2013 Bruery Initiation Party tap list

I saw 3 glasses get broken.

 

Event was super fun. I met a lot of really cool people. I was pleasantly surprised at the wide demographic that this event drew, which I usually find to be a little more one dimensional. For me, the beers were either super hits, or flops, but hey, that seems to be The Bruery's thing.

Things I was super excited to try and let down.
-Oude Tart w/ Boysen
-Mocha BT (good/ok, but was expecting more
-Fruity Pebbles Notten (HORRIBLE)

Things that lived up to expectation
-Griffon
-SitR w/ Peaches
-Grey Monday
-The Wanderer (Personally, noticed slight start of oxidation. Not offensive, but I would drink now if you have)

Favorite of the night
-Pop Rocks Sour Blond

I thought the pop rocks would be pure novelty, but it was so damn tasty.

BTW, does ANYONE like Smoking Wood? I gagged at Smoking Wood with Chipotle.

 

I didn't bother with the chipotle version (hate chili flavors), but I like Smoking Wood a lot (that sounds too dirty, lol). The BBA version is great. I have a growler of Rye Smoking Wood in the fridge now that I'm looking forward to getting into later.

 

I love it. I also liked the Chipotle version, but wouldn't want more than a couple of ounces. I regularly split a bottle of Smoking Wood with my wife. I realize that I'm in the minority here.

 

I love bottled Smoking Wood. I hated the chipotle variant though.

It was a great event. Very well organized. Well worth the drive and the ticket.

 

Great time yesterday. I missed out on some beers that I really wanted to try (namely The Wanderer) but no worries.

 

I liked the Smoking Wood w/chipotle, but then again I like the base beer and generally like pepper infused beers. I also really liked the peanut butter BT (that, along with the melange 8 and mocha BT were my favorites), but I don't think it was popular with too many others. My wife couldn't make it at the last minute so they ended up giving me 2 wristbands. I was thrilled at the time, but am regretting it now.

 

Undrinkable:
Mocha BT (too much coffee and no chocolate)
Anniversary in 5GR barrels (FLAT)
Coton (Oxidized)

Unexpected good:
Griffon
White Oak Sap

Always good
Melange 3
Fruet

All the others I had were what I expected.

 

Seconded. Mocha BT was a disaster.

 

I wasn't there yesterday but that was my experience with the Coffee Vanilla BT they did a while ago. I got little to no vanilla and completely too much coffee. They seem to go a bit overboard with coffee in their beers, as that Portola Rossi experiment was the same, all coffee. Maybe I don't enjoy those beers because I'm not a coffee drinker, but I do enjoy many other beers with coffee. Beers like Speedway and Victory at Sea do a great job of integrating coffee with the other flavors.

 

All landed in Dallas safe and sound.

 

Fun event & well planned. Besides the kicking of 3 beers in 45 min and the Haven crew being weird about me asking for foil to wrap a sandwich up. "what do you need it for" followed by "no we didn't bring any foil or plastic wrap" then "yeah we are running low on plates too".
As a chef that has done heaps of catering...those are three things that you should always carry plenty of... Not a big deal, but rookie mistakes IMO.

 

They should carry more Mac and cheese too. The spoon full I got didn't cut it.

 

Meant to post this pic. Ok, pic not working.
http://i906.photobucket.com/albums/ac261/crusian/IMAG1251_zpsb1682ad2.jpg

 

It was a great event. My favorites were the Oude Tart with Boisenberries, Mocha BT, and Grey Monday. I was in line when they ran out of the Sour Blonde with Pop Rocks. Bummer. It was also cool to see Patrick walking around and talking to everybody. I chatted with him for a few, and his favorite was the Mocha BT, go figure.

 

Here is my not so professional criticism:

Pros:
-very smooth considering how many people there were. Most of the lines moved pretty quickly.
-plenty of new beers and classics, nice mix.
-the markings on the glass for 2.5 and 5 oz.
-perfect weather.
-parking was surprisingly not bad.
-the Phoenix club people were really on top of refilling the water.

Cons:
-that line to get in.
-Haven. My sandwich looked nothing like the ones I saw that were made earlier in the day. Stingy on the meat and mac and cheese to the point of being ridiculous.
-make more than 5 gallons of a special beer if you're going to serve it to 1000 people.

Suggestions:
-move volunteers around to anticipate where the crowds will be and when. Get 10 people doing the check ins for the first hour and then take most of them and move them to other places once everyone is inside.
-get rid of Haven and bring back Beachwood for food and get some of the volunteers to help serve food. There should have been 3 or 4 lines for food around 1:30.
-consider making more of that Riesling sour.

Over all I had a great time. Nothing will top the first RS party but this wasnt far behind and definitely an improvement over the last two years. Also, I will volunteer to work this next year if the Bruery needs help.

 

Like most people, I have to say that this event was pretty incredible. My first RS event, and I can now definitely say I am more than satisfied with the purchase. I was pretty worried when I rolled up a few minutes late and noticed a giant line (which I did NOT use the crutches to cut in, in case people following the other post are reading), but as soon as we got inside the gate, everything went super smooth.

Of the beers, my top 3 were Grey Monday, Mocha Tuesday, and Chocolate Rain. Grey seemed unbelievably flawless in flavor transitions, landing it the top spot. Mocha was definitely heavy handed on the coffee, but pleasantly so. Chocolate Rain was also strong in the chocolate flavor and didn't transition as well as the Grey, however that's like criticizing a model for having pointy elbows.

I even got a chance to chat with Rue for a few minutes towards the end. I'm sure he had more than his fill of talking to less-than-sober people during the day, but still made conversation as the whole thing was closing down. I was really impressed with the entire Bruery crew that put this event on, all focused on actually helping make sure people had a good experience.

Being impressed didn't end there either... I went by the brewery itself to pick up allocations today and was treated to the same helpfulness from the girl dealing with pick-ups in the back. Cherry on top of the fantastic visit!

 

Did anybody see that staff member wearing the pink sunglasses? Dude literally fell into me by the outdoor beer truck, walked behind the truck, puked, walked out like nothing happened. Homeboy was doing it live.

 

True, but isolated and he was removed.

 

I really enjoyed the Mocha BT. The Griffon was pretty nice as well. The Chipotle Smoking Wood had the effort, but...meh. And as always, love me the 2 Turtle Doves & Coton.