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.

Pours very dark with a dark red tint and a good sized tan head. The aroma has toasty malt, appropriate sweetness, gentle spice, hints of orange and an angel food cake sort of quality - quite pleasant. Medium light body with lots of lively carbonation. The aroma has toasted gentle malt with no bitterness, bit sweeter than the aroma (it’s a clean sweetness), sharper orange and more pronounced spice aspect. The finish has various spices with some coming across as sharp and some as gentle. The angel food aspect is coming out on the finish as well. A great beer and very unique.

For some reason this was one of my favorite beers from The bruery, but it may be pulled from the lineup. Pours a nice deep woody brown almost black with a nice fizzy carbonation and nice look overall. Aroma is dark burnt toasty, nutty, herbal phenolic- with ltos of cgood phenolicy spicy yeast, citrusy and the chamomile is definitely kept in check since I usually dont like chamomile too much. Good full malty flavor without getting too thick or sweet- lots of black malts, lgith roast, good chocolate character and a nice toastiness to go alont with the earthy herbs and spcies thrown in. Clean and dry finish is nice as well.

This beer is probably better than it should be due to the additives that I normally don’t enjoy that much, but done in a nicely-restrained, truly Belgian, style this beer works extremely well. The crispness as well as fullness of the aftertaste is the killer point for this beer. Not necessarily worth the price-tag, but wow would this make a hell of a session ale on tap...

A dark version of the white, which was very tasty, this one with wheat, oats, spices, some sweetness, and an overall tasty rich flavor balance.

On tap at Live Wire 16th Anniversary party. I really liked this. Kind of reminded me of a mix of a Wit, a Stout and a sour ale. Easy to drink, dare I say refreshing and supremely sessionable.

From 750ml bottle...a true gusher, a portion of this one ended up on my kitchen wall. Pours a deep brown bordering on black color with a robust off-white head that quickly recedes into a heavy film. Aroma is light but enjoyable with notes of yeast, malt, spice and some sour note..nothing seems to overwhelm the other and it melds into something odd, yet good. Flavor is odd, but good in a similar fashion. Malt notes are at the core, but there is a good dose of yeast, some roasted nuts, chocolate, and fairly heavy spice throughout, especially orange peel. Another sour note towards the end, but it is a bit more subtle. Moderate body...I left this one very confused (where did they dream this up?) but pleased. This one went well with some burgers off the grill as well as a stand alone.

Bottle. Pours a very dark brown with off white head - tons of sediment at the bottom of my glass. Aroma is yeast, some farmhouse funk, and some floral notes. The taste is roasty - like a schwartz - but finishes smooth and yeasty. Great belgian beer.