The Bruery Black Orchard

Brewed by The Bruery
Style: Belgian Ale
Placentia, California USA

The body was black with a khaki colored head. The aroma was plums with chocolate and coffee hints. The taste was milk chocolate with some prunes and tobacco. There was also some wood. I enjoyed, but didn’t love this.

Bottle at Mekong on 07/19/2009. Dark black body with a large rocky off-white head. Sweet chocolate aroma with light roast and spice. Big chocolate flavor with some faint roast and a good spicy background and a dry finish. Medium body with moderate carbonation. 7/5/8/3/16 - 3.9 Bottle on 07/18/2009. Hazy dark brown body with a large frothy off-white head. Sweet fruit, light yeastiness, and some dark malt aroma. Sweet raspberry and roast malt flavor, some dark malt. Medium body with moderately high carbonation. 7/4/7/3/13 - 3.4 Bottle on 11/30/2008 at the 3rd Annual Richmond Industry Gathering. Murky dark brown body with a medium tan head. Big spice and fruit aroma. Sweet caramel and dark fruit flavor with some light chocolate. Medium body with moderately high carbonation. 7/3/7/3/14 - 3.4

From a growler fill at the Bruery. Aroma is spicy from the coriander and a little fruity from the yeast. Color is a dark brown, almost opaque, with a big fluffy beige head that stays around. Malty with a little fruityness coming through at first, before the wit character comes through. Light and refreshing, with a little extra richness from the darker malts. Balanced and very drinkable.

(750ml bottle) Pours a murky brown body with a medium beige head. Aroma of toasted malt, wheat, rye, florals, coriander, banana, and orange peel. Flavor of wheat, black malt, lemon zest, rye, coriander, and fennel.

750mL bottle, no date from Bottle Barn. Deep brown with a 1 1/2 finger fizzy beige head that faded to a thick effervescent ring quickly. Aroma has some fruity bananas, flower petals, earthy caramel and wheat, faint coriander and some toasty malts in the backend. The flavor added some unnecessary alcohol and burnt malt notes behind some nice citrus notes that lightened the beer a bit. Dusty spicy alcoholic finish with bitterness peaking around a 2. High spritzy carbonation with a light to medium body. Different, and not too bad--kind of a mix between a dunkenweizen and a wit.

750ml bottle and enjoyed with tj. I was really looking forward to this brew since I sort of dig the "blackened" version of classic styles. Well these bottled conditioned releases seem over carbonated as the beer gushed out the top before I could start the pour... of course there was a big fiizy off-white head associated with the beer, nice sheets of lace upon the glassware. The aroma has notes of raosted malts, dates, pepper, corriander, wheat, earthy and dirty yeast esters, a tad too weak all things considered. The flavor was better, twangy and fruity with a slight smoky and toasty background. Light handed spiced finish with a wheat note throughout. The mouth feel is very sprite and over-carbonated, warming finish which was surprising with only 5.7% ABV. A touch dry and ashy upon the finish as well. Different for sure, tastes better than it smells. I would like to see more orange peel character.

Sampled on 12/29/2008. This “Black Wit” pours a deep black color from a 750ml bottle. Again upon opening this one was a gusher. It did allow me to pour the beer into several style glasses for an aroma and taste comparison, so it wasn’t a total loss. Large sized white/beige foamy head. The aroma is roasted malts, some coriander and some orange and citrus. A medium bodied Belgian Ale. The malts are caramel and dark fruits. The hops are earthy and floral. Nice balance. Caramel and fruity up front followed by some spices and orange and the finish. Definitely has that wit feel to it, yet also has the dark malt and fruit thing going. Very drinkable. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly sweet,

Pours black with some purple and brown on the edges. The head is tan and dirty. The aroma is just kind of musty. Not bad per say, but there’s nothing pleasing in the nose. There is a few blunt fruit cake characteristics there, but I do not know. Big twang with a bit of rounded off roasted character which is nice. There is a ton of carbonation here that is very very distracting. Medium body and quite dry. Overall, I just do not find this beer all that enjoyable.