The Bruery Black Orchard

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

750ml bottle. Medium tan head that mostly dissipates. Aroma is moderately sweet, coriander, orange, some roast, anise. Taste is moderately sweet, roast, orange, some coriander. Light-medium body, some stickiness.

From the Bottle at Dr Bill’s Tasting Falling Rock Tap House, Denver 10/10/2008 Floral and slightly spicy aroma. Dark coloured and a little rich on the palate with a smoked flavour. Crisp and dry malt finish.

Draft…RBSG ‘08… Very dark (burnt orange when held up to bright light) with a small, creamy, off-white head. The nose is mostly of chocolate and banana with only a hint of clove. Medium to full-bodied with subdued carbonation. Tastes like an underripe, chocolate dipped banana. Well-balanced. A trace of spiciness. Minerally, lightly bitter finish.

(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.

Pours an opaque black with a large, clingy-lacing froth of dark tan head. Has a sweet dark caramel and milk chocolate nose with some doughy Belgian yeasty notes and a hint of tartness. Starts very effervescent with some dark caramely sweetness and mild light fruity tart notes before a drier, bready slightly more bitter finish. A pretty true to style and drinkable Belgian ale.

Draught Stupendously huge yellow-brown head over hazy dark-brown beer. Very strange nose with yeast off-aroma’s and a lot of coriander. Coriander, and black malts and sweet chocolate-like flavour. Absolutely terrible. Slick, velvety MF, thick, worts-like. If the Californians really think we make this kind of beer, our brewers ought to be stopped immediately by health services...

My Bottom Line:
Chocolate bread and bountiful spices form most of this Dark Witbier’s flavor profile, making this a complex, drinkable but loud brew.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-A sheet of foam tops the blackened brown.
-The lean body and its big bubbles help drinkability.
-I would have preferred the spices to be more subdued; as is, the chamomile, and orange peel are very expressive, lacking subtlety.
-Light roastiness accompanies the chocolate flavors.
-I’m not sure the chocolate flavors are completely harmonious with the spice mélange, to my palate.

Bottle.

750 from South Bay. Pours dark brown with a genetous tan head. Smells of citrus, coriander, bananas, some nice spicy hints, wheat. Tastes citrussy with some tarte lemony hints, notes of coriander, some nutty hints. Tastes like a blend of brown ale and witbier.