Pilot Batches

In our neverending effort to bring new, interesting beers to the table, Tyler and Jay have been spending the week working on some small pilot batches of newly created recipes to see what turns out worthy of a full Bruery batch.  Brewing 10 gallons is much easier than brewing 10 bbls and can lead to some interesting new techniques as seen below...

We can't yet reveal what went into that beautiful wort, but if all goes to plan and it tastes as magnificent as we hope, you'll all get to try this and other new recipes soon enough.

 

Thank You!

As many of you know, this past Saturday we held our First Anniversary Party at The Bruery.  Over seven hours, kegs were drained, BBQ consumed, and chocolate-covered bacon demolished; all in some really great company.  Throughout the course of the day, we had about 400 of our friends come and celebrate with us!  We had an amazing time, and we hope you did too.  

We want to thank all of you who were able to make it out and everyone who has supported us over the past year.  We're looking forward to our 2nd Anniversary!

Here are a few pictures of the event.  You can also check out some great pictures that our friend Paul has posted.

Getting the taps ready, circa 7 am.

Setting up the Sour Bar.

The beginnings of the line that morning.

Party-goers enjoying some delicious BBQ (Thanks Beachwood!!!!)

Some guests checking out the offerings at the Sour Bar.

Bird's eye view of the crowd in the Tasting Room.

Anniversary Celebration Left Overs

We all had a great time celebrating our anniversary with our friends.  Thanks to all who came!

The Tasting Room and The Bruery Provisions are open on Sunday from 12 - 6 PM.  We'll have "leftovers" from the Anniversary Celebration on until the kegs blow.  Here's what we have:

-- Year Round Beers:
Orchard White (5.7%)

Black Orchard (5.7%)

Saison Rue (8.5%)
Hottenroth Berliner Weisse (3.1%)

-- Seasonal Beers:

Saison De Lente (6.5%)

100% Trade Winds Tripel (8.1%)

Trade Winds Tripel (8.1%)

-- Humulus Series Beers:

Humulus Ambre (5.9%)

Humulus Blonde (5.5%)

-- Limited Release Beers:
Melange #3 (15%)

Papier (14.5%)

Virgin Papier (14%)

Batch No. 1 - Levud’s (11%)

Perhaps we'll have another one as well.  Should be a good time, especially if you missed out on the anniversary party or didn't get to try all of the beers.

Tap List for Our 1st Anniversary Celebration

I thought I'd leak the list rather than keeping you in suspense.  We're tapping some pretty cool beers.  Rather than commenting on which ones I'm digging the most right now, I'm curious what you think once you've tried them tomorrow.

Main Bar

-- Year Round Beers:
Orchard White (5.7%)

Black Orchard (5.7%)

Saison Rue (8.5%)
Hottenroth Berliner Weisse (3.1%)

-- Seasonal Beers:

Saison De Lente (6.5%)

100% Brett Saison De Lente (6.5%)

Trade Winds Tripel (8.1%)

-- Humulus Series Beers:

Humulus Ambre (5.9%)

Humulus Blonde (5.5%)

-- Limited Release Beers:
Melange #3 (15%)

Papier (14.5%)

Virgin Papier (14%)

Batch No. 1 - Levud’s (11%)

Sour Bar

-- Limited Release Sour Beers:
Melange #1 (9%)

Cuvee Jeune (6%)

White Zin (7.5%)

Gypsy Tart (6.5%)

On the hour (12 - 5), we’ll be opening bottles of barrel aged Papier on the side of the main bar (2 oz. per person).

Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow!

Some Random Photos, Thanks Robert!

New Tasting Room Hours

If you haven't already heard, we're changing our tasting room hours starting this weekend (5/8).  Fridays and Saturdays we'll be open from 4pm-10pm and Sundays from 12pm-6pm.  More hours=more beer!

Happy Birthday to Us!

That’s right, The Bruery is turning 1 year old!  So you know what that means; a celebration is in order.  On Saturday, May 16^th, we’d like to invite you to come help us commemorate our first year in the craft beer making business with - well beer of course!

In addition to our year-round offerings, we’ll be releasing Papier, our anniversary ale.  Papier is a Belgian-style Old Ale layered with complex flavors of dark fruit, vanilla, oak, and burnt sugar.  This robust ale weighs in at 14.5% ABV and we think it's the perfect beer to mark our first big milestone. 

We’ll also be pouring Levud’s, which was our very first batch, as well as Melange #1, Humulus Ambre, Cuvee Juene, White Zin, and yes, for all you Melange lovers, #3 will be making an appearance!  

Excited yet?

How about some barbeque to wash down your beer?  Beachwood BBQ will be on hand to satisfy any beer-fueled cravings for the smoky stuff.  And if you need a little something else in between brews, we’ll have some additional treats available for snacking (haven’t had the Bruery Belgian Waffles yet?  Here’s your chance!)

The party will run from 11 AM through 6 PM, and we’ll be accommodating 150 people at a time.  The ticket price is $25 and includes beer tasting tickets, food tickets, and your Bruery glassware.  We’ll also have some commemorative Papier t-shirts available! 

So come help us raise a toast to our first year, and have a great time doing it!  We look forward to seeing you there!

Craft Brewers Conference

Tyler, Rachel, Jonas and I got back on Saturday from the Craft Brewers Conference in Boston where we had a productive and fun time.

This is my third conference and the function of this conference seems to change every year for me. The first year, I was looking for information on how to start my brewery, and focused on the educational aspects as well as getting to know equipment suppliers. I quickly found out when talking to equipment suppliers that new equipment would mostly be out of my reach. At this first conference (in Austin, TX), I noticed how friendly everyone was to each other in this industry and this made me all the more excited to start a brewery and be a part of this family.

My second conference in San Diego, CA came about a month after our first batch, and a week before we sold our first case of beer. (Speaking of which, today is our first anniversary of selling our first case of beer to Hollingshead Deli in Orange, CA. I'll have to stop by Hollingshead's today, have a beer, and thank the Hollingshead family for all that they've done for us.) My second conference came at a time when Tyler was the only employee. We came to the conference to learn as much as we could about the industry as well as try to let our industry know we existed. We donated 12 cases of beer to the conference, and a case or two luckily ended up at the Brewery Owners / CEO Reception, where Greg Koch and Steve Wagner from Stone Brewing Co. first tried our beer. This was the starting point of Stone distributing our beers in Southern California. No one had heard of us, and many were skeptical that we'd be in business a year from then.

Things were a bit different at this year's Craft Brewers Conference. This conference I focused on making and strengthening relationships with our suppliers, fellow brewers, our distributors, and distributors we'd like to have on our team. We also focused on drinking the best beer the Northeast has to offer, something we did quite well I might add! The educational components of the Craft Brewers Conference were a bit lower of a priority this year than the previous two years, but collectively we went to most of the seminars and learned some new things.

Tyler flew the redeye and went to the two day MBAA yeast seminar, where he had the chance to make friends with and pick the brains of some of the most knowledgeable people in the industry. He also discovered new quality assurance procedures which require new pieces of lab equipment that we clearly can't afford right now. Maybe for Christmas, Tyler!

On Saturday we checked out downtown Boston and visited our friend Andrew at the Jamaica Plain Sam Adams brewery. Andrew gave us a great tour, and then drove us to a beer store where we stocked up on East Coast beers, and then drove us back to our hotel. What a great guy-- thanks Andrew! We hope you'll visit Southern California soon.

The CBC is a great place to make friends who share the same passion for craft beer that we do, and it's a lot of fun being a part of this large family. I'm looking forward to the next CBC in Chicago!

I Am a Craft Brewer

I Am a Craft Brewer debuted at the Craft Brewers Conference this week, and I had a small part in it. Cheers to Stone Brewing and Redtail Media, it's a pretty remarkable video. If you haven't seen it already, you need to check this out:



I Am A Craft Brewer from I Am A Craft Brewer on Vimeo.

Beer Geek Show & Tell this Saturday!

For those of you who've been to a past Show-and-Tell, you know what to do. For those who haven't, Beer Geek Show-and-Tell is where we invite everyone to bring in one bomber/750ml/ 2-12oz bottles of special craft/exceptional home brewed beer to share. And by share we mean having the beer served by the tasting room staff-please don't just bring it for everyone just to look at and drool, that's not nice. Only those who bring beer can partake in the sharing. And, of course, we'll share some fun stuff as well! The tasting room will be open from 12-6p as usual.

See you there!