Which One?
During our drive to California what started out as a simple can release trip turned into so much more. Over the course of five hours we talked about where we would like to go, and a game plan started to develop. We would first stop at a bottle shop close to our friends parents house and grab whatever caught our eye. Let me saw this. We should have waited. What caught our eye was a shopping cart full of beers. Anyways, we then wanted to stop at our friends parents house, and get ready for the evenings festivities. We made our first stop at Bottle Logic, then went to sushi for dinner, and then it was on to The Bruery. “But, wait which one ?” I was asked. “Umm you mean there is more than one close by?” was my reply back. “Yup.” So the internal struggle began. Do I head to the original Bruery or to the Bruery Terreux. It was up to me, which made it even that much harder. In the end, I have been on sour kick so the Terreux it is.
The Place
Like most of the breweries I have been to, this tasting room was no much different as far as the location goes. It was surprise, surprise in a warehouse district. How ever the parking was very good. It had two sides and both had a few spots open.
Source: http://lawonders.net/
We noticed later in the evening that most of the places we went to were not that busy. So either we got lucky or the weather was keeping people inside. Either way you did not hear us complaining. The inside was very well done. The had a system of paper and pencil beer lists, so you could choose your flight before you got to the front of the line. The hard part is always choosing what beers so this made it some what better. Your flight was poured right then are there and was given to you in this neat little wooden toolbox looking holder. The seating was pretty ample and most of the tables where high tops made out of old barrels. The looking deep in to the rest of the place your were just surrounded by barrel after barrel of aging beer. It was pretty damn impressive to say the least.
The Brews
Of the six beers I tasted I purchased two of them from the cooler inside. Believe me, I wanted to take them all. There were bottles I have never seen in California bottle shops, let alone ones in Arizona. But, I was trying to remind myself we had other places to go to. The two bottles I decided on was Tart of Darkness, and Melange 01. The Tart of Darkness is a sour stout age in oak barrels, this variation was with cherries and vanilla. Let me say that a sour stout is an amazing style of beer. They have this rich, bitter body but it has hints of tartness to the finish. To me they are like someone dipped a sour candy in some dark chocolate. So having cherries and vanilla added to the mix was just icing on the cake.
Barrel aged heaven!
The Melange 01 was a 70/30 blend of a Flemish red ale aged in oak barrels and an imperial stout aged in bourbon barrels. Again the sour was very predominate in this but the rich stout and bourbon shown thru as well. After that it was the Hoppy Obligations which was a pale ale. Wait? A pale ale from the Bruery!? Right, I had to try it. It was a very pale straw color with not a great taste to it. I was not impressed. But Nate also got this beer, but as a full pour. It ended up that Dave and I both got poured the wrong beer. His real Hoppy Obligations was a lot better than the beer we were drinking, so much so that I can not even remember what the name of that beer was. Moving along I tasted the Frambulous which is a Belgian-style Framboise that is an oak-aged sour ale with raspberries. It was pinkish colored and very bubbly. It was good, but like the Hoppy Obligations more of a curiosity then anything. The last beer on the list I was some what surprised to see, the 2016 Black Tuesday. But, with the recent public sale of this beer it was not unconceivable. Like the one I had before this Imperial Stout aged in bourbon barrels did not disappoint. I’ll let the description from the Bruery say it all, but 20.3 percent need I say more. My recent purchase of three these bottles during the online sale was just that much more satisfying.
Overall
If you love some sour beers, or some Belgian style beers, or really just want some very big barrel aged beers you can not go wrong with the Bruery Terreux. And even though at one point in the night, after a few beers were drank, and before a debit card was misplaced; we made plans to go the original Bruery, but we never made it. And I was sort’ve glad we did not make it to both. If there was one thing that I think we did right that night. It would have to be that we went to the right number of breweries. We tasted a lot of great beers, and saw some very cool places. Also, I do not think that our wallets or aging bodies could have taken much more.
Info
717 Dunn Way, Placentia, CA 92870
1174 N. Grove St., Anaheim, CA 92806
