Project Quercus Maximus

To all the loyal fans and retailers of our beer,

As we approach our 3rd anniversary, it's incredible to look back at the journey of these last few years. Our growth has been of a magnitude that we never could have imagined when brewing our first 15-barrel batch. As you might already know, we've been operating at capacity for over the last year and a half; a near doubling of capacity in January of this year has been a mere drop in the bucket. We've reached a fork in the road. One path is to open a much larger brewery that would satisfy demand over the long term, and accumulate millions of debt and bring on outside investors to get to that point. The other path is renewal of our original vision: a small, family-owned business making some of the most interesting, highest-quality specialty beers available in the market in our own unique way. After much debate, research and soul-searching, we've chosen the latter path – but on a grander scale.

We have just leased a temperature controlled warehouse space that we will be filling with thousands of oak barrels, allowing us to create some of our favorite beers such as Oude Tart, Melange #3, and a variety of other delicious and innovative beers. We're extremely excited for this cellar expansion both because it will allow our creativity to shine and because it will help us get our favorite beers into more glasses in more cities. Since day one at The Bruery, we've been making barrel aged ales with an eventual goal to fill shelves with these complex and full-bodied beers. Until now, we have only been able to do this on a limited basis, primarily reaching only those in our Reserve Society. This new investment will allow us to brew more, distribute more and get more specialty beer into the marketplace.

With this change, we have had to make room in our brewing schedule to brew the beers that we'll be barrel aging. Unfortunately, Orchard White is the victim. While we have great love for Orchard White, we feel there are many great witbiers available and believe our limited resources are best spent elsewhere. Further, Rugbrød will now only be available in the fall and winter, with Hottenroth taking it's place in the spring and summer beginning in 2012.

As a company focused on quality over quantity, and founded on the basic fact that making beer is fun, we're excited to continue brewing up our dream. We won't be putting down our mash paddles in place of mechanized processes, we won't be switching our khaki shorts for navy-blue suits and most importantly, we won't be sacrificing our original vision for any reason whatsoever. Simply said, we are growing at our own pace.

Thank you all for the support these past three years. It's your love of style-bending beers that have helped us, and breweries like us, to grow and will keep us growing in the years to come. If you can make it, we'd love to see you at our 3rd Anniversary Beer Festival on May 29th to help us celebrate our future!

Cheers,

Your Friends at The Bruery

www.thebruery.com

www.brueryprovisions.com

Third Anniversary

Hard to believe that three years have gone by so quickly. Seems like only yesterday that we were brewing our first batch of beer or even sitting in an empty warehouse, imagining where the mash tun would be placed. We've had so much love and support from the craft beer community this past year and we're really excited for all the things yet to come.

For our party this year, we're stepping things up a notch and rather than the typical day where people come down to our facility and try a few of our beers, we'll be renting out a beer garden space at the nearby Phoenix Club and throwing our very own beer festival! We've invited a whole bunch of local breweries plus a few of those that we have collaborated with recently and we'll of course be pouring a ton of our own beers. We've also divided the party up into two sessions and each session has a special VIP area where some of our more rare beers will be poured. Music is going to be provided by Jack FM, food will be sold through The Phoenix Club and we'll also be serving complimentary cheeses and snacks from The Bruery Provisions.

Most importantly, all of the proceeds from the event will be benefitting a local medical clinic that helps the poorest of the poor in Orange County obtain all sorts of medical care. The clinic is called Lestonnac and we highly suggest you check them out.

Visit our website for some more info and to buy your tickets!

Photos

We recently had a couple people from the beerphotography blog come by and visit. they've just posted some great photos and a really great story about The Bruery lifestyle.

Check it out here

Cheese Pairings

Here at The Bruery we're very inspired by the foods around us at every meal. As you can tell from many of the flavors that we put into our beers, we are always interested in capturing things that we like in the world of gastronomy and figuring out a way to incorporate them into our ales. On the same note, we are always very excited to find perfect food pairings for our beers and some have noted that our bottles mention you can find pairings and recipes on our website. Well, that clearly isn't true, but it's something we've been working on recently with some local chefs and connoisseurs.

We're very happy to announce and post below a listing of cheeses that pair beautifully with our beers. Kendra, our resident cheese expert who manages the culinary side of our Provisions store was kind enough to taste our beers over and over and try cheese after cheese along side to come up with the perfect pairings. It was a rough job, but someone had to do it. Read below do learn about what she discovered.

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Pairing Cheese With Bruery Beer!

As opposed to the common thought of cheese and wine pairing best, our goal is to express why, on the contrary, cheese and beer compliment each other much better and to give you suggestions on which cheeses pair best with our Bruery beers.

Cheese and Beer heritage is equally as old and even more close: both were historically made on the farm by the housewife, and both are linked to the grain - although for cheese it is linked via grazing animal – which gives both of these artisan crafts their special character. Not only do beer and cheese have similar history and required ingredients, but most cheeses actually have flavors that pair better with beer. By its structural nature, cheeses are more harmonious with beer than with wine: the nut and caramel aromas found in aged cheeses are also present in malty beers like brown ales, stouts and porters. Beer is also much less acidic which makes a pairing with creamy cheese more harmonious.

The Belgian people have been enjoying their cheese with beer, not wine, since the Middle Ages and before, and unlike wine, beer is neither intimidating nor expensive. In other words, you can pretty much afford to buy one bottle of everything and experiment to find out which matches work best for you.

In general, lighter beers like our Orchard White and Hottenroth Berliner Weisse complement mild cheeses; but the reverse is not necessarily true: intense Black Tuesday paired with a super rich cheese is just too much of a good thing. It’s better to seek moderation, e.g. a more mellow beer with a big, complex cheese. Although that doesn't mean you have to chose a cheese without flavor. Overall there are no hard-and-fast rules: the only rule is what you like. But here are some guidelines for you beer and cheese lovers:

Young, fresh cheeses (Chevre, Mozzarella) go best with lighter beers
Sharp cheeses (Cheddar, Colby) go best with highly hopped, bitter beers
Aged, nutty cheeses (Asiago, Gruyere) demand malty beers
Blue cheeses (Roquefort, Stilton), which go well with sweet wines, also require sweet beers

But it can’t be summed up in four bullet points, which is why we’ve provided an extensive chart of more specific pairings for our beers that are often found on the shelves.

Orchard White – Zesty Wit! Fresh cheeses like Burrata, Chevre, Creszenza, Mozzarella, Teleme. Something that has little to no salt and has a moist milky flavor. Our Orchard White also has a lot of Lavender character so drizzling some plain or lavender honey makes for a nice extra sweet kick.

Saison Rue – This isn't your typical saison. Saison Rue had a more malty, spicy kick, with a little more heat. You can either pull the earthy qualities from the beer with an aged gruyere or soft taleggio, or you can pull the more sweet character with a parmigiano or gouda. There are a lot of styles that will pair well with this beer so don't be afraid to experiment!

Mischief – Belgian strong ale with hops! Try Cheddar and English style farmstead cheeses or Washed rind “stinky cheeses.” Its the wash in a brine of salt, liquor or beer that give the washed rind cheese its ultimate flavor. Also feel free to pair with a tart cheese like Sheeps milk Manchego, which will play of the citrus quality in the hops.

Rugbrød - Robust brown ale! This style ale gives way to many different types of cheeses but it pairs particularly well with Gouda, Gruyere, Nutty sheeps milk, Swiss style mountain cheeses like emmetal or comte. You want to bring out those nutty and earthy characters.

Hottenroth Berliner Weisse – Sour and tart! Our temptation is to pair with a fresh or aged goats milk cheese or a fresh cows milk cheese or brie but I wouldn't hesitate to try a light cheddar as well.

Loakal Red – Oak aged American Red ale with a good hoppy body! Pair this style with a nice nutty aged sheep's milk cheese or an aged cows like parmigiano or Pecorino. The aged cheeses will work to bring out that oak.

Humulus Series – Series based on Hops! There are a lot of different ideas of what pairs best with a hoppy beer. Overall what we have tasted is either a nice sharp or tangy cheddar that brings out the citrus or a blue cheese that is salty-sweet where the hops can come through fresh and enlightened.

Saison de Lente - Saisons are earthy and relatively light, and a delicate touch is required to match them with cheese. Their farmhouse character calls out for cheese with a certain level of funkiness. I find Saison matches well with musty, earthy leaf-wrapped cheeses and washed-rind cheeses on the firmer side.

Black Tuesday – Imperial Stout aged in Bourbon barrels! This is a very special beer for us and pairing it with a cheese that will fit perfectly can be intimidating so I would suggest to try not to over power but get something that can live up to it. Aged crumbly or blue veined. Feta, Stilton, Gorgonzola, aged cheddar!

Valentines Day a day early!

Come out this Sunday for a special Valentine's Day beer and chocolate pairing!

First Firkin Friday FebRUEry Fourth

Charlotte's Beer

We're brewing a very unique beer today at The Bruery in honor of the newest member of the Famille Rue. Charlotte Rue was born 11 days ago to very happy parents Patrick and Rachel Rue and what better way to celebrate than with a monstrous beer.

The plan is to make this a beer for Charlotte to enjoy herself one day, so we are brewing what we're calling a "bourbon beer". In typical bourbon fashion, we are using a 51% corn mash and that, along with the other malts and sugars, we are hoping will bring this beer somewhere close to 23% or perhaps higher in alcohol. The primary reason we need the gravity on this beer to be so high is because we now plan on aging it in brand new, dark charred barrels for 21 years - ready to be drunk on Charlotte's 21st birthday. Over time, the beer should pick up flavor and color from the char in the same way as a good bourbon would and the final result will be a very strong beer tasting similar to a fine whiskey.

Like many of our beers, this is going to be an interesting experiment and you'll have to stick with us until 2032 to find out what the end result is. Sorry about the wait.

We're Hiring!

Customer Service & Event Coordinator
The Bruery, Placentia, CA
Position posted January 14, 2011

The Bruery is looking for an organized, team-oriented, customer-focused, craft beer loving, outgoing person to join our team. The Customer Service & Event Coordinator is the lead contact for customer requests, handles the planning and execution of all Bruery events, and assists with office tasks. This position is full time and is Monday through Friday, 8 am to 5 pm, with occasional work during weekends to supervise events.

Customer Service Tasks:

-- Responding promptly to all customer inquiries from customers via phone, fax, eMail (info@thebruery.com), Facebook, Twitter, BeerAdvocate, RateBeer, and in person
-- Promptly handle and resolve customer complaints
-- Keep records of customer interactions and actions taken
-- Gives tours and tastings for special customers and industry guests
-- Answering phones

Event Coordinator Tasks:

-- Assist with negotiations for space contracts and book event space, arrange food and beverage, order supplies and audiovisual equipment, make travel arrangements, order event signs, and ensure appropriate décor to meet the quality expectations of The Bruery
-- Conduct research, make site visits, and find resources to help staff make decisions about event possibilities
-- Create and revise site layouts for each event
-- Schedule Bruery employees and volunteers to assist in event execution
-- Propose new ideas to improve the event planning and implementation process.
-- Serve as liaison with vendors on event-related matters
-- Assist with managing on-site production and clean up for events as necessary
-- Prepare nametags, materials, notebooks, packages, gift bags, registration lists, seating cards, etc.
-- Close out all events as required
-- Assist with preparing budgets and provide periodic progress reports to staff directors for each event project
-- Keep track of event finances including check requests, invoicing, and reporting
-- Prepare and modify event contracts as requested

Office Tasks:

-- Answering phones
-- Forwarding faxes to intended recipient
-- Receiving and sorting mail
-- Filing
-- Document scanning

Qualifications:

-- Passion for craft beer
-- Knowledge of the brewing process and the craft brewing industry are a plus
-- Excellent communication skills, including writing, proof reading skills, and speaking.
-- Ability to manage multiple projects and work assignments from a variety of staff and volunteers
-- Excellent interpersonal skills both in person and by phone, with high professionalism
-- Ability to accomplish projects with little supervision
-- Fantastic customer service ethic and high expectations for quality
-- Bachelor’s degree preferred; significant work experience can substitute for the degree
-- Proficient using Word and Excel; experience with Macs is a plus

Salary rate is dependent on experience. Full time positions will have the option of receiving medical and dental insurance, paid vacation, paid holiday, and paid sick leave. Please eMail a cover letter and resume to careers@thebruery.com.

Pre-employment background check required.

The Bruery is an Equal Opportunity Employer and committed to workforce diversity. Qualified applicants are considered for employment without regard to age, race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, disability or veteran status.

Marrón Acidifié

We're very excited for the pending release of our first ever collaboration beer.

It's become a bit of a trend in the past couple of years for breweries to get together and come up with recipes to release together and its for good reason: its fun!

We had a great time working with the folks at Cigar City Brewing to come up with this one and we're stoked to finally release it.

More info will follow soon as we want to wait on all of the label approvals and what-have-you's before we send legitimate info out there into the blogosphere, for now, just enjoy this fun photo.

To our Reserve Society: We're Sorry!

Dear Reserve Society Members,

I'd like to sincerely apologize for the very long lines and disorganization of yesterday. Everyone at The Bruery agrees with the sentiments that more should have been done to accommodate the very large crowd.

When I woke up yesterday, I felt like it was going to be a great day for The Bruery. My soon-to-be-born daughter Charlotte hadn't forced my wife into labor, so I was actually going to make it to the largest party we've ever put on. I was up especially early so I could get a head start on the day, and I felt that we were generally well prepared. Then the party started.

While we were planning this event, we expected approximately 1,000 guests after receiving around 1,300 RSVP's. We checked in 997 people, so I'm happy to report this prediction was correct! We chose to have the event at The Phoenix Club because our small brewery can no longer handle the size of these events-- we'd need to have 5 or 6 sessions at this point. As far as check-in goes, we needed a method where multiple people wouldn't be able to check in under the same name, so having multiple lists of members printed out might have resulted in this happening. Using our database to check people in helped avoid this problem, but the process did take longer than it should have. With regard to the amount of beer stations, I felt that with ample room, lines would move more efficiently than they do normally at our brewery, and thought having three separate stations (with the truck station being the equivalent of 4 stations) would be sufficient. In retrospect, I was way off the mark and I feel like beating my head against the wall for not anticipating this. Not to make excuses, but we've all been under a lot of pressure lately with our latest expansion (which will almost double our capacity), and I've been distracted by thoughts of having to take care of another human being.

As we plan for our next big event, our Anniversary party, we are keeping track of everything that needs to change from this event. You can expect to see paper tickets for any event with more than 400 attendees. We will refine our estimates to determine how many beer stations and bartenders we'll require (one station per 100 guests for a 3 hour event). While I think our draft truck is remarkably cool, it didn't work out to be the equivalent of 4 stations that I was anticipating. We'll also have to work with our friends who run these fantastic food trucks to see what can be done on their end to speed the process. We'd love to get Beachwood BBQ back as well!

We will attempt to make this up to you throughout the year and I hope we can quickly convince you that you made a great choice by being a Reserve Society member. For starters, one project we're working on that will start in February is having more frequent Reserve Society gatherings. These will take place on a Saturday starting around noon and finishing around 3:30 PM before our tasting room opens to the general public. We might feature beers from our Nano series, pull a special keg from the archive, and have some sort of educational component. We'll have some sort of delicious food available, and we'll encourage you to bring bottles to share if you're so inclined. Since these events will happen at our brewery, we will have to limit the number of attendees. I anticipate receiving a good amount of flack from those who aren't able to RSVP in time! Oh well, they'll be fun events and they'll happen regularly. Perhaps we can call them "Clusterfork" parties?

We also have a lot of great beers in the pipeline that I hope you'll enjoy! Everyone at The Bruery would like to wish you a safe, healthy, and beer filled 2011!

Cheers,

Patrick Rue

The Bruery