The Bruery - 9 Ladies Dancing (2024)

The Bruery’s 9 Ladies Dancing is one of our favorites and a consummate crowd pleaser. It’s an 11.3%-ABV strong ale taking inspiration from the legendary Italian dessert, tiramisu. The special ingredients in the 9 Ladies Dancing release include cacao nibs and coffee, vanilla and lactose—but the result is a lively, fruit-forward brew that’s hugely drinkable fresh, though built to age very gracefully.

At no point does this one feel overly weighty, despite its dessert influences. That suggestion of tiramisu was actually most apparent in the aroma for us, with comforting notes of coffee-soaked wafers and hints of caramel landing above the fruitier tones. The robust, roasted and creamy elements of tiramisu(-ish) are underpinned by a robust red-fruit character that shows through and expands quite a bit in the flavor. Chocolate-covered cherries. Milk-chocolate-y strawberries. Nicely roasted coffee and toffee elements that line up beside ripe red berries. As this warms, the milk chocolate and strawberry notes come through more clearly. We all kept going back to the aroma in trying to wrap our heads around this beer: its clear tiramisu angle is most evident there, and always as just one element of a deeply developed strong ale.

9 Ladies Dancing was endearing from the moment we poured it, but at around 50 degrees or so this opens up into its full potential: generous, layered fresh-fruit character that’s balanced by a subtle caramelization and secondary tiramisu notes: coffee, vanilla, cookie. It’s tough for us to think of a more suitable holiday-beer profile off the top of our heads: this one offers a lean and well-hidden boost of alcohol, a vast range of flavor profiles, adding up to fruitiness plus chocolate, and nothing whatsoever spice-heavy. This one is instead led by fresh berries, careful amounts of its special ingredients, and tiramisu nudges that never feel overdone here. Again, we kept going back to the aromatics to better understand all the things going on. This is absurdly generous, nicely integrated, with a perfect profile alongside holiday fare.

The 9 Ladies Dancing is drinking exceptionally well now and will mature gracefully for years to come. This beer paired with desserts such as its inspiration, tiramisu, or other cocoa, coffee, and red fruited desserts is a must, and can also be considered alongside dishes consisting of roasted Cornish hens, gorgonzola, and charcuterie.