Bruery Black Tuesday and Melange #3 complete my life

I'm in Los Angeles for the weekend after booking spur of the moment tickets last week. My portfolio for ad school is due Wednesday and I wanted to get out of town and have my mind off it for a bit, so I'm back in the town I've called home for the last 9 years. We hear from Karl that there's an incredibly special beer pouring at The Bruery Provisions store, and of course that's the one place we don't really need an excuse to visit in the first place. Is it true that Black Tuesday is pouring here? Will we be too late?!

Black Tuesday, as you can read on the label below, is an Imperial Stout Aged in Bourbon Barrels. It's over 18% alcohol and it's been a Holy Grail for David and I for years now.

Every year the Bruery creates the opportunity to purchase a bottle of the brew online on a Tuesday and pick it up at the Bruery a week later. They sell out quickly and the website frequently crashes, so we've never been able to buy a bottle. But apparently The Bruery has made more this year. It's one of the highest rated beers on Beeradvocate, I believe, and it should be. Look at the price of the bottles on eBay:

Anyway, so we arrive and they not only have the Black Tuesday on tap, but the special edition Melange #3 which is 15.5% is also available. I'm stoked! These are beers off my bucket list. 

So the Melange #3 is a blend of three bourbon barrel aged strong ales. White Oak Sap is a wheat wine, especially made for the Melange, is combined with The Bruery anniversary series old ale (I believe the Cuir) and the imperial stout, Black Tuesday. Talk about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. It's the beer on the left in the picture. It has an incredibly complex palate with chocolate, dark fruits, oak, vanilla and rich toffee. I mean, wow, so smooth. You can barely taste the alcohol too. It's one of those beers I could drink every day for the rest of my life. For $8 we are poured 4 oz of the Melange and 2oz of the Black Tuesday, on the right.

The Black Tuesday is aged in bourbon barrels for over a year and it has rich caramel, toasted malt, vanilla, and anise as some of the flavors. What's amazing is not only the complexity, but how well hidden the alcohol is. This is the 3rd beer I've tasted that's 18% and you can barely taste the alcohol. The other two were made by Dogfish Head, and the alcohol comes through like a hammer. Here it's a feather pillow. If the Melange is a beer I could wish to drink everyday, the Black Tuesday is my Friday night after work and special events drink. It's too powerful and too amazing to be drunk everyday, there needs to be an occasion, albeit a weekly occasion to drink this. What I love about the Bruery is they could make a living off making these two beers, but they're innovators and would become bored only making two beers. But God I wish they would. If these and a Bruery Mischief are the only beers in my beer closet for the rest of my life, I would survive.

After only drinking 6 oz of beer, both of us have a weird buzz going on. It's a very heady, kind of high, buzz because while we sipped these, the sips were incredibly potent and hit us all at once. Wild to be buzzed on half a can of beer. I must be feeling goofy because for these beers, I'd rather not be buzzed and continue drinking their complexity. But you can't always get what you want, right?

These beers were on my bucket list and I feel so incredibly appreciative towards life after drinking something this fantastic. Sounds a little sappy but true, it's pure greatness. The Black Tuesday has a 98 out of 100 rating on beer advocate: B.A. Black Tuesday. Like Spinal Tap's drummers, I'm a bit worried about spontaneous combustion right now. BAD BOYS rating to both, obviously. Thank you David for driving down here.

The Bruery Provisions Bierbauch sweetens our brewery excursion

Planning on having a little bbq tomorrow, so David and I grab Mark and Brennan to join our jaunt down to refill growler's at Bootleggers and The Bruery. I haven't been since February to either and after missing their 3rd anniversary party last weekend, I'm beyond titillated see what's on tap!

While David scopes out the Cuir for the first time, I'm pouring myself their new Provisions Series, the Bierbach. The Bierbach is an Imperial Miabock and the timing couldn't be better because I had my first maibock, a Hofbrau, exactly a week ago. I love how experimental The Bruery is, particularly how they're willing to make like Barry Bonds and 'roid up their beers. They doubled the alcohol for their Imperial Orchid Wit and here they clock in at an impressive 8.1%

And here's what The Bruery has to say about their latest and greatest:

"Meaning Beer Belly in German, Bierbauch is the Provisions Series ale for the month of May 2011, so of course we had to make a Maibock! And we're The Bruery, so of course we had to make it imperial! And why stop there when you can age it in oak barrels for a few months? The last strong beer you'll need before the heatwave of summer is upon us, this version of the traditional German lager is rich and oaky."

The oak barrels really come through in the smell and taste, in the best of ways. I'm starting to believe that for homebrewing and making high alcohol beers, using oak chips to sedate the aggressive alcohol flavors is key and the Bierbach is another excellent example. The Bierbach is a full bodied beer with a sweet bready malt with the floral notes, which are a welcome surprise. Yep, The Bruery has brewed another Provisions Series winner. THE ROCK rating.

We loaded up with more than we possibly needed, including 7 bottles of The Bruery's 3rd Anniversary 14.5% Old Ale, the Cuir. David and I each bought two to age and the rest are for friends. I plan on keeping at least one of the bottles for my 30th birthday, which is in two years (sweet Jebus did I really just say 30?).

That is f**king beautiful

And then we kept the party going! Shalom

Bruery Provisions Cornballer isn't as...a-maize-ing...as I hoped

The day has finally come that Nick G can make it to The Bruery. This man is one of the biggest fans of this heavenly beer and now, he pilgrimages to his Mecca. What's the occasion? He and AJ share a birthday and to celebrate, we're doing a brewery tour. We're joining several of Nick's coworkers as well as Karl who is coming up from Temucla after wine tasting, if he's still vertical. On the way up, we listen to a birthday mix I made for Nick and AJ and in case you were wondering, Oingo Boingo was definitely on it. The video is one of Danny Elfman's finest moments -

The timing of this trip is excellent, because according to The Bruery newsletter, they're releasing their fifth and latest Provisions Series batch today (Provisions is a limited one time only release) AND Bootleggers Brewery is releasing their greatest creation ever, the very limited release Knuckle Sandwich DIPA. Victory is ours!

Best Friends and Beard Brothers - at least that's what it says on our eharmony profile

Going brewery tasting is fun for the obvious reasons, but this trip doubles the fun for me because all the people except for Nick know nothing about The Breury or Bootleggers, so I'm allowed to ramble on and wave my hands uncontrollably while explaining everything I know about their beer. Imagine if you gave a 10 year old kid Redbull and a plate of cookies and that's how excited I am. Finally, someone clubs me over the head like a baby seal and my I shift my focus to the beer of the day, the Cornballer.

Bruery has some pretty great names for their specialty brews (Gunga Galunga, a Caddy Shack reference, being the best) and this one brings back fond memories of infomercials from Arrested Development (unfortunately the above is the best I can find)

And let me tell you how much I enjoyed it...eeeeeeee not so much -

Eat sink, cornballer (I didn't flush it, but God I wanted to)

I love The Bruery. I have been there four times. I own two growlers. I have several of their beers saved under my bed. I even own a shirt and will probably buy a hat next trip. Yay merchandising. I'll probably name my second born son Mischief after their finest brew, but this beer makes me cringe.

The Cornballer is their attempt at a malt liquor and it's 50% of it is made out of corn and the other 50% made out of 6 Row Malt (2 Row Malt is typically used to make beer). It smells like citrus hops mixed with a mildew sock. It tastes similar, with a dash of sourness. There's just something rotten about it. Everyone except for Karl agrees with me. Karl likes this, but he's also high on mescaline and wine.  I love so much about brewery, but not this. This was hard as a horse to put down. I never thought I would bestow the worst rating to a Bruery beer, but stranger things have happened. PEARL HARBOR rating Thanks goodness they still have the Cuadruple on tap, because I'm gonna need a 'forget me now' after this one.

On another note, happy birthday Nick and AJ! I've known them both for over 9 years and they're my two favorite people and I wish them the best birthday and in the year to come!

 

I bought a Loakal Red and a Cuadruple to add to my cellar/bed collection. Nick G went certifiably awesome and bought a CASE of Bruery beer, a baker's dozen to be exact. On a side note, he will soon be the proud owner of a shotgun. Who has two thumbs and can't wait to combine both? THIS GUY

The Bruery Cuadruple made with Dark Agave Syrup is fit for a king

After diving into some apocalyptic french toast at 26 Beach for breakfast, the parents and I spent the morning along the Santa Monica pier and promenade and visited the farmers market. We tasted a couple types of honey, which was really interesting, and ended up buying a 1lb of sage honey for our next Belgian IPA home brew.  Also, check out this bizzaro Romanesco Cauliflower that we came across:

When I ran down the list of activities to do in the afternoon, I included brewery tasting as one of the events and my parents loved the idea which I didn't expect. To quote my inspirational father, "I can't drink all day any more but I can drink half the day." Hahaha, those are the words of a champion! Now I know where I got my lust for beer from. So I DD'd my parents down to The Bruery in Placentia. We arrived half an hour after they opened and at 4:30pm, we were already late to the party as the place was packed.

Cuadruple rocked my socks off

Here we are and I am stoked to be here for numerous reasons, but particularily because I know The Bruery Provisions store released their latest limited run specialty beer the Cuadruple last night. The Cuadruple is a Belgian Quadruple, a type of high gravity and high alcoholic dark malty ale whose family includes Rochefort 10, St. Bernardus Abt. 12 and the Allagash Four - all of which I've never tasted. So the Cuadruple marks my first taste of this beer style. What makes this tasting even more unique for me, is that they substituted candi sugar for Dark Agave Syrup.

The Cuadruple clocks in at an intense 10% alcohol but the dark ale is exceptionally mellow and extremely delicious thanks to the agave, which also imparts a neat mild citrus flavor. I LOVE THIS. It's incredibly unique and smooth. If Borat was here, he'd say "Niiiiiiiiice!!!" If Wile Coyote was here, drinking this would inspire him to stop chasing the Road Runner and ponder what life would be like without ACME anvils crushing his face. The Cuadruple s is what the Most Interesting Man in the world drinks when he's not having Dos Equis.

It is profoundly distinctive and difficult to describe. The Dark Agave Syrup imports a very special and rich caramel flavor that must be tasted. It's cool like a wet cloth to a hot forehead. I'm buying a bottle for David and sufficed to say, I to purchased another to store under my bed for a rainy day or a more so a special occasion, like the second coming of Christ. This is really a phenomenal beer. Obviously, this deserves a BAD BOYS rating.

And the parents had a blast!

My Dad liked all the beers but his favorite was the Rugbrod. My mom's pick was the Orchard White, which is made with lavender. We leave The Bruery after some Ahi Tuna Chips and head to Bootleggers. My favorite quote along the way was my dad saying, "Somebody should drive us home and it shouldn't be me." HA.

Dad likes Rye ales, so I hook him up with a half pint of the Rustic Rye IPA and my mom with the Old World Hefeweizen. I was surprised to find that Bootleggers added around 7 new beers styles since we were here a couple weeks ago. I bought a Hopinator Hefe growler for the Super Bowl tomorrow and the Gingered Ale looks promising.

On the way home Dad regales me with stories of his younger days, which I thoroughly enjoy and hope to hear more of. Later, David joined us for dinner at Rustic Canyon where I had the best pork chop of my life. Now that's how I want to spend a day with my parents!

The Bruery Provisions Series is Old Richland is the last of its kind

Karl, David and I are joined by Infamous Jamie as we head down for our third trip to The Bruery and Bootleggers. The new twist to the adventure is that we first hit up The Bruery Provisions store in Orange, which has a host of beers and cheese to sample.

We arrived to discover that two of the three Provisions brews, Gunga Galunga and Premiere, have gone the way of the pager and are now only available in people's cellars and local pawn shops. However, their third Provisions beer, the Old Richalnd, is available to taste. Whinnnna!

My taster included the Humulus Session, 7 Grain Saison, Saison De Lente, the exquisite Three French Hens and the Old Richland, beer o'day.

The Old Richland is a barelywine by style but DIPA by association. The Bruery's created a 9% barleywine then dry hopped it with Centennial, Simcoe and Sterling hops (these big boys - very acidic hops).

Old Richland

It smells super sweet. Upon tasting, the hops and malt play well together. It's a smooth but passive beer - nothing jumps out at me. Barleywine tends to put you on your ass, so if I waned a high quality 'drinking to get drunk' style of beer, this would be it. Unfortunately, you probably won't be able to find it. Check out Stone's Old Guardian instead. TRANSFORMERS rating.

Karl and Infamous Jamie sample the nectar

The fun comes after the beer of the day is drunk. I tried Karl's sample of the Belgian Mint style beer called Aurora Borealis and it smells like a hospital. It tastes just as weird. Infamous Jamie says it tastes like Colgate. There you go. David was the only person who finished their sample of it.

I'm bitching about the 7 Grain Saison so Jamie grabs my taster and throws it back. "It's not bad" she responds and thereby rejects my perspective, "it tastes like pee." HA. Exactly, nice try Infamous Jamie. 
David and Karl finish off their cheese plates and we jet off to The Bruery. Low and behold they have their 10 year Anniversary beer on tap, the Coton! What a coup. It's sweet and delicious with hints of cocoa. THe Coton is like a beer equivalent of port. It's delicious but so dank that you can actually drink too much. 

When I drink Coton I forget about the everything else

The rest is history, or lack there of. We bought two growlers of Michief and made serious moves with them. I tried pacing myself but patience isn't my strong suit, so how do you think that turned out? By the time Laura and Michelle showed up fresh from Temecula Wine Country, I'd forgotten all about Bootleggers. 'Wait, we're going to another brewery?! Well I'll be a monkey's uncle...' Belgian style beer has a funny way of fogging up one's memory. We refilled our growlers and had a beer at Bootleggers before they closed, followed by In-and-Out, which our group definitely caused a raucous in. Your welcome Placentia for the Saturday night antics and entertainment. From there, we returned home to more beer and hammock napping. Another successful brewery run but next time it's my time to drive, D'Oh!

Bootlegger's Mint Chocolate Porter and the tale of two breweries

Today was an epic trip to two brewery's just north of Anaheim, our favorite The Bruery to refill our growlers and Bootleggers, who we sampled at the LA Beer Fest and decided their needed to be, ahem, further investigation / heavy drinking. Being the professionals that we are, we accomplished both (*pats on back).

Our usual foursome of David, Karl and Laura piled in the car with two others, the expatriate Pete G and my coworker Tiffany. Arriving in the rain, we set about conquering our 5 glass sampler - which was only $3.50! A bargain price for sure.

Bootleggers has grown tremendously over the last year and after tasting it's easy to see why. They have a superb hefeweizen, a decent golden ale, a strong contender in their unique Rustic Rye IPA,  and the Chipotle Coffee Ale was heavy but delish. Their blue ribbon beer is a Double IPA (DIPA), the Knuckle Sandwich (which I inexplicably continued to reference as a Monkey's Punch), and it is simply fantastic. 

The Winter Ale, a Chocolate Mint Porter, was our beer of the day. 4th on my sampling list, I couldn't wait to reach it and was not disappointed. I love sweets, so tasting a beer that was exactly like Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream ='s deliciousness. It's well rounded and not too heavy. This is a novelty beer and not an 'let's crack another one open' brew, but the great craftsmanship makes the Chocolate Mint Porter an excellent limited release seasonal beer. I wouldn't drink this all the time, but for a night or two over the holidays, this would really hit the spot. TRANSFORMERS rating.

The Bruery was excellent as always and packed. The tasting room is open from 4pm - 10pm on Friday's and Saturdays, giving it a totally different vibe than our 3pm Sunday afternoon tasting. Sunday afternoon, 10 people total. Saturday night, there 40 people all partying because they have Saturday night fever and the only prescription is more Bruery Beer. Karl ingeniously filled up a growler (5+beers) for $15 dollars and we poured our own cheap Mischief beer and sang a cappella karaoke. It was awesome, can't wait for the next trip in January!

Bruery Tasting Room! 2 Turtle Doves fellatio'd my tongue

I surprised David on his birthday with a field trip - and by surprise, I mean, I didn't tell him where we were going, but he kinda knew deep down we were going to The Bruery, but then that place is so far out in the middle of nowhere (who knew there was a 605 freeway?) he became confused and probably thought I was taking him to smoke peyote in the desert - so until we arrived it was still technically a surprise. To say the least, he was excited when we finally arrived at The Bruery's brewery in Placentia, CA I think the mescaline would've been a let down compared to what awaited us.

Tap Beauty

Karl K had joined us for the trip, and we settled around a converted barrel/table for 5 tastings and some great reminiscing. I won't spare you with all the details, but all five beers I tried were all new to me and The Workman's Friend (description pictured center above) stood above the rest.

But the best was yet to come. The beer gods were smiling upon David, because The Bruery had a party the day before and left a little in the kegs of TWO beers we could not longer purchase - 2 Turtle Doves and The Bruery 2010 Coton Anniversary beer.

Two Turtle Doves for Three please

This is how good the 2 Turtle Doves was - Karl offered his Mischief to clean our pallettes. He offered to waste Mischief - one of our favorite beers, the beer we would get a keg of it's so freaking amazing - to wash our mouths out for the Doves. How could Mischief become the spittoon? Only with the Doves.

It's that good. Birthday aside, this tasting alone made the trip spectacular.

2 Turtle Doves - The smell is amazing. Tasting wise, at 12% this is a dark and wonderful alcohol drenched syrup. My god, the chocolate and molasses combination is to die for. It's incredible, easily one of my top beers ever. Simply Promethean. When David posts, read his column, he puts it best. Simply awesome. BAD BOYS rating.

The 2010 Coton Anniversary Ale is equally, if not more so, impressive. Up front, the taste is similar to the 2 Turtle Doves, but it's complexity is quickly apparent as vanilla and the dark fruit arise. Its intricacy is impressive and inspiring. Also a phenomenal beer. 

Thank you Bruery for making David's Bday and my Sunday. We each bought a growler to take home, so we will be visiting you again soon to refill!

The bedroom isn't the only place where magic happens