Jenn GarbeePrepare your growlers. Later this month, The Bruery in Placentia is celebrating its second anniversary (Saturday, May 22 and Sunday, May 23) with a high-alcohol beer and fried pickle tasting party. More on those party pints after the jump.
If you can't make it, no need to get all worked up over that Rugbrød pronunciation. Soon, you'll be able to drink The Bruery's Cal/Belgian-style beers all night (or at least until last call). Owner-brewer Patrick Rue is opening a brewpub. Ale, yes!
The date is still TBD, but brewery spokesperson Benjamin Weiss says they hope to have the taps flowing by the mid-summer. It will be located about a mile from the brewery in Old Town Placentia, home of the annual Tamale Festival and Las Posadas (tamales and Belgian-style ale have got to be an only-in-California Happy Hour experience).
Among the 28 brews on tap, about half will be from The Bruery. Several of their two dozen or so beers are seasonal or available in bottles only — plus they've already got an all-Bruery tasting room. An extensive bottle collection of international beers is also in the works, though hopefully offerings of The Bruery's own bottles will not be at Ebay bidding prices, which have recently inched well over the $100 mark for limited releases like Black Tuesday (ya, we wish we'd made the drive out there last October for a bottle, too).
Warning: Bruery New Releases May Cause Beer Geek Hysteria; Credit: The Bruery
Weiss says wines will also be available (Though we trust you'll at least try one of their complex, high alcohol wine-like ales before ordering a Chardonnay?). Food wise, the plans are to keep it simple: charcuterie, cheese, pickled vegetables, maybe the occasional fried pickle. Actually, pretty much what's being served at the anniversary party later this month.
The party is being subdivided in three-hour increments to tame the crowds, as beer geeks tend to come out in full force for The Bruery's parties and new releases. You choose your time slot based on your preferred weekend drinking hours (noon to 3 p.m. or 4 to 7 p.m.). Beers on tap will include the brewery's Melange #3, Oude Tart , Humulus Rice and a new 7 Grain Saison, along with the Coton, the official second anniversary oak barrel-aged ale (and at 14.5% ABV, no doubt another reason for regulating drinking with time slots). Beachwood BBQ is providing the fried pickles; charcuterie, cheese, and other snacks will also be on hand. And of course, no Belgian-style brewhouse can host a proper anniversary party without Belgian waffles. No word yet on whether how many you eat during your designated time slot will also be regulated.
Anniversary party “sessions” run from noon to 3 p.m. and 4 to 7 p.m. Tickets are available at www.thebruery.com for $40 (includes 10 beer samplings and snacks).
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