The Bruery Black Orchard

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

Dark brown in color with a small off-white head. Aroma is of yeast, roasted malts, and spice. Taste is of spice, raisin, and yeast.

Pours thin, almost black with a light tan head. The nose is sweet wheat and spice with some floral notes. The flavor is quite the same with a touch of a brown sugar like influence along with some coffee in the finish. (?) A little thin in the body.

(Draught) Poured black with medium sized white head. Aroma had blueberry and general berriness. Palate was medium bodied with medium carbonation. Berries, malts, fruitiness, lightly roastedness, bitterness and hops could be found from the taste. Malts, hops and bitterness remained in aftertaste.

Ruddy prune in color. Large off-beige head slowly settles and forms a tight but broken cap. Cocoa, plums, alcohol, apple, bready malt, and brown sugar aromas. Faint sulfur, bubblegum, and roasted malt hulls. Soft and expansive effervescence. Dryish and earthy with chocolate-tinged roast upfront. An array of delicacies abound, though the residual sweetness packs substantial weight. Distinctly oaty as well, which also somewhat hampers the body as it deposits an aggressive oiliness on the tongue. Notably floral yet slickly appley with trace notes of banana and bubblegum. Ensuing twinge of coriander echoes the feisty plasticy phenolics as doughy yeast films the palate and neutralizes the fervid spice. Pleasant tang of iron comes and goes, but enhances the quaffable nature. Buried yet perceptible banana esters continue to lend more slickness to the body. Alcohol provides warmth despite its modest strength. Bold notes of plum form an agreeable alliance with the sturdy bready-malt spine. Finishes with apple and plum notes with hints of coriander and distant glimpses of plastic. The malt does show occasional promise as it exhibits some depth and rounded texture, but is partially overshadowed by the plasticlike phenols and oily oats. Yeasty and fairly alcoholic. Middle of the road.

Poured a hazy brown color with a beige head. The aroma was dusty with a wheaty citrus sweet lemon and mild spice. Light roasted malt flavor with again some wheaty citrus notes. Lively mouthfeel. Light bodied with a semi-dry finish. Mildly bitter finish.

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, Goodbar beer club. Very dark body, tan head. Nose is yeasty malted milk, unripe berries, roasted stone fruits. Flavor is roasty but not burnt malts, yeast, toffee. Dark fruits & molasses towards the finish with an interesting tartness. Reminds me a bit of a homebrew Belgian Strong Golden Ale I once brewed w. a pound of chocolate malt thrown into the mash.

Bottle. Pours, well gushes, brown with an average, frothy, light brown head, mostly lasting with fair lacing. It took this one a few minutes to settle down after opening. Aroma is heavy malt (bread, straw), average hops (flowers, grass, herbs), average yeast (barnyard, earth) with notes of plum, cherry, and wood. Medium bodied, sticky texture, lively carbonation, and a chalky finish. Average duration, light sweetness, acidity, and bitterness.