Brewing Stand

The Brewing Stand is a block used for Brewing potions and splash potions, replacing the cauldron after the Beta 1.9 pre-release. It was revealed on September 30, 2011, when Jeb posted these 2 tweets:

Usage
A brewing Stand is required to make potions. When right-clicked, the brewing stand interface shows. The Brewing Stand interface has 4 slots. The bottom 3 slots are for glass bottles. These bottles must be filled with water or a potion. The upper slot is used to brew an ingredient into the potions below. The items which can be used as ingredients on water bottles are: Nether Wart (Awkward potion, the base for other potions), Redstone Dust,[Ghast Tears] Glowstone Dust, Glistering Melon, Magma Cream or Fermented Spider Eye. Brewing Stands will only drop as an item if mined with a pickaxe.

Trivia

 * When the first brewing stand appeared, it had an additional 2D sub-stand for bottles,(see the first picture in the gallery) but now the stands for bottles have been designed in 3D.
 * When you punch a brewing stand, it becomes darker.