IPA Battle at Bruery Provisions

The wife is gone and I'm feeling a little lonely. I decided to perk myself up with a trip to the Bruery. This is most definitely my new favorite hangout. They have 30 beers on tap to taste and they are always rotating and bringing in new interesting stuff. I'll be doing a full review in the near future as this place deserves MANY accolades.

After perusing the menu I decided on an IPA battle Royale. It was going to be west coast Vs Midwest. Pacific Ocean Vs. Rocky Mountains. Ballast Point's Big Eye IPA Vs. Avery's DuganA.

First off I'm not exactly sure how to pronounce DuganA. is it Duggen..Ay,  DuggenAy or is it, as the server prounced it, DooGahnAh? I think I prefer Duggen..Ay especially since the semi snooty server guy tried to correct me. So, Duggen..Ay it is, and it doesn't really matter HOW you pronounce it because you could call it dirt and it would still taste really really good.

Big Eye IPA on the Left DuganA on the right

DuganA poured a copper orange with loose lacing and not much of a head.

On the nose there was a LOT of barnyard, feet, armpit, Brett smelling. There was more barnyard in this one than other IPA's I've had, like Wild  Devil, that were purposefully inoculated with Brettanomyces. It gave it a depth that I really liked. Musky with some pine of course.

Taste was more barnyard, followed by barnyard dirt, musky, pine. I really enjoyed this beer as there were many layers to peel back. My only complaint was there was a little too much carbonation

The Big Eye also poured a bit darker of a copper color though the lacing was much tighter.

Light and sweet on the nose with some lemon and obligatory pine.

Taste was lemony pine which followed the nose to the T. Not much bubble. All in all a solid IPA.

The win definitely goes to Avery though.

The Bruery Coton

If you are from Southern California and follow the goings on of the beer world down here you probably heard that The Bruery in Placentia recently took home Gold at the World Beer Cup in two categories:

In Category 12: Experimental Beer for their "100% Brett Autumn Maple."
In Category 45: Belgian-Style Flanders/Oud Bruin or Oud Red Ale for their "Oude Tarte."

The Bruery has some seriously experimental beers and they definitely are of a high quality.

I had the opportunity to try their most recent Anniversary brew that is going to be served at their 2 year anniversary celebration this weekend. Two of the brewers from Bruery were at the homebrew meeting I went to on Tuesday and they brought with them a bottle of "Coton" which is a 100% Bourbon Barrel aged version of their "Papier" which has been blended via the solera method ala Sherry.

As you can see the bottle itself is a work of art. Very classy in the 750ml bottle and wax sealed.

This one clocked in at a VERY healthy 14.5% ABV. I was surprised to learn that the barrel can add as much as 5% alcohol to the final brew.

When we cracked open the bottle it poured a deep black with a tan head. I could tell from across the room that this was a BIG beer. Thick and viscous I couldn't see through to the other side of my VERY classy clear plastic Solo Cup.

With 20 of us in the room and and everyone clamoring to get a taste from the one bottle we each got about a finger of beer in our cup. That was all I needed, seriously, I didn't want any more than that. I am a huge Scotch fan and I'm used to drinking my alcohol straight but that classy solo cup hit me hard.

The first whiff off the top was sweet and sticky. I have never smelled a beer so sweet. Caramel, toffee, roasted sugar and vanilla. It was almost cloying and with the alcohol ominously lingering in the background. I can honestly say I was a little scared of the first sip.

Now, I've had some big beers, and I've had some oak aged big beers, but I have never had a beer like this. This beer had the most robust flavor profile of anything I have ever tried. It is without a doubt the best bourbon aged beer I've had. That being said I didn't finish my ONE finger pour. It wasn't because it was bad, it was just hardcore. This is the first beer I've had where the bourbon actually enhanced the beer, and there was a LOT of bourbon. I could have done with less. This beer was not for the feint-hearted.Perfect carbonation mixing bourbon with sticky roasted sugar, raisins, and malty sweetness with a port like quality, quickly gave way to the burn of my nose hairs.

After drinking this I can't begin to imagine what "Tactical Nuclear Penguin"(32%ABV) and "Sink the Bismarck"(41%ABV) made by Brewdog tastes like. Scary. "Coton" was good, it was interesting, but there is no way I could ever drink more than a finger at a time of this one. This is a beer to be shared between 20 people. Perfect.

The next beer to be opened was my "Abyss" from Deschutes that I had brought. In roughly the same class as "Coton" I much preferred it to the "Coton." At 11% I could have actually drank the whole bottle by myself. Slowly, but I could have. I'll review this limited edition beer in the next post. Until then, find some Bruery beer like their "Hottenroth Berliner Weisse" that I reviewed previously or any of their many quality brews.

The Bruery Hottenroth Berliner Weisse

One of the best and least well known secrets of Whole Foods in Irvine at The District is the incredible selection of beer that they have. Not only do they have a great selection of bottled micro-brews but comparatively they are very cheap.They also always have 4 brews on tap, an Enomatic machine for wine, and light tapas. Not to mention the beers in bottle that they source from various beers throughout the country for their tastings that change every weekend. 

D and I had date night last Sunday and we were planning on going to see Alice in Wonderland in 3D at The District. As an aside, 3D is totally worth it but the IMAX isn't. The movie is amazing though. D and I love to get sandwiches made in the deli and then sit in the wine bar to enjoy them. Pretzel bread is the best! It's quiet in the back and hardly anybody is ever in there. D usually gets a glass of sparkling and this time I chose to get this beer off the tap. 2.99$!!!!! How can you beat a pint of premium for 2.99? Don't strain your brain, you can't

This was my second sour beer that I have ever had. The first being the Duchesse De Bourgogne I reviewed a while back. Mmmm...warm oaked cherry Coke. Not exactly a good first impression of the sour beer style. 


 Described by The Bruery as a tart German-style Berliner Weisse which is a sour, cloudy, German wheat beer of low alcohol(3%ABV usually). 

The sourness is created using Lactobacillus(Milk Yeast) and a hint of brettanomyces (Brett brings the funk).
 

Stats: ABV: 3.1%, IBU: 2, SRM: 2, 

Appearance: Very light yellow and a little cloudy with little to no head coming out of the tap.


Aroma: Despite using Brettanomyces in this brew there was surprisngly little funkiness coming out of the glass. "Brett" is usually kept as far away from traditional beers as possible BECAUSE of the funkiness so I found it odd I couldn't really detect it. It smelled, sweet but not malty with a hint of lemon.

Taste: Have you ever had one of those picnic drinks where they combine beer and lemonade? That's kind of what this tasted like. Like a Hefeweizen with extra extra extra lemon squeezed in. Little bit of sour tang but not too much. At first I wasn't sure if I liked it, but as I got deeper into the glass I found it really refreshing. Creamy mouthfeel but light, even though there weren't too many bubbles. One of the best things about it is that at 3.1% ABV you CAN drink a lot of it while mowing the grass on a hot day. 

This one is not easy to get everywhere but if you can it's definitely worth a try, and even though it only comes in a 750 ml in the store you can drink it all yourself and feel ok about it.