The Bruery Black Orchard

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

Bottle. Pours dark brown with a beige head. Sweet aroma with roasted malt, spice, and a light citric zest. The flavor is roasty, with some light fruity, spicy and floral notes. Solid roasty bitter finish. Very good.

Bottle picked up in Santa Barbara.

Bottle explodes with overcarbonated exuberance, spilling into the sink and filling the first glass with 90% head despite a very careful glass-edge pour. Slightly sour, phenolic, stewed vegetables along with mild wit spiciness and some raisin sweetness. Overall, I appreciate that they tried this experiment but I cannot pretend that the experiment ended well.

Bitch is delicious but I can’t tell you why. Definitely smells and tastes like birthday cake. A Belgian birthday cake? Sugary and moist? I’m confused because I like it and I hade dessert. Hell, about as original as it gets. It’s a little yeasty and sour once it warms up, but the initial hit was badass. Never tasted anything like this brew. It’s retarded and awesome. I wanna blow a candle out on top of it.

Overcarbonated, impressive starting head but it dies quickly. The bottle bubbles over (twice!) after the initial pour. It dies to a near no bubble surface. Very little lace. Dark brown color where no light shines through. Strong yeasty aroma. Smells (deceptively) like there is strong amount of alcohol. The flavor is very malty without sweetness. There is a sourness from the brew. Some nice chocolate malt comes through. Light hop flavor. Relatively thin body, but this might be from the high carbonation. Overall, it is a clear miss, but worth seeking out.

Dark brown body, very corbonated. Spicy (pepper, coriander), slightly sour aroma. Flavor of oats and a little citrus and spices. Dry, thin mouthfeel. Stroong dry, roasted malt aftertaste.

Tap at Sacramento Brewing. Dark brown, almost black, pour. Off white head. Sour nose. Yeasty and bitter taste in the mouth that eventually turns bready. Would have liked a tad more body.

Nose is, well, strange. Roasted malt and milk chocolate playing with coriander and apples. Flavor is heavy on the wheat and light coriander and ginger - then fades into roasty oats and bready malt. Lively carobonation on the finish, very ’tingly’ for lack of a better term. It’s certainly different. A little too out there for my personal taste, but wll constructed for what it is.

750mL bottle poured into a tulip. This was a serious gusher. Despite the fact that I opened it close to refrigerator temperature, the foam gushed out for a good 30 seconds. After things calmed down, it settled in as a dark, dark brown body with a huge creamy tan head that lasts forever and leaves only spotty lacing. The most notable thing about the aroma for me is the spices - a combination of pepper, coriander and herbs. There is a healthy caramel sweetness and some deeply roasted malts as well a hint of orange zest. The taste amps up the citrus with the orange and lemon presence coming out a little more up front. The big roasted malt backbone starts to come through after that and really leaves a toasty finish that mixes interestingly with the big spiciness of the coriander. The mouthfeel is no surprise given the other Bruery year-rounds I’ve tried - super carbonated with a relatively light mouthfeel overall. Probably a little too much carbonation for my liking. This is another very original beer from the Bruery though the taste doesn’t quite come together perfectly with all the disparate flavors competing for attention. Not my favorite but still good.