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
Brewing stand is used to make potions in a more simple way than the cauldron. The process starts with glass bottles, which go in the 3 lower slots. The ingredients, which in the first round can be Nether Wart (Awkward potion, the base for other potions), Redstone Dust, Glowstone Dust, or Fermented Spider Eye (Potion of Weakness), go in the upper slot. Breaking the Brewing Stand will not cause a stand to drop. However if you break the Brewing Stand with a Pickaxe, the stand will drop.

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.