Happpppy Newwww Yearrrrr!!!!

Well, the holidays are just about over and it’s the beginning of a new year.  We hope everyone got what you were wishing for this year!  If not, you can always pick up some Bruery beer at the Tasting Room to make up for it.

This weekend we will be closed Friday so that everyone can recover comfortably from their New Year’s festivities, however we’ll be open for normal business hours on Saturday and Sunday.

Also, if you’ve signed up for the Reserve Society, this is the first weekend your 15% discount will be in effect so come take advantage of it!

 

This weekend we’ll be pouring –

Orchard White

Saison Rue

Rugbrød (available for growler fills)

Berliner Weisse (available for growler fills)

Humulus XPA (available for growler fills)

2 Turtle Doves

We wish everyone a safe, happy New Year and we’re looking forward to seeing you in the first weekend of 2010!

LAST CHANCE-- GET YOUR BRUERY RESERVE SOCIETY MEMBERSHIP TODAY OR TOMORROW!

We're closing our Reserve Society registration by the end of the day tomorrow (December 31st), so get your membership while you still can.

Buy through our website: http://www.brueryprovisions.com/-The-Bruery-Reserve-Society-2010-Membership_p_694.html

Here's the details on the Reserve Society:

The Bruery Reserve Society is a revered group of beer enthusiasts who wish to gain access to the most esoteric beers The Bruery has to offer. In this inaugural year, we'll be offering 400 memberships to the Reserve Society. Reserve Society members will have first pick at special releases. There will be releases that will only be available to Reserve Society members. As an inaugural member, you'll also have the first right of refusal to join in 2011.

Price: $195

Benefits:
- One bottle of Barrel Aged Autumn Maple, one bottle of White Oak, and one bottle of 2 Turtle Doves
- In October / November of 2010, members will receive one bottle of Black Tuesday (2010 version) and Barrel Aged 2 Turtle Doves.
- Reserve Society Zip Hoodie
- Entrance for two to the Reserve Society Initiation Celebration (January 16, 2010)
- Access to Reserve Society-only events (barrel tastings, release parties; additional charges may apply)
- Access to purchase special bottle release allocations (in person or through our website; allocations only for Reserve Society members. Bottle limits will vary from release to release.)
- Shipping of allocated beers (shipping cost not included, will ship only within CA)
- 15% off all tasting room and Bruery Provisions purchases (Cannot be combined with other offers or discounts)
- Access to special growler fills
- First right of refusal for 2011 membership

Anticipated 2010 Special Bottle Releases:
- Oude Tart - Flemish Red (scheduled release in mid-January)
- Melange #1 - Flemish Red / Imperial Stout Blend
- Melange #3 - Barrel Aged Strong Ale Blend
- White Zin - Sour ale with Zinfandel Grapes
- White Oak - Blended Barrel Aged Wheatwine / Golden Strong Ale
- 100% barrel-aged Coton - Barrel Aged Old Ale
- Black Tuesday Imperial Stout - Barrel Aged Imperial Stout
- 100% barrel-aged 2 Turtle Doves - Barrel Aged Holiday Beer
- Perhaps a few other releases up our sleeves

A few details:
The registration period will close on December 31st, 2009, or when all memberships have been sold. Membership begins on January 1, 2010 and ends December 31, 2010. Due to unfair and archaic alcohol laws, we cannot ship out-of-state. Those who are out-of-state may be members, but they must elect a trustee to pick up or receive your shipments within California. Please list the CA Trustee as your shipping address on this order. If you would like to pick up your items, please select store pickup at checkout. If you would like us to ship to you or your trustee in CA, please select ground shipping.

Oude Tart on tap - Happy Holidays from The Bruery!

Season's Greetings!

We will be closed on Christmas Day (this Friday), however we will be open this Saturday and Sunday for normal business hours.  Since it’s the last weekend of the year so we thought we’d go out in style – with a new beer.  Our Flemish Red has been aging in red wine barrels for 18 months and we’ve finally decided to share it. 

Oude Tart, as it’s been named, is a delicious balance of sour and funk with subtle hints of leather and cherry.  This will be a preview of the beer that will be bottled and released at the Reserve Society Initiation celebration in January.  Unfortunately, Oude Tart will not be available for growler fills.  Bottles will be available for sale after the initial Reserve Society allocations are made at the beginning of the year. 

Speaking of the Reserve Society, we’re getting to the end of available memberships and this will be the last weekend to purchase them in person at the Tasting Room.  Following that they will be available on line for a limited time if any are left unclaimed.  If you don’t get what you want this holiday, treat yourself to the gift of beer! 

If you do get something you don’t want this year, bring it to The Bruery!  We’ll be holding a “Misfit Gift Swap” this Sunday.  Bring in the gifts you weren’t thrilled about and choose someone else’s from the collection.  One man’s misfit gift is another’s treasure of course.

This week’s full lineup:

Orchard White

Rugbrød (available for growler fills)

Hottenroth Berliner Weisse (available for growler fills)

Saison Rue

2 Turtle Doves

Humulus XPA (available for growler fills)

Oude Tart

  We hope everyone has a happy, healthy, beer-filled holiday and we’ll see you soon!

Need last minute holiday gift ideas?? We've got new merch!

It's a familiar scenario.  Just a few shopping days left and you have so much shopping left to do.  Maybe you're like me and you haven't even started yet.  Fear not, though my partners in procrastination, The Bruery has you covered.

We just got a fresh shipment of merchandise and these new items are definite winners in the gift category.  For the cooler weather we have these great new long sleeve thermal shirts with The Bruery logo and our tulip glass logo on the back collar.

We also have this very stylish long-sleeve baseball tee.  Here's the front - 

...and the back - 

Now you can all be members of Famille Rue!  A new short sleeve option is in as well in the form of this "vintage" blue t-shirt.  It's very soft!

And finally, if you're looking for the perfect stocking stuffer, look no further than this nice, warm Bruery beanie!

These are all on sale now at the Tasting Room.  We're also still selling our holiday gift baskets and the best gift of all - Bruery Reserve Society memberships.  It's the gift that gives the gift of beer all year!

Cheers and Happy Shopping,

Stef

Get out your holiday sweater...we're having a party!

Normally we don't post about Tasting Room events until later in the week, however I wanted to get this out asap early this week since I'm sure everyone has their holiday plans well underway. We've got lots going on so hopefully you can fit in a trip to the Tasting Room!

First off we'll be kicking off the weekend with that cask of dry-hopped Humulus XPA Tyler was telling you about.  Because really, can you ever have too much of a good thing (I'm referring to the hops, of course)?  

We'll also be holding our holiday party at the Tasting Room.  This party is a holiday sweater theme, so please come dressed to impress (or amuse) in your favorite holiday sweater.  If you need an idea, here's a good example of what we're talking about... 

 

Don't feel bad if you can't find one this good.  This is a medal-winner as far as I'm concerned; not easy to come across.  

This will also be a charity related event for Project 23, benefitting homeless and families in need here in Orange County.  We ask that you donate an unwrapped, first use toy for girls under the age of 12.  As a thank you for your participation, we'll be raffling off some items including a few of our favorite beers from the archive to those who contribute.  

We'll also serve a few light snacks, because what's a holiday party without snacks?

Speaking of snacks, on Saturday night our friends at Kogi BBQ will be stopping by to serve some of their delicious Korean BBQ for your enjoyment (and ours) so come hungry!

You can also pick up some last minute holiday gifts like Bruery Reserve Society memberships, Bruery gear (including our new beanies!), and gift baskets.  

Hope to see you there!

Just to recap...

Tyler and Ben made my job extra easy this week by already telling you all the cool stuff going on.  So just to recap - 

Friday we'll be tapping our new yet-to-be-named Humulus extra pale ale.  Together we'll celebrate the delicious hoppy session beer that is this Humulus (blank)!

Saturday we'll be starting Holiday Beer Geek Show & Tell around 5 pm.  Just a note - since these get-togethers have grown a bit in popularity, we're asking that you please limit your contribution to 2 beers.  This will help us make sure we get to each and every one of the delicious beers that you bring with you.  

As Ben mentioned, you'll also get to try some of the fry-licious concoctions from Frysmith, so come hungry!

We'll be serving Hottenroth Mimosas on Sunday, and you'll still be able to purchase gift baskets and Reserve Society memberships (while they last!).  See you there!

Two Years Now

Has it really been that long?...
It was two years ago when I first started here at the Bruery and after reading my very first blog post I kind of miss those days… See, back then a regular day was coming in around 8 am, maybe getting on the phone and placing a few orders, and then starting to build and place the equipment you see in the Bruery today. When I look back on it, I thought it was hard at the time but now realize how fun and easy it really was! I love creating and building things, from an early age you would see me following my father around with my toy hammer trying to help him out. As I grew up, so did my love for creating things; this probably explains why I wanted to become a brewer. After Patrick and I had everything settled in its final resting place, it was time to start brewing. Over the next few months we worked out most of the kinks in the system (some we still have today) and finally got the brewery running somewhat smoothly. Ben Weiss (now our Marketing and PR guy) was hired on and helped create some new kinks (cough...Black Tuesday...cough); Yes Ben, I am still blaming you for leaving the mash paddle in the tun and making the mess that it did (I know Patrick was there too, but he signs my checks!) but hey, I guess it worked out!

Fast forward to today and we still have kinks every now and then. When I left the brewery today Travis, our lead brewer, was dealing with a stuck mash that will probably land him at the brewery until late tonight. My regular day still begins at 8am, though you’ll find me here a lot earlier now. My day still consists of making phone calls, checking my e-mail (which seems to increase on a daily basis), and talking to the press every now and again, which is new to me (I feel like such a dork being in front of a camera, I don’t know how Patrick does it.) At some point in the day I try and make it out on the brewery floor but seem to be kicked out by Jay and Travis because I’m just getting in their way. I usually head back to my desk and start thinking about scheduling issues, raw materials, warehouse design (don’t get me started on this), brew house layout, cleaning kegs, water supply and all the work that has to be done before the holiday but we can’t fit it in (mostly because of our water supply!) Oh, did I mention how many kegs we are going to have to clean in the new year? Ahhh!

I may not be designing (I have a BA in advertising), building or even brewing as much as I used to but after looking back at the past two years I wouldn’t have it any other way. This sure beats the old days of being all alone while Patrick was off spreading the word of our newly opened brewery. Hell, now I even have four people in the brew house to bug all day. The most exciting change over the past two years for me happens when I call my vendors . They know who we are; this beats the long conversation of “what brewery are you with?” – vendor, “I’m with The Bruery” – me, “I know you’re with a brewery, which brewery?”- vendor. This happened on every phone call for at least three months!


A little info on our new, as of now “nameless” beer we will be tapping this weekend.

It was about three weeks ago when we decided to start yeast propagation for Saison De Lente. Seeing that we usually always have a steady supply of our proprietary yeast strain, we needed to prop up some Brettanomyces. Usually doing a yeast prop, I would harvest the yeast and dump the “beer” that we used to prop it; this time, since it would be tying up a fermenter, I thought it would be fun to brew a 100% Brett - Extra Pale Ale. I kept the recipe fairly simple with Vienna as my base malt and a little C-15 and Kiln Amber for taste and color. I really enjoyed the hop profile of Humulus Lager ,so I thought I would keep it along the same lines, I lowered the IBU level to around 40 and used half the flavor and aroma hops that Humulus Lager used. Jay and I first brewed seven barrels and were very happy with the end result; we pitched the starter yeast and went home. The next morning I came in at 7am and checked the fermenter; it wasn’t bubbling away. I climbed up the ladder and opened the man-way, I poked my head in and saw fermentation! At this time most brewers probably would have taken a gravity, pH and dissolved oxygen reading just to make sure it really was fermenting (it wasn’t by the way.) After climbing back down the ladder I headed straight to the mill and started milling for the second part of the batch. The first brew tasted great but was a little too dark for me, so Jay and I left all the specialty malt out of this brew. About half way through the brew Patrick came up to me and mentioned something about not dry hopping this beer. You see when we dry hop our Humulus Series beers we lose a lot of the product due to the hops. I loved this idea because this beer didn’t need any dry hops and it meant that we would have that much more of it to drink. I ran straight to the brew house where Jay was working away and eagerly told him to double the whirlpool addition hops (to make up for the lack of dry hops). Jay’s face lit up with excitement! We knocked out the second brew into the fermenter and were delighted with the color and flavor of the day’s brew. Everything went so well over the two day brew; the color ended up being a little darker than I would have liked but I should have expected that when we went with Vienna as the base malt instead of two row.

Over the next four days I walked into the brewery each day hoping to see the fermenter bubbling away, but nothing. How can this yeast starter batch that we brewed not ferment? I’m dead I thought, I’m really in deep sh**! After a few phone calls to Patrick to tell him the bad news we decided to pitch our house strain and forget about the yeast prop and 100% Brett E.P.A that would’ve come from it. At the time we only had pitchable yeast from our 3-4 week old Saison Rue that was getting ready to be bottled the following Monday. We already harvested yeast from this batch twice before and the only yeast that was left was either stressed or dead, not ideal either way. We pitched the yeast hoping for the best and came in the next morning disappointed again. Luckily, we were brewing this day which meant we would have fresh viable yeast; after pitching yeast for the day’s brew we attached the yeast hose to the E.P.A tank and added fresh viable yeast. When we came in the next morning it was happily bubbling away, what a relief! After its week or so ferment, I pulled a sample from the tank and Travis and I tried it: low to medium body, nice mouth feel, extra dry and great hop aroma. It was still a little darker than what I was hoping for though. Travis and I both agreed that it didn’t need much more, maybe a little bit of cold conditioning but hop wise we liked it where it was (what were we thinking, you can never have too many hops!) I told Travis to come up with a dry hopping schedule and he did: one pound of Columbus hops in a fifteen barrel batch. When he told me how much he added I started to laugh; I have never heard of someone using so little hops for a dry hop addition. After a week and a half of dry hopping and cold conditioning, we pulled another sample. It was delicious! That one pound of dry hops changed the flavor ever so slightly and in a good way. The beer ended up being a little darker than it should have been (reminds me of Sierra Nevada), 4.3% ABV, crazy dry (from the low mash temp we did when we thought it would be a 100% Brett beer) and with a great citrus hop presence that you can have pint after pint of. The Brett character mildly comes through for most people but I think it will grow with time, which hopefully we won’t find out because this beer needs to be consumed right now! Look for a cask of this sometime this month; we dry hopped it in the cask with the hops Kevin had growing outside of the home brew shop! As for the name, I think Tyler’s Birthday E.P.A (my birthday is on the 28th) sounds good but we’ll probably end up calling it Humulus something…

P.S. I think this long post makes up for the lack of posts by me!!

An extra gift for Holiday Beer Geek Show & Tell

We've got an extra little surprise for you guys this Saturday and I'm horrible with surprises so I'm just gonna spill the beans.

When you show up here on Saturday with your awesomely delicious beers to share. Or if you are just here to grab a glass of Two Turtle Doves or Rugbrød as a lovely holiday warmer and perhaps pick up a gift basket for that beer lover who you still haven't bought a gift for, we aren't going to leave you hungry.

Saturday, at about 5:30, the infamous Frysmith truck will be pulling up to our Tasting Room to share their delectable french fry concoctions. If you haven't had a chance to try this new LA food truck yet, this is a great chance, especially since it will be a rare OC appearance for them. And seriously...what pairs better with beer than french fries smothered with fire roasted poblano chiles, caramelized onions and shawarma-marinated steak with jack cheese? What?! I ask, What?!

Check out the Frysmith at www.eatfrysmith.com and start thinking about what you're gonna order once that Saturday night hunger emerges.

Rajas Fries

Chili Cheese Fries

First Firkin Friday; Upcoming Holiday Beer Geek Show & Tell

2 Turtle Doves, our winter seasonal, has been conditioning in a firkin with vanilla beans and for your enjoyment (and mine!), we’ll be serving it this Friday.  I’m thinking the vanilla will be a beautiful addition to the chocolate, nutty flavors that already exist in this beer.  Come down Friday and try for yourself!

On Sunday, we’ll continue to make Hottenroth Mimosas for anyone interested in trying them.  We’ll also continue serving Melange #3 until it’s gone. 

We’re planning lots of fun and festive events this month in honor of the holidays so keep your eyes open for these emails as we’ll be announcing them soon.  I do want to give everyone a head’s up that we’ll be holding a Holiday Beer Geek Show & Tell next weekend (Saturday 12/12) so you can start thinking about what you’ve got!  This will be a holiday themed BGST so bring your favorite winter/holiday beers to share if you’ve got them. 

Bottles of White Oak are still available, as well as new winter themed gift baskets (with 2 Turtle Doves as the seasonal).  We are also still selling Reserve Society memberships, however we are getting low on them so if they’re on your Holiday Wish List don’t wait too long!

We’ll be releasing a few new beers this month so be on the lookout for details on those as well.  We look forward to seeing you this weekend! 

Cheers,

Stef & the other folks at The Bruery

First Firkin Friday; Upcoming Holiday Beer Geek Show & Tell

2 Turtle Doves, our winter seasonal, has been conditioning in a firkin with vanilla beans and for your enjoyment (and mine!), we’ll be serving it this Friday.  I’m thinking the vanilla will be a beautiful addition to the chocolate, nutty flavors that already exist in this beer.  Come down Friday and try for yourself!

On Sunday, we’ll continue to make Hottenroth Mimosas for anyone interested in trying them.  We’ll also continue serving Melange #3 until it’s gone. 

We’re planning lots of fun and festive events this month in honor of the holidays so keep your eyes open for these emails as we’ll be announcing them soon.  I do want to give everyone a head’s up that we’ll be holding a Holiday Beer Geek Show & Tell next weekend (Saturday 12/12) so you can start thinking about what you’ve got!  This will be a holiday themed BGST so bring your favorite winter/holiday beers to share if you’ve got them. 

Bottles of White Oak are still available, as well as new winter themed gift baskets (with 2 Turtle Doves as the seasonal).  We are also still selling Reserve Society memberships, however we are getting low on them so if they’re on your Holiday Wish List don’t wait too long!

We’ll be releasing a few new beers this month so be on the lookout for details on those as well.  We look forward to seeing you this weekend! 

Cheers,

Stef & the other folks at The Bruery

We're thankful for Melange #3...on tap this weekend.

Ah Thanksgiving. It’s a time for family, friends, and food. And if you’re anything like us, it’s a time for beer. To help celebrate this great holiday, we’ve decided to pull out one of our favorite beers to share with you – Melange #3.

The last time we had this beer on draft we had yet to release any of it’s components. This beer is a delicious blend of three of our biggest, most sought after beers – Papier, White Oak Sap, and Black Tuesday. We have since released all three, so now that you’ve hopefully had a chance to try them, you can see what they become together. It’s been a while and I’m very excited to have this one back in the Tasting Room for a limited time.

After Thanksgiving of course comes Black Friday (not to be confused with Black Tuesday). This is usually a time for fighting crowds and finding sales. We’re happy to provide an alternative to the shopping madness, or a place to go once you’ve finished. We’ll be open normal business hours all weekend so if you’ve got family in town it’s a perfect time to take them out for a beer, or to maybe to get away and get yourself a beer!

You can even do some of your shopping here, as we’ll be having little merchandise closeout on certain items on Friday. We’ll have all of our gift items available including t-shirts, hoodies, work shirts, keychains, bottle stoppers – we also still have gift baskets available. Plus, for the beer lover in your life Bruery Reserve Society memberships make great holiday gifts. It’s the gift of beer that lasts all year!

We will also continue to have Hottenroth Berliner Weisse Mimosas on Sundays, so if you didn’t get a chance to try them last weekend, you will still have your chance. They are a pretty tasty way to end your weekend.

Also, thanks so much to everyone who participated in our food drive last weekend! It’s great to be able to contribute to good causes, especially during the holidays.

There’s still a bit of White Oak on draft for those who missed it, and bottles are still available. We’ll be looking forward to waking up from a tryptophan induced sleep and sharing the rest of the weekend with you!

Cheers,

Stef & the other folks at The Bruery

A Little Homebrew Video

Our good friend Claire, who writes an amazing food and drink blog called The Kitchy Kitchen, stopped by a few weeks back to learn a bit from Patrick and pick up some homebrewing equipment along with a recipe for our Humulus Blonde. The beer she ended up making won a silver medal at the LA Queen of the Brew competition! Congrats Claire!

Here is a video of the entire process from purchase to tasting and also check out Claire's blog for other food and mixed drink recipes at www.thekitchykitchen.com

Home Brewing from Claire Thomas on Vimeo.

Thanksgiving news! Holiday food drive THIS WEEKEND at the Tasting Room. Oh, and White Oak too. And Berliner Weisse Mimosas!

I think that should get me the award for longest blog title ever.  

Thanksgiving is just 1 short week away and I can't believe it!  But believe it or not here we are, so in the spirit of the holiday, we’ll be holding a canned food drive all of this coming weekend!  The food collected will be donated to Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County, a fantastic organization dedicated to fighting hunger. 

To get everyone in the giving mood, we’ll try to do our part too!  Friday through Sunday, we’ll offer a discount on draft beer to anyone who makes a donation to our food drive.  Just bring in canned goods/nonperishable items and we'll give you a deal on your beer.  Let’s toast to the spirit of giving!   

Also, everyone has been asking, so I'm happy to announce that we will be serving White Oak on draft this weekend.  It is a very limited amount, so we will be unable to fill growlers, but we will be serving by the glass.  Also, we do still have bottles of it available, both for individual sale and as a part of Reserve Society memberships.

If you're in town on Sunday, stop in to try my favorite concoction Berliner Weisse concoction, the Hottenroth Mimosa.  Just substitute the beer for the bubbly and you have one delicious Sunday drink.  Sounds great, right?

On Sunday, we’ll be making Hottenroth Berliner Weisse Mimosas for just $2!  Come down and see what you think of this tart and tasty drink.  If your family makes mimosas for the holidays, take home a bottle and show them how to shake things up a little.  

And speaking of holidays, don’t forget you can still purchase gift baskets at the Tasting Room.  We’ll be making these little bundles of beer and joy though the end of the year, but we’ll have plenty of Thanksgiving/autumn themed baskets ready this weekend for you to take with you next Thursday.  Give them as a gift, bring them to your host, or buy one for yourself to pair with your turkey dinner.

We’ll also have a complementary holiday food & beer pairing guide for you to take home starting this weekend to help you plan your beer menu for the big day.  Because honestly what is a meal without the beer?!

So to recap - Food for beer, White Oak, Hottenroth Mimosas, holiday gift baskets...I think that about covers it.  See you there for all this beery goodness!

The Return of KOGI - plus Holiday Gift Baskets now available!

It's been a little under a month since the Kogi BBQ Korean Taco Truck first parked outside the Tasting Room.  We've been craving their sweet and savory offering ever since, and this Saturday night, we can satisfy that need!  

You can find the Kogi truck at The Bruery on Saturday night from 6:30 – 9 pm.  We heard about some great beer & BBQ pairings the last time around, so I’m looking forward to what comes up this time!  

Also, with Thanksgiving coming quickly, we’ll be selling holiday gift baskets for the beer geek in your life starting this weekend.  These baskets will come in two different themes – autumn and winter – and will come with 1, 2, or 3 bottles as well as some other goodies (hints: chocolate, glasses, more!).  We will have some ready made for pick up or if you’d like you can order a basket for pick up later.  They will vary a bit, but they'll look a little something like this...

You may even be the lucky one to win a free basket!  We’ll be holding a drawing for a free basket that you can enter just by making any take home purchase.  When you buy a bottle or growler of any beer, we’ll give you an entry form for the drawing.  We may just pull your name out of the hat (or box?)!

Don't forget, you can still get your Bruery Reserve membership; they're on sale at the Tasting Room.  Come in, sign up, andtake home bottles of White Oak, 2 Turtle Doves, and a special Barrel-Aged seasonal that day! 

See you this weekend!

how do you say Rugbrød?

Many people have been asking how exactly you pronounce the name of our new beer, Rugbrød. As you probably know by now, rugbrød is the Danish word for rye bread, which we decided was an appropriate name for our new juylberg style Danish beer that is brewed with 30% rye malt and resembles the dark brown, dense rye bread of Scandinavia in both smell and taste.

Well, here to help you with your pronunciation issues are a bunch of fellow beer lovers as well as members of The Bruery team and even a few cameo's from the Stone Brewery team and elsewhere. Good luck! And if you are feeling extra confident in your pronunciation, feel free to tape yourself, post it to youtube and post the link in the comments!!!

The Bruery - Rugbrød Pronunciation from benjamin weiss on Vimeo.

First Firkin Friday; Beer & Ice Cream Social - this weekend!

October was quite a month for us at The Bruery, and we finished it with a great Halloween party on Saturday night.  Thanks to everyone who came, and thanks to everyone who participated in the costume and donut-eating contests.  We had a blast!

Now that November is here, we’re getting geared up for the holidays.  But first things first, and as always, we will start the month with First Firkin Friday.  

This Friday, November 6^th, we’ll be pouring a special cask of Rugbrød dry-hopped with Centennial hops.  I think that extra hop kick will be delicious in this big, malty beer.  

On Sunday, we'll be holding a Beer & Ice Cream Social.  That's right, beer floats all around!  Think of a scoop of your favorite ice cream enrobed by a complementary beer flavor like Pecan Praline & 2 Turtle Doves.  The nutty, caramel flavors of both coming together with the rich chocolate of the beer.  Ok, maybe we were thinking about my favorite flavors!  

We'll have a special flight available as well as a small ice cream bar where you can mix and match to create your perfect beery treat.  We'll kick this off Sunday around 2 pm, so come in hungry for some breakfast or lunch dessert!

Also this weekend we'll have Rugbrød and Mischief #3 back on tap in addition to our usual lineup.  So come try Rugbrød with Centennial on cask Friday and start thinking about your ice cream and beer concoctions.

We look forward to seeing you there!

2nd Annual Halloween Party!

Black Tuesday is behind us, and now it's back to business at The Bruery! 

This Saturday, we’ll be holding our 2^nd annual Halloween party at the Tasting Room beginning at 4 pm.  Come prepared to enjoy a spooky setting, some diabolical drinks, and a gaggle of ghoulish games.  And yes, I do speak that way on a regular basis.      

 We even picked up a 140 lb pumpkin, and you can expect that to be carved and filled with a bewitching beer for your enjoyment.  Patrick and Travis even have a little something special brewing this week for the big night that we’ll be serving if you’re adventurous enough to try it.

 You’ll have your shot at winning our annual costume contest by coming up with the coolest, creepiest, funniest, most creative get-up you can conjure up!  We’ll be dressing up too, so you’ll get to see your favorite Bruery staff members all dolled up for the second time this week. 

 Finally, bottles of White Oak went on sale during Black Tuesday so you’ll be able to purchase those for the first time at the Tasting Room this weekend.

We're really looking forward to it, and hope to see you there!

Thanks!

Thanks to everyone who made Black Tuesday a success. We had a lot of stressed out fun and hopefully you all had a good time as well, despite the long line. Hopefully next year will be even better.

The Bruery - Black Tuesday from benjamin weiss on Vimeo.

Black Tuesday Release Details

Black Tuesday Release

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

** If you received this eMail, you may have seen the reference about "Being Served Tonight in addition to our usual lineup". I (Patrick) screwed up, sorry. We will have these beers on Tuesday, but not tonight. However, we will have Kogi BBQ!**

The details have changed a bit from our previous announcement, so please take a look. The major changes are:

-- No more number system (just one line and two registers forming outside-- we'll do our best to keep it moving quickly)

-- All purchased and allocated bottles will be picked up in the front office (we will give you a Purchase Form at the time of purchase)

-- Partridge in a Pear Tree is for the first 250 Reserve Society members only (we only yielded 290 bottles total)

-- Please do not arrive earlier than 4:30 PM so we can less the impact on our neighbors. We will not have a designated line prior to 4:30 PM. Please do not consume alcohol in our parking lot-- it is not part of our brewery and therefore does not have an ABC license.

Available for Purchase

Special Releases

- Black Tuesday Imperial Stout bottles - $30 (3 bottle limit per person)

- White Oak bottles - $15

Special Black Tuesday Tasting Flight - $20

Includes:

- 2 Black Tuesday tickets good for 4 oz. pours of Black Tuesday and/or Chocolate Rain

- 2 General tickets good for 8 oz. pours of any other beer on draft (Black Tuesday tickets can also be used for this)

- Bruery logo tulip glass, yours to keep

- To keep everything moving along somewhat smoothly, the Tasting Flight will be the only option (no full pours, etc.)

Bruery Reserve Society Memberships - $195

- 1st 250 memberships will include 1 bottle of Barrel Aged Partridge in a Pear Tree (Reserve Society Exclusive Release) in addition to White Oak and Saison Rue. The other 150 members will receive Barrel Aged Autumn Maple in addition to White Oak and Saison Rue.

- See membership form for additional information

Additional Bruery Merchandise

- Black Tuesday T-Shirts - $15

- Bottles To-Go (Orchard White, Saison Rue, Autumn Maple, Papier, Hottenroth Berliner Weisse, 2 Turtle Doves) - $8-18

- Other Bruery gear (t-shirts, hoodies, workshirts, etc.) - $15-40

- Bruery logo champagne stoppers/keychain bottle openers - $5

- Sorry, no growler fills on Black Tuesday

Being Served in addition to our usual line-up

- Black Tuesday

- Chocolate Rain (Cask conditioned Black Tuesday with Vanilla Bean & Cocoa Nibs)

- White Oak

- Our usual rotating lineup (Orchard White, Black Orchard, Hottenroth Berliner Weisse, Saison Rue, Autumn Maple, Sour in the Rye, Snicklefritz, Mischief #1, Mischief #3, 2 Turtle Doves)

Forms of Payment Accepted

-Cash (preferred)

- Major Credit Cards (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover)

Please have ID ready and available at the time of purchase for credit card sales! No checks, please.

Details & Instructions

While in line, please fill our a Purchase Form indicating all of the items you’d like to purchase (including Tasting Flights and Reserve Society Memberships).

Once you’ve been checked out and your Purchase Form has been approved by Bruery employees, you may pick up your bottles/merchandise at anytime in the front office or proceed to the bar to redeem your drink tickets. You will need your Purchase Form to pick up your bottles!

If you’d like to purchase an additional Tasting Flight, you may do so in the same line (which unfortunately means leaving the Bruery and waiting in line again).

Complimentary snacks will be available inside.

Looking forward to seeing you on Black Tuesday!

Reserve Society Details

The Bruery Reserve Society is a revered group of beer enthusiasts who wish to gain access to the most esoteric beers The Bruery has to offer. In this inaugural year, we'll be offering 400 memberships to the Reserve Society. Reserve Society members will have first pick at special releases. There will be releases that will only be available to Reserve Society members. As an inaugural member, you'll also have the first right of refusal to join in 2011.

Reserve Society registration will begin in person on Tuesday, October 27th at 6 PM. In person registration will continue during tasting room hours (Friday & Saturday, 4 PM - 10 PM, Sunday, 12 PM - 6 PM). Registration through our website (www.brueryprovisions.com) will begin Friday, October 30th. The registration period will close on December 31st, 2009, or when all memberships have been sold.

Cost: $195

Benefits:

- At the time of signing up, the first 250 to join the Reserve Society will receive Barrel Aged Partridge in a Pear Tree (only 290 bottles produced), White Oak, and Saison Rue. The last 150 to join will receive Barrel Aged Autumn Maple, White Oak, and Saison Rue.

- Reserve Society Zip Hoodie (available in early January)

- Entrance for two to the Reserve Society Initiation Celebration (scheduled for early January)

- Access to Reserve Society-only events (barrel tastings, release parties; additional charges may apply)

- Access to purchase special bottle release allocations (in person or through our website; allocations only for Reserve Society members. Bottle limits will vary from release to release.)

- Shipping of allocated beers (shipping cost not included, will ship only within CA)

- 15% off all tasting room and Bruery Provisions purchases (Cannot be combined with other offers or discounts)

- Access to special growler fills

- First right of refusal for 2011 membership

- A nifty Bruery Reserve Society ID card

Anticipated 2010 Special Bottle Releases:

- Oude Tart - Flemish Red

- Melange #1 - Flemish Red / Imperial Stout Blend

- Melange #3 - Barrel Aged Strong Ale Blend

- White Zin - Sour ale with Zinfandel Grapes

- White Oak - Blended Barrel Aged Wheatwine / Golden Strong Ale

- 100% barrel-aged Coton - Barrel Aged Old Ale

- Black Tuesday Imperial Stout - Barrel Aged Imperial Stout

- 100% barrel-aged 2 Turtle Doves - Barrel Aged Holiday Beer

- Perhaps a few other releases up our sleeves

A few details:

Membership begins on January 1, 2010 and ends December 31, 2010. Due to unfair and archaic alcohol laws, we cannot ship out-of-state. Those who are out-of-state may be members, but they must elect a trustee to pick up or receive your shipments within California.

Big things happening at The Bruery!

So, you've now heard about the epicurean excellence that is Kogi BBQ coming here on Friday night from Ben.  We are all super excited about this development and hope you will come enjoy some tacos and other treats at The Bruery with us!  

We'll still be serving Cuvée Jeune at the Tasting Room this weekend in addition to our usual lineup.  We'll be pouring another special new beer as well...

Ever wonder what a Partridge in a Pear Tree tastes like in an oak barrel?  Well you can find out at the Tasting Room this weekend.  We'll be serving this delicious beer, which is last year's winter seasonal that's collecting complex flavors of oak, vanilla, and sherry-like oxidation over the year that it's spent in bourbon and rye barrels.  

Bottles of Barrel Aged Partridge in a Pear Tree are very limited and will be available EXCLUSIVELY to the first 250 Bruery Reserve Society members.  Memberships will go on sale on Black Tuesday (October 27th) and members will get to take home a bottle of this upon sign-up.

Black Tuesday is happening in less than a week and we hope you're all prepared for it!  We've been readying bottles (and ourselves) for the unleashing of this massive 19.5% Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout.  With Black Tuesday on tap and Chocolate Rain (that's Black Tuesday with vanilla beans and cocoa nibs) on cask in addition to our usual line-up, there will be no shortage of delicious beer to drink.  

Also, mark your calendars - our annual Halloween bash is rapidly approaching as well!  Costume contests, games, and pumpkin casks are all on the agenda for this sinister celebration.  Come by post-Trick-or-Treating and enjoy the madness we're cooking up for this party.  More details to come soon!

So that's it for the moment.  I don't know about you, but I'm pretty giddy about all this excitement at The Bruery.  We definitely hope to see you Friday for Kogi BBQ at The Bruery!!

See you soon!

Korean BBQ Tacos at The Bruery?!?!

We usually wait until later in the week to get info on the Tasting Room, but I just couldn't wait for Stef to reveal this week's super awesomeness. After hoping and praying for months and months, the super famous Kogi BBQ truck will be parking outside of The Bruery this Friday from 6pm to 9pm!

For those who aren't familiar with Kogi, they are single handedly responsible for the recent food truck craze in Los Angeles. Their incredible Chef Roy Choi has combined the sweet and spicy flavors of Korean BBQ with the savory handheld meals that Mexico is so famous for. Short rib tacos, Korean breakfast burritos, kimchi quesadillas...its all incredible and will all be available right outside the Tasting Room doors!

If you have never tried Kogi, this is a great chance. If you have never been to our Tasting Room, this is an incredible chance. And if you ever wondered how many tacos each member of our staff can eat, this is a stupendous chance to watch us all gorge on deliciousness and then wash it all down with a beer. I'm thinking Rugbrød might help relieve my tongue of the spice...but we'll have to figure out that night what pairs best with a black jack quesadilla.

For those who want some more info on Kogi, here is a fun video.

And don't forget to follow kogi on twitter at @kogibbq and follow The Bruery at @thebruery.

In a sour mood this weekend at the Tasting Room...

Highlights this week – Cuvée Jeune on tap this weekend!

                                    Black Tuesday & Halloween coming soon

2 Turtle Doves, 100% Barrel Aged Autumn Maple, and Rugbrød now available

Bruery Reserve Society Memberships coming soon

New members of the Tasting Room staff

 

Hello there from The Bruery!  It’s been a busy week here, as we’re gearing up for a VERY busy few weeks.  We were thinking it might be fun to have a little something special this weekend at the Tasting Room to keep us going.

So, I’ve been sorely missing Cuvée Jeune recently.  It’s our young lambic aged in Chardonnay barrels that was originally released in March.  Since then it’s made the occasional appearance in the Tasting Room or at special events, but I think it’s been too long.  So we’re going to break it out again this weekend, because – well why not?  

In addition, you can still pick up bottles of 100% Barrel Aged Autumn Maple (Thanksgiving is coming quick!) as well as the recently released bottles of Two Turtle Doves.

For those of you who haven’t heard, our winter seasonal is a deliciously rich Belgian dark ale brewed with toasted pecans and cocoa nibs.  I have to say, it’s especially enjoyable on these chillier days and nights. 

We also have Rugbrød on draft, which is our take on a Danish-style holiday ale.  It’s a big, malty beer brewed with rye and clocks in at 8%.  It’s another great beer to warm up after the coolest week of the season so far! 

When you come in this weekend, you’ll probably notice some new faces at the Tasting Room.  We have a few new members on staff at the bar, so come in and say hello!  Amy is a homebrewer with a biology and chemistry background who can definitely talk some beer science, and some of you may have met Jarred this past weekend.  He’s a beer-loving musician who seriously appreciates great suds.  We’re excited to have new and knowledgeable staff to help serve at The Bruery.

Finally, keep your eyes open for more details about the Bruery Reserve Society.  I can’t tell you all the secrets yet, but I can say you’re definitely going to want in.

That’s about all for today.  We’re really looking forward to the next few weeks, and hope to see you this weekend! 

Available this weekend –

Orchard White (Draft, Bottle, Growler)

Black Orchard (Draft, Growler)

Hottenroth Berliner Weisse (Draft, Bottle, Growler)

Saison Rue (Bottle)

Autumn Maple (Draft, Bottle)

Rugbrød (Draft)

Sour in the Rye (Draft)

Mischeif 1 & 3 (Draft, Growler)

Snicklefritz (Draft, Growler)

 

Cheers,

Stef & the other folks at The Bruery

New Beer and Tidings from the Tasting Room!

This Weekend at The Bruery Tasting Room

Highlights This Weekend:
- Rugbrød (new year round beer) on draft this weekend
- 2 Turtle Doves bottles released starting this weekend
- Mischief #3 is tasty!

Happy October all! Stef here, your friendly neighborhood Tasting Room Manager. October happens to be one of my favorite months and this is going to be an especially good one. We kicked the month off in a big way last weekend with OktoBRUEfest. Thanks to everyone who came out – we had a great time!

For those who didn’t make it and missed the firkin of Rugbrød, don’t fret! We’ll be officially releasing the beer on draft this coming weekend.

Rugbrød is a Danish-style brown ale brewed in the Julebryg tradition. “Julebryg” translates to “jingle bells”, and while this isn’t our winter seasonal (more on that below), we think this historically holiday-related beer is just as delicious anytime of the year.

A bit of a departure from our largely Belgian-style line, this beer is a hearty, malt-driven drink that’s brewed with about 30% rye and fermented with our house yeast. A moderate fermentation temperature that you’ll still experience some pleasant fruity esters but not quite the level you’d taste in our Belgian-style beers.

The name, while maybe difficult for some to pronounce, comes from the brain of our very own Jonas Nemura. It means “rye bread”, but this is certainly not your sandwich-style rye. No caraway seeds here, just a tasty, toasty beer worthy of the handle.

If you don’t feel confident taking a stab at the pronunciation, you can point, say “that new Danish one”, or call it “rugburn” as I sometimes mistakenly do. Rugbrød is yours to taste this weekend for $4/glass! Come let us know if it rings your (jingle) bell.

Speaking of Jingle Bells, our winter seasonal is here. Bottles of "2 Turtle Doves", a Belgian-style dark ale boasting 12% ABV will be available for sale in the Tasting Room starting Friday.

"2 Turtle Doves" is brewed with toasted pecans and cocoa nibs and is a rich treat that is perfect for winter (or early fall!) evenings. Flavors of caramel and nutty malt meet luscious chocolate in this what is sure to be a holiday merrymaker.

This is the second beer in our “Twelve Beers of Christmas” line that began in 2008 with Partridge in a Pear Tree. Two Turtle Doves has not officially been released yet, and won’t be on store shelves for a few weeks, so get your hands on a few bottles first – exclusively at the Tasting Room!

Also available this weekend:

Orchard White (Bottle, Draft, Growler)
Black Orchard (Draft, Growler)
Saison Rue (Bottle)
Hottenroth Berliner Weisse (Bottle, Draft, Growler)
Autumn Maple (Bottle, Draft)
Sour in the Rye (Draft)
Mischief #3 (Draft, Growler)
Snicklefritz (Draft, Growler)

Looking forward to seeing you this weekend!

Stef & The Other Folks at The Bruery

Black Tuesday Update

I just wanted to update you on the status of Black Tuesday. It was bottled yesterday and I can report there is a healthy amount of carbonation in the bottles (2.5 volumes of Co2 for those interested). Since it has been in the barrels for a few more months than what has been already released, there is a bit more coconut and vanilla character. I personally like it quite a bit more.

I've heard a bit of concern about everyone getting bottles on the release date, and what time people should start arriving. We'll have 1000 bottles for sale of Black Tuesday on 10/27 (not including the 660 allocated bottles), so roughly 333 people would have to want 3 bottles each to sell out. Even though there is tremendous demand for this beer, I have a tough time believing we're going to get 333 people to show up on a Tuesday. If your plan is to arrive at 10 AM that day, please don't. In the interest of our neighbors around The Bruery, please arrive after 4:30 PM. I'll post this on our blog as well.

Also, if anyone's interested in hotels, here's some options:

-- Marriott Fairfield & Residence Inn, which is about 2 blocks away from The Bruery (actually about 50 feet, but you'd have to hop a fence) is $85 per night.

-- Holiday Inn Express (about 4 blocks away) is $80 per night.

These would both make great choices for pre and post get togethers and a place to crash for the night.

http://www.ffioc.com/

Only 20 days away, looking forward to seeing many of you!

1st Annual Black Tuesday Release - Tuesday, October 27, 2009

"I cannot help but raise a dissenting voice to statements that we are living in a fool's paradise, and that prosperity in this country must necessarily diminish and recede in the near future." - E.H.H. Simmons, President, NYSE, January 1928

Logistical Details:

-- Three (3) bottles per person (not including prior allocation purchases)
-- $30 per bottle
-- Ticket distribution starting at 5:30 PM. If you want 3 bottles, please request 3 tickets.
-- The number of tickets will correspond with the number of bottles available. Starting at 6 PM, we will sequentially be calling a range of numbers (will be displayed on the projector, not audible) and those ticketholders will purchase their bottles
-- Doors open at 6 PM and close at 10 PM
-- Those who purchased allocations will be able to pick up their bottles at this event or on a later date
-- Cash and credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover) will be accepted. No checks, please.
-- In the event that Black Tuesday does not sell out on the release date, additional bottles can be purchased on Friday, October 30th starting at 4 PM

Special Beers Available:

-- Special Cask: Chocolate Rain (Black Tuesday with Cocoa Nibs and Vanilla Beans)
-- Black Tuesday will be on tap, as well as our full lineup
-- We will also have several other special bottled beers for sale: White Oak and Bourbon Barrel Aged Partridge in a Pear Tree (and possibly Barrel Aged Autumn Maple if it hasn't sold out already)

Other Details:

-- 2010 Bruery Reserve Society memberships will also be for sale at this time. More details coming soon.
-- Light complimentary snacks will also be served.

Looking forward to a great release party!

Cheers,
The Folks at The Bruery

Who let the dogs in?

Here at The Bruery, we're HUGE dog fans (one of our best employees is a canine!) however, I just want to mention that as much as we'd like to, unfortunately we cannot allow dogs in our Tasting Room at this time.  

Sorry Fido (and Barley)!

The Bruery's got more grapes!

Last time we used Zinfandel grapes for a beer that was eventually blended with our young lambic and turned into White Zin, which has been a fan and employee favorite ever since we tapped the first keg. Well now we have a ridiculous amount of Pinot grapes...where will the fun lead?!

Anyone have some cool suggestions of homebrews they've done with grapes or simply ideas they've always wanted to try. You know we're always down for suggestions, though Patrick and Tyler also always have their own crazy thoughts as well. Guess we'll just have to wait and see.

OktoBRUEfest! and a few other new items!

We may not make and Oktoberfest beer, but we still know how to celebrate this beer-centric tradition!

This weekend (October 2-4) we've lined up a whole three days of festivities at the Tasting Room.  Starting Friday with First Firkin Friday and as always we'll have a special cask on - a sneak preview of a new beer we'll be releasing soon.

Saturday, we'll be offering our Stimulus discount of 25% off all draft beer including growler fills.  On Sunday, Patrick will be manning the grill and serving up some brats to go with your beers,  and we'll be ending the weekend with one of our favorite events - Beer Geek Show & Tell!

If you haven't been to one of these before, we invite you to bring a 750mL/bomber/2 12oz bottles of a rare/special beer/exceptional homebrew that you'd like to share with everyone.  You'll then have a chance to taste what others have brought in.  It's a great opportunity to try some cool beers and talk with some fellow beer geeks about them.

Another item I want to mention is a new program we're implementing starting this weekend.  We will be putting up a new chalkboard in the Tasting Room and starting BRUE-it-forward.  In the spirit of sharing a beer with a friend, you'll be able to purchase a beer for someone else and we'll write their names on our BRUE-it-Forward board so that the next time they come in, they can redeem their beer and see that you purchased it for them.  The only thing better than enjoying a good beer is sharing one, right?  So come down and BRUE-it-Forward starting Friday.

Finally, we'll be announcing details about Black Tuesday this week, so keep your eyes open for that.  I promise it'll be a night not to be missed!  

Looking forward to seeing you all for OktoBRUEfest in the Tasting Room!

GABF

We all just got back from an incredible weekend at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver, CO and we're pretty much spending the day recovering. 8 people from The Bruery went up for the festival and we really had an incredible time. We had the opportunity to get some behind the scenes tours of Odell's brewery, New Belgium Brewery and Avery Brewery as well as sneak a peak at The Great Divide's Brewery located right in downtown Denver. We Spent the days meeting up with other brewers and beer lovers from around the country and had the opportunity to share our beers with people from all over, which was really a great experience. Hopefully some of the other great breweries we discovered will become partners for some collaboration efforts in the future, which would be amazing.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to take home any medals this year (there were over 3,000 beers entered in the 78 categories), but there seemed to be a great outpouring of love for our beers on the show floor, and thats where it really counts. Since many of our beers are sort of bizarre for their style, its tough to win an award up against beers that are dead on for the style, but its really about producing a product that people enjoy. We did (or shall I say Rachel did) win the award for festival booth flair! And the line for Black Tuesday was insane.

For anyone who was at the festival and stopped by, thanks! And for anyone who didn't make it out, we highly recommend you do next year as it was one of the best trips we've been on.

OC Beer Fest

The Bruery crew and friends at the OC Beer Fest.

Cigar City Collaboration

In case you haven't heard yet, we'll be collaborating with Cigar City Brewing, a very highly regarded brewery out of Tampa, Florida. We chose each other to work on a collaboration because we share many similarities-- we're both adventurous breweries, we're both new, and people seem to like us.

The recipes we've been discussing are very interesting, but we won't divulge any details at this point. All we can say is it's going to spend some time in barrels, will be very special, and will be released next Summer, yet brewed in the next month or so.

We'll post more details as they become more definite. Cheers!

Know Your Bruers! (Part II)

Which of the following Bruery employees put their foot through the ceiling of The Bruery Provisions during its construction?

Poll Results

1. Patrick Rue, 32 %

2. Tyler King, 22 %

3. Jonas Nemura, 12 %

The Answer

Me! Assistant Brewer Jay Goodwin!

I started at the Bruery back in November of 2008 and I've been having a blast ever since. I get to brew beer all day and learn from all of the great minds of the Bruery!

I hope to see you around the tasting room soon!

PS: A special shout out to Bruery Provisions employee JD, who also had the joy of walking through the Provisions ceiling in the past few days.

Barrel Aged Autumn Maple, today at the Tasting Room!

At The Bruery, we've been staring at barrels of Autumn Maple for some time now, waiting until they were ready to share with the world.  Well that time has finally come!

Today at the Tasting Room we'll have 100% Barrel Aged Autumn Maple on cask for First Firkin Friday!  As if that wasn't enough, we are also going to be selling bottles of the stuff to take home with you.  Whether you cellar it, drink it now, or share with a few lucky friends, we think you'll enjoy the rich layers of flavor that this beer has to offer.

Like most special release beers, bottles are limited so keep that in mind when you make your trip out.  As always, the Tasting Room is open from 4pm to 10pm.  We'll see you soon!

New Season, new beers.

I know we're all sad to see that summer is coming to an end, but there is an upside to the changing of seasons - it means new beer.

Starting today at the Tasting Room, we'll be releasing Autumn Maple, our fall seasonal, which is a delicious brown ale brewed with yams, maple syrup, and "pumpkin pie" like spices.  Now that's a good reason to look forward to fall!

We'll also have Snicklefritz on draft today, which is a citrusy, spiced, oaked Golden Strong Ale originally developed and homebrewed by Kyle Manns.  Kyle's beer will be our Great American Beer Festival ProAm entry this year.  Thanks Kyle!

So as you can see, there are plenty of reasons to welcome the new season, so come out to the Tasting Room and beat the end of the summer blues!

Fundraising, food, and new beer today at the Tasting Room!

Today at the Tasting Room we'll be hosting a fundraiser to fight MS! 50% of draft sales will be donated to this great cause, and we'll even be grilling up some brats for the occasion. The event will run all day (4-10pm) however food is limited. There is no cost for admission, your contribution is having a few beers! Donations will also be accepted.

If you need one more reason to come down, we'll also be releasing Sour in the Rye today for the first time! This American Wile Rye Ale was brewed with a substantial portion of rye malt, and the spicy character of the grain asserts itself with clove and pepper in the aroma and flavor. Add in sour cherry notes from our special blend of micro-organisms and vanilla from the red wine barrels and you've got a mouthful!

See you there!

Feeding The Beast

Black Tuesday has yet to be released, but we've already got next year's batch fermenting away and we're trying to make it even bigger and better than what's already been tasted by a lucky few. Tyler pried the lid off of the fermenter in order to feed sugars and nutrients to Black Tuesday and the beer eagerly ate it up while spitting up on him like a giant baby. Luckily, this baby will eventually grow into a 20% alcohol imperial stout for us all to enjoy in October of 2010.

For those who haven't had a chance to try Black Tuesday from our tasting room, here are a couple of the reviews it is already garnering from beeradvocate and ratebeer reviewers:

One of a handful of beers I could legitimately call the best I've ever had.
-Overlord, Beeradvocate.com

Absolutely amazing. Gets better and better the more you drink. Wow.
-Mspindler, Ratebeer.com

Among, if not the best Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout/Strong Ale that's out there. If they produce it every year as they say they will, this will be a stalwart in the Top 100. I predict a perch in the Top 10 once enough people get to try it.
-Alexd3891, BeerAdvocate.com


A big big thank you to those three drinkers and to all of our loyal fans who are giving us good reviews on their beeradvocate and ratebeer accounts as well as through their blogs, publications and word of mouth. When we read reviews like the ones above or hear people's compliments, it makes us all happy to be brewing beer and gets us excited to try new things. Thanks!

Oh Hoppy Day - Firkin Friday comes early this week!

Since this coming weekend is technically it's the first of August, and because we're so excited about releasing some new beers, we've decided to go ahead and have First Firkin Friday on the 31st of July.  We think you'll be happy we did.

We will be tapping our Humulus Lager for the first time this weekend.  Prepare yourself for this India Pale Lager brewed with 4 lbs. of hops per barrel and weighing in at 7.2% ABV.  This beer is all about the hops - the lager yeast allows the hops to be in the forefront.

Also, for your enjoyment this weekend we will have not one, not two, but THREE different casks to choose from.  Each will be a pin of our new Humulus Lager with wet hops, one version with chinook, one with cascade, and one with centennial.  Thanks to Hops-Meister in Clearlake for providing fresh organic hops!

In addition, we'll have 2 different pilot versions of Mischief, a Belgian style wheat golden ale on draft - let us know which one you like best!

Not to mention we still have Black Tuesday allocations available, so come down to try it out and reserve bottles for the October release.  

It's a big weekend at the Tasting Room - hopefully we'll see you there!

Black Tuesday

Over 3000 pounds of malt in the mash/lauter tun for Black Tuesday, this is the most we have ever had in here!

And the winner is. . .

If you could please get a mental drumroll going, we're pleased to announce the winner of the Beer & BBQ Cooking Contest. 

Bill Hemphill and his Smoked Beer & Coffee BBQ!

It was certainly a tough decision, and we had some great entries.  After much deliberation (and one very tasty evening) we landed on this creative recipe that has excellent flavor and does a great job of incorporating Black Orchard as an ingredient.  

But his wasn't the only delicious dish that came our way.  Our runners up include -

Peter Bakulic

Ron Gordon

Ryan Clark

Be sure to keep an eye out for Bill's recipe at an Orange County favorite barbeque restaurant in the near future!

Thanks to everyone who entered and participated!

Black Tuesday makes for an exciting Friday @ the Tasting Room.

There have been whispers about it for months, now here's a little background about the infamous Barrel Aged Imperial Stout that you'll have a chance to try today at the Tasting Room.

On the final Tuesday in October of 1929, a shroud of darkness swept over America as the stock market crashed for the fourth day in a row, leading way to the Great Depression.  Now, 80 years later and in the midst of our own depression, on the final Tuesday in October of 2009 that darkness is returning in the form of Black Tuesday imperial stout.

First brewed on an early morning some time ago, before the sun had the chance to rise, this stout wreaked havoc so great upon The Bruery that the day lasted long into the new moon. Wort spills, mash clogs, skin burns, stock losses and near catastrophe forcedBlack Tuesday to be shut off from humanity, bound to rest in oak barrels for well over a year. Now, after sleeping through most of the modern depression, the The Bruery has no choice but to unleash Black Tuesday upon the world.

Created on that now infamously dark Tuesday at The Bruery, using 2,500 pounds of grain, more than double any of the usual recipes, along with several different forms of sugar, Black Tuesday has grown into a massive, flavorful imperial stout that weighs in at a robust 19.5% alcohol.   Aged in bourbon barrels for over a year, this midnight black stout is full of flavor: vanilla, burnt caramel, toasted oak, licorice, prunes and sherry-like oxidation.

 

In these trying times, when all investments seem to end in tragedy, there is surely no better way to spend your hard earned money than on a bottle of deep, dark, delicious beer whose 19.5% alcohol content and smooth, sweet finish will sooth the pains when your bank goes under, you lose your job and your portfolio dives further below zero.  Plus, it’s a perfect candidate for your beer portfolio and is likely to appreciate in value with age.

 

Black Tuesday is a perfect beer to share with friends and foes alike as we make our way through this modern economic struggle.

So, now that you know a little about Black Tuesday, come to the Tasting Room today to try it and reserve your bottles.  We'll have it on draft this afternoon AND we'll be selling allocations of it.  The pre-sale price is $25/bottle (as opposed to $30 upon release, provided that there is still some left) so now's a good time to invest! 

Please keep in mind that you do have to come down to The Bruery to get your allocation, we won't be able to accommodate phone or email orders for Black Tuesday.

Don't forget, White Oak and Papier are also pouring this weekend at the Tasting Room, so a special flight will be available of those three limited release beers.  

Also, this Sunday is the final date we'll be accepting BEER AND BBQ COMPETITION entries.  The eternal glory will go to only one of you, so get your recipes in!!  Deliver your printed recipe either in person at the Tasting Room or email your entry to stef@thebruery.com.  We can't wait to see what you've got.

See you at the Tasting Room!