The Bruery Sucreversary

The same table that made people dump their snacks (apples, protein bars, etc) and water?

 

I don't think that's controversial at all - they're a nascent brewery specializing in a style that takes years to properly develop. I was up there in March and after trying a few of their offerings, I came away with the impression that they're making enjoyable beer but are still a couple years from coming into their own and making truly great beer. Their beers are still young, they haven't had time to make changes based upon finish products, and they're going to inevitably go through growing pains. Granted, starting a club/society before ever serving a drop of beer artificially raises expectations, but even then, you're getting a product that's already on par with certain other American sour producers at a better price.

The cycle of hype and backlash for new breweries has become even shorter over the past few years and I'm sure it will be cool to hate on The Rare Barrel in a few months, but they're right where they could reasonably expected to be at this point.

 

Rare Barrel is young. Maybe they will eventually be better, but I've traded for their bottles and stood in line once and I will never do so again. Good, but not worth the effort when I can get better on the shelf.

 

So I got in line at for the bruery truck to prove you wrong...10 minutes. Now they had 5 or 6 people pouring so I can only assume the single cask lines were longer but maybe not 30 minutes, I was just speculating by the physical lenths of the line.

On that note, did anyone try the watermelon sour?

When he scooped me the pork I said, "That's about enough to get stuck between my teeth!" He gave me what equaled to a half a bite more . I should have taked your more direct approach. We ate really early so they must have been in conservation mode, still sucked.


Some beers I had:

Jolly Randall--Smelled spectacular, taste did not do it for me. Only one I poured.

Revenge of the Nerds--Not very sour but crips and refreshing, I enjoyed it.

Lost Abbey Framboise Amorosa--This beer was killer, wish I had turned back around for another pour, they were out when I went back

Noble Naughty Sauce--Tastes like iced coffee, really dug it.

Cookie Monster--This was a boozy, sweet tasty brew. Plus you could walk right up and grab a pour pretty much at any time.

SitR W/Plums--Very good, plums were subtle

SitR W/Nectarines-- This was a winner for me, good nectaring flavor, loved it.


Oh and from the last email before the event:
"Taste Responsibly:
We have a great respect for our Society members and we know that you are excited to try many of the beers that will be offered. Because of this, we have decided to make this an open tasting, removing the 10 ticket limitation. We have lowered the sample size for higher alcohol beers, but you will be able to try all of your favorite brews in a responsible manner.
In accordance with ABC law and out of respect for our host in The Boys & Girls Club of Santa, we urge all of our guests to stay hydrated, eat plenty of food (you may bring additional snacks with you to the event) and taste responsibly. Additionally, no outside bottles may be brought into the event. We reserve the right to refuse service to any attendees that appear intoxicated."

And you had to throw it all away...even though you already paid for the food being served...and there was no other food available for purchase so your snacks would not drive down sales.

That was pretty shitty.

 

It was great to have in the hot sun. I can't see it being that great outside of that situation though, just not enough to it besides being light and oh so slightly watermelon.

On the other hand, that same station was empty all day, the line got to maybe 5 people at around 230 and stayed about that short. My guests and I each had no less than 10 pours of Griffon as we parked it there to eat.

 

Yeah, Beachwood is a great place to eat, but man does their catering need some fixing. Same thing happened with Melange 9 party where the food portions were laughable.

 

I have to say, the one time I ate at their Seal Beach location the portions were pretty bad. Our whole party was pretty disappointed in an ice cream size scoop of pulled pork, 2 small brisket slices (that were 1/3 fat) and a dollop of potato salad for $18. There are MUCH better values for BBQ out there.

 

I didn't like it very much. I got more rind than fruit characteristics.

 

I agree. Stood in line for about 20 minutes, at least, to get a pour of Fields Forever. I was happy to try something from Rare Barrel but I wouldn't wait that long again. The best part about the wait was getting a pour of Dark Lord from Tyler.

 

Great weather. Great booze. Great people.

By far, one of the most eclectically mixed beer events in CA. It was casktastic!

Here's a few pics of the pours I've been privileged to consume. I tried to take full advantage of the unlimited pours, so imagine duplicates or triplicates of some.

http://www.beeradvocate.com/communi...u-drinking-now-568.177841/page-3#post-2416939

 

I had a great time as well. Didn't mess around with The Rare Barrel line. I figured I'll be up there soon enough and there were tons of beers with no lines. I think my favorite non-Bruery beers were the Monkish Seme della Vita with strawberries and the Gravity Check from Kern. The Seme was probably my favorite beer of the day and I think I got one of the last pours. I had no idea Almanac ran out so quickly. There was no line there around 12:45 or so. As for the ice cream sandwiches...I got one and waited about 10 minutes around 2 or so. Pretty damn good but I wouldn't have waited half an hour.

 

My only feedback would be I preferred the old 10 tastings with larger pours. 1oz pours don't allow you to fully savor the beer IMO. Even having the unlimited pours one had to circle back through the line to continue to taste the same beer.

My favorite of the day was SitR w/plums.

 

I totally disagree with that. I wouldn't be able to try 50% or more of what I did thanks to unlimited tasters...and if 1-3oz wasn't enough I just got multiples, like 3x Griffon, 2x Oreo, 4x Oui Oui etc...
But I agree with the beach plums...That was either #1 of the day or definitely in the top3

 

it was decent.

 

The food portions looked alright to me.

 

Can't believe I missed the Rum Mrs. Stoutfire, safe to say it tasted nothing like Floyd d' Rue?

 

I wouldn't say they were comparable. One is a heavily spiced Porter while the other is a smoked Stout.

I don't want to share this as this is me being selfish and not wanting to compete with others, but there is an upcoming Beachwood event where you could give both the Rum and Bourbon varietals a try.

 

Saw that on FB, thanks!

 

My plate lacked any brisket, as it was gone and when I asked if I could try some of the tofu, you know, to pad out the spoon size scoop of pork, they told me they couldn't as they needed to give the little remaining on real vegetarians.

Like I said, this is the second event I've been to where Beachwood catered and both times I felt like they really were doing it inconsistently.

It's not like my complaint is the only one about them. That should tell you something regardless if you got a king's feast of a plate.

 

Looks like you were served at least twice the amount everyone in my group was served, we ate around 1:45, I heard many of the later plates were larger. Not trying to make it a big deal, I thought it was a great event.