Bruery RS Initiation Reaction/Wrap-Up

I was in session B, they let us in early as a reprieve from the rain, but didn't start serving early. The line for draft station 2 (which had the sour in the rye with kumquats, chocolate rain, and oude tart with cherries) had a line that was something to behold early in the event. But it actually went pretty quickly, with 4 people at the stations they plowed through a line that had to have 50 people in it in like 2 minutes.

After the first hour or so no station had a line that was more than a few deep. The number of people was pretty much perfect, and it didn't feel crowded at all under the tent. Logistically, I think they did about as well as you can expect.

I didn't really like Otiose, and Sans Pagaie was pretty much "Standard American Wild", so I'm not sure I'll be getting any bottles of those. Mother Funker, on the other hand, impressed me enough that I went to Provisions and got 6 more bottles (I hadn't bought a full allotment of it, so I only have 8 now). Chocolate Rain was incredible, of course, but everyone knew it would be.

 

My wife and I attended Session A. We have been to several Bruery events, and this was one of the best: not oversold, so the beer and food lines were reasonable. And the range of beers was outstanding. Patrick & company, you did an excellent job this time. My favorite beers were BA Autumn Maple, BA 2 Turtle Doves, Papier, Melange #1, Oude Tart w. sour cherries and Otiose. Least favorite was Carmen with Pomegranate.

 

I was at Session B and I was super impressed with how well it went and how fast the lines moved. Beachwood was delicious and really hit the spot for me. Here is my tick list (thanks to my friends who shared their pours with me):

Chocolate Rain
Black Tuesday
Oude Tart w/ sour cherries
Papier
ISO:FT
Sour In The Rye w/ kumquats
Melange 1
Smoking Wood w/ bacon
Otiose
Sans Pagaie
Salt Of The Earth
Premiere
Coton
Cuadruple
GFAR
Bourbon Smoking Wood
Gunga Galunga
TAPS Balinese Stout

 

I was in session A. Had a great time with great friends and some great BAs who were awesome enough to share pours and let me try a ton of stuff.

Chocolate Rain
Sour in the Rye w/ Kumquats
Oude Tart w/ Sour Cherries
Tart of Darkness
Humulus Lager w/ Hop Oil
Run BMC
Hangar 24 Pugachev's Cobra
Smoking Wood w/ Bacon
Papier
Black Tuesday
Salt of the Earth
2009 Barrel Aged Autumn Maple
Melange 1
2009 Oude Tart
Bootlegger's Knuckle Sandwich w/ Hop Oil
Batch 50: GFAR
Bourbon 2 Turtle Doves
Mischief Gone Wild
TAPS Balinese Stout
Coton
Batch 300 Tripel
Hangar 24 Double IPA
Carmen w/ Kiwi
Premiere
Otiose
Eagle Rock Deuce


Great day! Lines weren't long, food was awesome, no complaints here!

 

I agree with the Cermen, neither was good, the pomegranate was definitely bad. Not a big deal thought since there was so many great beers

 

I was at Session B. My buddy and I were first in line for Chocolate Rain and Oude Tart with Sour Cherries. Cheers to The Bruery for a smoothly run event. I got to try every beer I wanted to. Even at 6:45, near the end of the event, I was able to get some Black Tuesday. Awesome.

Special thanks go out to Beachwood BBQ for catering. That was a damn good plate of food, and it filled me up.

 

Same topic, kind of...List your favorite three from the over 50 bottles/taps they offered (including the guest taps)...

Here are mine:

1) Sour in the Rye w/Kumquats (by a mile!!!)
2) Chocolate Rain/Black Tuesday (sort of a tie, but I would give it to Chocolate Rain with a year or more under it's belt)
3) Otoise

Honorable mention:
- BA Two Turtle Doves
- Melange #1
- Oude Tart w/Cherries...

 

Agreed, SitR w/ Kumquats was the best for me also. The TAPS Imp balinese stout was great (I love coffee). I liked the Sans Pagaie and hope it will get better with some age on it. The Smoking Wood w/ Bacon paired perfectly with the Beachwood BBQ plate.

 

Top Three

Sour in the Rye w/Kumquats
Chocolate Rain
Melange 1

 

Sour In The Rye W/ Kumquats on cask was best in show by a mile! Would not have recognized SITR as the base beer if I hadn't known.
Melange 1 was a nice surprise. Funk took over a bit more from the Bourbon.
ISO/FT was no good, Marron Acidife is 10x better although less rare.
All the usual suspects were fantastic as well.

 

Ba 2 turtle doves
Mother funker
Sans pagie

 

My wife and I, Bigturo, his GF, and a few close BA's were also in session A. They let us in early as well, got checked in, glasses, lists, walked around, then formed a line where we wanted to start, as did everyone else. This nearly alone allowed the event to run smoothly, rather then a huge line queing up outside, with checkin starting at pour time. Even if its not raining next year, this is certainly the way to go. (even the RS barrel party should be that way)​

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We had a great time all around. I had pours of (due to shares with my wife)​

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Chocolate Rain x II​

Sour in the Rye w/ Kumquats (best in show)​

Hangar 24 Pugachev's Cobra​

Papier​

Black Tuesday​

Melange 1​

Bourbon barrel aged two Turtle Doves​

TAPS Balinese Stout​

Premiere​

Otiose​

Sans Pagaie​

Einers Folly​

Smoking wood, bourbon barrel.​

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Usually highlights for me, BT, CR, were great. Sans pagaie was milder then I prefer, but glad I got to try it before I ordered bottles. Melange one is aging fantastic imo. Papier was the worst of the day for me, but even at the event, there was debate on that one, some thought was great, so perhaps bottle variablity. Einers Folly is fading, but the keg was better then most recent bottles I've had, so I still enjoyed it. Premiere was tasty still as well.​

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Food, no cream spinich this time around, so being vegetarian, I had a smaller plate over all. Coleslaw, two rolls, cream corn, portabello. All tasty. I wasn't hungry, but I wasn't satisfied either. I still feel this is an area that is underpresented by the Bruery (I use Mohawk Bend, Tony's Darts Away, & Golden road as places that are tapped into offering more Vegetarian, Vegan fare with beer foods) but, those three examples make their food, where as this is catered, so it's more what the restaurants bring to these events, but just saying though.​

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Anyway, great event, thanks Patrick, Tyler, Sara, Jonas, and everyone I'm leaving out.​

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Chocolate Rain
SitR w/kumquats
Batch 50

Honorable mention to Knuckle Sandwich with hop oil

 

I attended. While it was a decent event, the 10-tasting limit was a bit of a disappointment. There were a ton of other beers there that I wish I could've tried, especially at $50.

The best beer of the day was my last sample - Sour in the Rye with Kumquats. Absolutely the best beer there, and one of the best sours I've ever had. Huge citrus and a really pleasant aftertaste. I could drink it all day.

I also discovered that most of The Bruery's barrel-aged strong beers taste incredibly similar. BT tastes a lot like Chocolate Rain, which tastes really similar to their other Barrel Aged strong beers (2 Turtle Doves, Melange #3, etc.) I thought Melange #3 was the most complex, most balanced, and most enjoyable out of all the other strong ales. Probably my #2.

My #3 beer was either Tart of Darkness or Melange #1. Quite different, but both enjoyable. Wish I had some bottles of both!

 

I have cried myself to sleep the past two nights wishing I had tried SitR w/kumquats before it tapped out...

on a brighter note, I tried the regular version the night before and loved it! Even after the 4th and 5th glass

 

I agree 12-15 tasters, given their size would have been optimal, or the option to buy more at the event. The Bruery does try to stick to a balance at these events, and for the most part they succeeded, I still had a great time.

As for the similiarity, since choclate rain is BT with choclate added, Melange 3, is a blend of BT, so with that said, of course those three would taste similiar, all three have the same beer in them. As for two turtle doves being similair, I don't fully disagree, but will say the wood & bourbon notes are similiar, and since they typically use Heaven Hill barrels, they would have similiar barrels notes imho.

 

Similarly incredible too. The more beers that taste like BT/CR/Melange #3 the better, imo. I did think the BA 2 turtle doves tasted pretty different, and (again imo) not quite as good.

 

Agreed on the 12-15 tasters with the option to buy more. There was a lot of leftover beer at the end of the event, and I regret buying the DD ticket for my girlfriend.

The differences between many of their strong beers are subtle, which is evidence that the alcohol level and barrel aging make up a majority of the flavor profile (at least for me.) Thick, syrupy, sweet, chocolate, vanilla, oak and dark fruit dominate in a lot of their beers. There's just something about Bruery's beers that provides a similarity or cohesion, and is easy to identify against other breweries.

I really enjoyed the pecan flavor in the 2 Turtle Doves, but I felt like the Belgian yeast esters mellowed out after the barrel-aging. It was quite different than 2TD fresh, and actually started to taste a lot like BT, Chocolate Rain, etc with the whole thick, syrupy flavor described above. It was probably the most different out of the ones I listed, but it started to have a lot of the characteristics as seen in the other beers.

It's definitely not a bad thing - I really like their beers, and that distinct Bruery flavor. It's more of a surprise than anything else...and I don't think people should be straining themselves to get a bottle of Chocolate Rain or Black Tuesday when they can get a similar, if not better experience from something like Melange #3. Actually, I think the White Oak and the blending of the Melange #3 give it an advantage in terms of balance and complexity.