Bruery Black Orchard Dark Wit pulls off a hat trick

With my brother Warren in town and me moving out of LA in 6 weeks (you heard it here first), a trip to our favorite brewery The Bruery is in order. I'm designated driver on the way back, so naturally I drink several beers beforehand and plan to sober up while I'm at the brewery, but nobody believes I will! I don't know what I could have done to give them that belief...

 

After a detour to The Bruery Provisions store where Nick G, Warren, David, Aaron B, Jamie, Karl and his crew order some sampler plates and I stock up on beers from there store such as the Stone 15th Anniversary Imperial Black IPA, Iron Fist Velvet Glove and the brand new brew from The Bruery's Provisions Series, Snickelfritz, we're onto the main brewery.

Beer drinkers take blurry pictures. It's an occupational hazard

Upon arrival, I note a sign posted above the bar noting the Bruery produced 2500bbls last year - that's 31 gallons per 1 bbl - so 77,500 gallons. This year they produced 5000 bbls - 155,000 gallons - double! Wow. I've seen The Bruery in Chicago and New York, but I didn't realize until today after I asked the bartender, that this 4 year old brewery is in over 16 states. It's absolutely amazing. We started drinking their beer 3 years ago, and I suddenly feel like I've been at the epicenter of what will become one of the most renowned breweries in the United States. Bruery's a pretty damn special place. This will probably be my last time here which makes me sad - I might even miss the creepy babies hanging around here (Creepy Babies),  so I'm buying a long overdue hat to keep me company in San Francisco. 

The one beer I am going to have today is their seasonal Black Orchard Wit. The style is unique and I've never heard of a black belgian wit bier. It's 5.7% and chamomile is added for the aroma. This could be really amazing or Patrick Rue's day dream gone wrong, what will it be?

The flavor profile is fascinating and delicious, a subtle dark roast bitterness at the beginning that fades as the sweet belgian wit and spice (coriander and orange peel) subtle kick in. I'm going to use that word again because I don't know how else to convey this beer; it's so subtle. As far as unusual styles go, this is up there. I feel like the Bruery pulled of a hat trick here, combining all these ingredients to make a smooth and delicious brew. At the end of the day, we had already filled up our 3 growlers for the party at home with Loakal Red, Mischief, and Snickelfritz, when David walked away from the car and back into the brewery. He returned sometime later with a newly purchased 4th growler full of the Black Orchard. He bought (a probably unnecessary) 4th growler just to make sure we had more of the wit to drink this week because it was that good. A true gauge to the tastiness of any beer is the length a person will go to find and drink it. I think the 4th growler speaks to the power of this beer. BAD BOYS rating.

The brother's Davis take over a table