As I mentioned previously, I interviewed the Bruery a while back.  When I went to interview them, I brought a bottle of Dark Lord and an extreme beer that I brewed.  We tried both of those and a ton of other beers in the Bruery's line-up before I tried Black Tuesday and knew that it was good but I didn't have the chance to really get a good feel for it.  So, when my thirtieth birthday hit, Dan, who went to Black Tuesday release with me, brought the bottle he had gotten.  It was very gracious of him and I'm glad to have such a sharing friend.  Anyway, we tried it first so that there would be no mistaking what it tasted like.  After the much anticipated waiting time and not so great experience in the waiting line for the beer, I tasted it and here is what I thought. The Pour: I felt like I was sitting underneath the car changing my long overdue oil.  This baby is black, really black.  A nice dark tan head comes to the surface of this viscous bubbling caldron of a beer.  The beer likes to stick to the glass and could be said ...

I realized that I've had this review sitting in my notebook for about 3 months or so.  I think it was even before I interviewed The Bruery. Since that time, the Bruery is no longer making this brew. Issues with shelf-life and other factors played into their discontinuation and replacement of Black Orchard.  Rugbrod is the beer replacing it. As a result, I don't know how relevant this review will be.  Maybe it will make it into the eventual annals of folklore.  Either way, for those who are wondering what the beer is (or was like), I'm going to do my duty and review this beer posthumously. The Pour: I wish I could say this beer was the color of a graveyard at night because it would help the metaphor of its death.  But this beer poured like a robust porter and had a light brown head, which was fluffy and billowed.  Whatever other problems the beer might have had, the bottle conditioning was not one of them.  It looked very nice. The Nose: At 5.7% ABV, the alcohol was undetectable in the brew.  What was detectable were the iron-like metallic tones, the powdery yeast, and some spice from that same yeast. ...

The Bruery makes some pretty good stuff, and White Oak is certainly no exception.  If you like Allagash Curieux, you'll likely enjoy this.  White Oak is a wheat wine, aged in bourbon barrels.  It's no secret that I love bourbon. If beer didn't exist, I would have a bourbon site. I first tried the White Oak on tap the Bruery when I interviewed them a few months back.  I'm happy to say that I picked up some bottles when I bought Black Tuesday last fall.  Anyway, I'm also happy to say that I have a wife who loves to sip with me, so I didn't drink the whole 11.5%ABV 750 ml beer on my own.  On to the beer. The Pour: This is a hazy blonde beer with some nice orange tones.  There was a very active body with a stable, tall, and fluffy white head.  It looked so lovely in my Bruery glass that I just wanted to look at it all night. The Nose: The head had a soapy yeast aroma, which despite how it sounds, is not bad.  Bourbon oak, vanilla, alcohol and caramel were major features.  The spiciness of the oak combined with the same feature in the wheat ...

Let me be clear.  I refuse to denigrate (i.e., blacken...pun intended) the reputation of the Bruery.  Their beers are first rate and high class.  My aim is not at all to criticize them in this post.  I will certainly make some critical statements, but they do not reflect my thoughts about the Bruery itself. ***WARNING*** this is a rant. Do you ever attend beer events?  If you have been to one, you will probably know exactly what I'm talking about.  If you haven't, prepare yourself to eventually meet some of the people I'm about to describe. What the hell is wrong with people?  Seriously!  Like many others, I'd been planning to attend the Black Tuesday festivities for some time.  All is well and good.  Through personal correspondance, website information, and personal admonition, it was pretty easy to ascertain that Patrick and company did not want visitors to show up to the brewery until 4:30 or after.  It was courtesy to their neighbors that ilicitated the request from the Bruery.  But some people are simply habitual line steppers...literally (but more on that in a moment).  Sometimes the thing that makes beerfests, events, and occasions horrible is the people that show up to them. As an ...

Finally some of the Bruery's beer landed in Toledo, OH (Autumn Maple and Saison Rue) for me to sample and decide if the beer would live up to my anticipations/expectations.  I have been interested in the Bruery since I first heard about them because of their brewing philosophy.  I have yet to read the Bruery's actual mission statement or penned philosophy, so for fear of putting words in their mouth, I'll just postulate and say that it seems to me that the Bruery's philosophy is along the lines of creative inspiration in the form of out-of-the-box, industry unique beers.  Anyone from the Bruery reading this, please correct me if I'm wrong. As I tried to navigate past the sea of Pumpkin beers (everyone may or may not recall my indignation towards this gourd inspired family of beers) I spied Autumn Maple.  The label made my day:  "We don't need pumpkins in our beer!" But we could have a problem.  While I am not a picky eater by any means, there are only a few flavors I don't care for, one of them is yams.  I was a bit afraid to attempt a beer that is "yammy" from 17 pounds of yams ...

Who Sais Americans can't make a good and authentic Saison?  Truthfully, this is sort of a hybrid ale.  I guess you could call it a Sour Saison, Sally.  Don't mistake me when I tell you that this beer is sour.  Sour ales that I've had previously were pretty stinkin' sour; this is a more restrained version.  The Bruery is one of those companies that is just now starting to make a name for itself.  Make no mistake about it, they are very much about Belgian beers.  And why shouldn't they be?  Isn't it okay to pick one thing and do it exceedingly well than to be all over the place and do nothing well?  I think so.  If you're going to pick a place, Belgium is not a bad choice for all its variety and complexity.  If you wish to familiarize yourself with Belgian styles of beer, here are a couple of links. Like many Belgian brewers, the Bruery does not pasteurize its beer and also do 100% bottle conditioning, which means that they allow the yeast to do the carbonation in the bottle--hence, the reason for the thick bottle.  (Here is a link to something I wrote about bottle conditioning.) ...