairing. Those are the brewery’s words. We haven’t poured these yet, so we aren’t adding our own.
12 Days of Christmas Ale
The fourth beer is a holiday tribute. The Bruery calls it a French oak-fermented Belgian-style dubbel with spices, “Inspired by our celebrated 12 Days of Christmas collection,” and says it “brings together elements from past releases in a special tribute to the series.” No ABV or label has surfaced yet.
How to get The Bruery’s November bottles
The email points buyers to The Bruery’s online shop and says Reserve Society members get 15% off eligible purchases. If you’re tracking The Bruery’s bigger stouts too, our report on Lumen Noctis covers its 15.1% Black Tuesday-based collaboration with Celestial Mechanics.
One small heads-up: at least one beer-tracking listing has described Vanilla Volley as a stout. The brewery’s email and label both call it a barleywine, and that’s what we’re going with.
Four bottles, one Tuesday
Nov. 3 is a full day for Placentia: a light coconut sour, a near-20% whiskey-barrel stout, a vanilla barleywine and a spiced dubbel. Three of the four carry ABVs on their labels. The holiday dubbel is still keeping its strength to itself, and we’ll update when it doesn’t.
Transmission complete.
BEERALIEN.COM | Reporting on Earth’s finest craft beers from a galaxy far, far away.
