Earthy in OC

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Exciting news from The Bruery. They are changing up the infrastructure of their beer brands with the new Bruery Terreux (“Earthy Bruery”), a “brand that will focus solely on farmhouse-style ales fermented with wild yeasts as well as oak-aged sour ales.  The Bruery’s original brand will rededicate its focus specifically on experimentation with non-wild ales, modern twists on classic styles and aging beer in bourbon and other spirit barrels.”

All brewing operations will remain as is with the exception of the Terreux wort will be then “transported to their own facility a few miles down the road.  All fermentation, barrel aging and packaging will take place at this second facility.”

And the two brands will eventually have two separate tasting rooms by 2015 (if all goes to plan).

According to the new website, the “current brands from The Bruery that are brewed with wild yeasts or bacteria such as Saison Rue, Oude Tart, or Hottenroth Berliner Weisse, will be transitioned to Bruery Terreux.  The recipes will remain the same, but will be overseen by wild beer specialists and will be bottled under the new branding.”

I am still processing this change and what it means from a marketing and customer standpoint. But at first glance it seems a change more for streamlining brewing operations.  I do see that down the road, some loyal customers may be confused that one person who likes Hottenroth and another that likes Burly Gourd may have to drink at separate locations.  Unless beers from each arm are made available at each location.  That is all speculative though since this is 2014 and things will probably evolve from here.

More news on this change as it becomes available.

 

What Day is It? Tuesday

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What did you expect from a Bruery beer with Tuesday in the name?  A light lager?  Nope.  Tuesday means Imperial Stout.  Which the Bruery crew knows in and out plus barrel aging which they also know a skosh about as well.  All I know is that you should get it if you can.

A Beer for Michael Jackson, no the other one.

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There are some weird beers and weird named beers on the Bruery Reserve Society list.  But for the mere mortals who are not in that rareified group this looks like one that you should be on the look out for since it came out on the 10th.  It will be a big bruiser at 15% but I like when the Bruery goes English.

And then there are two more coming in the months ahead that sound really good.  6th Anniversary – Sucré and a chocolate dubbel with the hard to spell name of Couverteur.

Review – Shegoat from The Bruery

It has been awhile since I have had a beer from the Bruery.  Don’t know why that is, just happened.  Time to remedy that with a new Germanic offering that I found for under $10 at Trader Joe’s of all places.

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The beer pours a brownish/red color.  Cool to see the Bruery folks going back to their homebrew roots for this one. And good to see that it is a straight up German weizenbock (ish) beer.  Aroma is a bit milk chocolate covered raisin with some alcohol heat in there.  The taste is pretty sweet.  Getting some caramel notes here.  Sort of bready and pudding tasting to me.  The sweetness that I initially tasted fades away as a it drys out on the palate. Certainly a departure for the brewery but I like the adventure in this.

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Sean Suggests for December 2013

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Time to break out and strong for Christmas. Get some beers to share with the family and friends around the fire. Here are three excellent and diverse choices for the Christmas.

~LIGHT

Grand Teton / Coming Home Belgian Dubbel 7.5% ABV

“Brewed in the Belgian Dubbel tradition, this year’s Coming Home Holiday Ale is big and bold yet imminently drinkable. Coming Home 2013 features celebratory flavors of dark sugar and raisins and a spicy, dry finish. It was brewed with pale and brown malts plus special dark candi sugar. The sugar addition provides a sweet aroma and dark fruit flavors without the cloying thickness typical of all-malt brews. Coming Home 2013 was fermented with ale yeast from a Belgian Trappist monastery to add hints of nutmeg, clove and other holiday spices. At 7.5% ABV this is an ale to be savored, enjoyed with friends over a holiday meal or paired with flavorful cheeses.”

~MEDIUM

The Bruery / Six Geese A Laying 11.5% ABV

“6 Geese-A-Laying is the 6th beer in our “12 Days of Christmas” series and is a return to the more classic dark and toasty winter ale, following the
appropriately blonde 5 Golden Rings. Brewed with cape gooseberries, this malty ale displays notes of plums, dark cherry and bright, citrus-like flavors from the namesake berries. Delicious right now, but suitable for aging up to 6 years, upon the release of 12 Drummers Drumming”

~DARK

He’Brew / Jewbelation Reborn 17 17.0% ABV

“How could we hope to top last year’s Jewbelation Sweet 16 with its cupcakes, unicorns, & Satan’s Ferrari birthday cake? massive challenge. So for Year 17, we threw in a whole new dimension to our shtick – we built our very own brewery! After 17 years of contract brewing, our first Shmaltz Clifton Park batch emerged 17 months after the first draft of the business plan.”

Food GPS Teaser – Scary Bottles

In tomorrow’s Food GPS Brew & You column, I touch on three wildly different beers that I was too scared to try until now but for those in an unadventurous mood, here are the Top 5 Pumpkin beers as rated on RateBeer.

1. Midnight Sun T.R.E.A.T. Imperial Chocolate Pumpkin Porter (Oak Aged)
2. Selins Grove Pumpkin Ale
3. Southern Tier Oaked Pumking
4. Avery Rumpkin
5. The Bruery Autumn Maple (Barrel aged)

How many have you had?

My favorite pumpkin ale is from TAPS in Brea.  Victor Novak has crafted a beer that has the spice notes but is pumpkiny.  Like having a slice of pie.

#LABW5 Pick of the Night – Monday 9/23

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Each morning throught L.A. Beer Week, I will give you my Pick of the Night.  The ONE event I think rises to the top of the list.  Some days that choice will be harder and there might be 1A and 1B’s (if I get wishy-washy).  I will endeavor to pick events you can just head out to.  But if tickets are required, I will mention it.  But expect crowds.  Craft beer and craft beer in L.A. is popular.

Brue d’état with The Bruery at The Glendale Tap

Monday September 23rd 2013 6:00 pm-12:00 am

d’eTap list includes 6 rare beers and then some:

  • Oude Tart
  • Bottleworks XII
  • Praecocia
  • Windowsill
  • Batch 1000: BRYEIAN
  • Loakal Red

Bottle pours & bottles to-go

  • Bottleworks XII
  • Beauregarde
  • Sour in the Rye on Kumquats
  • Mash & Grind

Review – The Bruery Batch 1000 Bryeian

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I was lucky enough to steward at the Bruery competition for the Batch 1,000. I didn’t taste the eventual winner from Brian Pramov & Bryan Keas of Denver who won best in show. But I did taste a few contenders that tasted more Bruery-esque than what I find with this Cascadian Dark Rye Ale.

Not to intimate that this is a bad beer. It is a solid example of the dark IPA category. It just is not what I expect from the Placentia brewery. It is hoppy first with rye and chocolate behind it. Has a bright sparkle to it. It just doesn’t have the “house” taste to it. Maybe that is what drew the final judges to this beer. It drew me in for sure.

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So I finished the Owen King book, Double Feature which I give a mild recommendation to and I am now up at night reading NOS4A2 by his sibling Joe Hill. The book jacket promises alternate universes which I am a sucker for.  Oh and the whole good vs. evil thing is a draw as well.

Food GPS Teaser – Friendly Banter

Before the main event at the Brewbound – Brew Talk at Golden Road. A diverse panel of speakers covering three sectors of the craft beer ecosystem were called to the podium to talk about the State of Beer in Los Angeles.

Included were Anne Conness the chef for Simmzy’s, Jace Milstead the beer guru for Ace Distribution and Jeff Sapsford from Sunset Beer.

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Here are some tidbits from their talk (in no particular order of importance).
You have to “earn” the privilege of pouring special beers. You don’t get the uber rare beer if you don’t support the rest of a breweries beers.

It would be great to go to signature L.A. landmarks and see signature L.A. beers served there.

You have to have IPA’s on at least 1/3 of your taps.

If you are brewing beer, two key things: Consistency and Availability.

Seems like anyone who gets fired decides to open a brewery.

Be a part of the market.

On Food GPS tomorrow, what I took away from business discussion between The Bruery and Golden Road.

Bois

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Here is a peak at the pretty label for the latest anniversary beer from The Bruery.   “Bois” is French for “Wood.”  Each year the names of the anniversary ales correspond with traditional wedding anniversary gifts as translated in the French language.  Though I don’t recall getting anything wooden on my fifth.

These are big blended beers that utilize the Solera method where each beer is partially comprised of a blend of past anniversary beers.  So you will taste Fruet and Coton and Papier in Bois.