The Bruery

I've had this beer once before, and it cost me $40... Well, I think the check actually got split at the end of the night, but there was definitely a charge on there for one (1) $40 bottle of The Bruery's Autumn Maple on there somewhere. It was after a long drive from Kansas City to Denver, followed by more than a couple rounds of beers at Falling Rock and then another round or two at Euclid Hall... so my recollection is a little hazy, but I remember thinking this was the best fall beer I'd ever had. That was a year ago, almost to the day. This bottle of Autumn Maple has been in my basement for a couple weeks now and I've been eagerly awaiting a 60 degree fall day so I'd have a good reason to crack it open.

Rye Beer isn't a style I reach for very often. Most beers that I've had which have been brewed with Rye, have been overly spicy and bitter. It's a grainy bitterness that I don't particularly enjoy. It's not that I have anything against rye, I just don't think it makes the best main ingredient in a beer based off of the Rye Beers I've had so far. I've waited a while to open this bottle of The Bruery Rugbrød because it's a "JuleBryg-Style Dark Rye Ale". I don't know the first thing about JuleBryg style beers... but rye is a familiar ingredient. I wasn't in a hurry to open this, going off of the assumption that I won't be that crazy about it. Today I decided to just get it over with. Let's see if JuleBryg is a style worth differentiating from other Rye Beers.

I really enjoy going to a new liquor store and finding bottles of beer I'd never heard of before. This bottle of The Bruery Mischief came from a liquor store in Maryland I visited over the weekend. I've had a couple beers from The Bruery before but I've never seen this one on a menu or at a liquor store. The label says the Mischief is a Belgian-style Ale, golden & hoppy. Sounds good to me. I haven't had a bad beer from The Bruery yet, but they have all been, more-or-less, Saison style ales. I'm hoping this Mischief will be something a little different.

I try not to seek out breweries or specific beers. I know that, in most cases, it will just lead to frustration when I can't find a beer I really want to try. Even worse is when I finally get my hands on a bottle of something I've really been looking forward to and it just doesn't live up to expectations. The Bruery is one brewery I've been wanting to try for the longest time and have been trying to find bottles of their beer while on vacation for a while now. It seems like their beers just don't stay in stock very long, which is great because their beers must be really good... but it doesn't help when I'm out of town and looking for a bottle to bring back home. I was finally able to pick up a few bottles of Bruery beer a few weeks ago and I'm hoping they can now live up to the hype that has been built up in my head.