I would have guessed from walking into the brewery that The Bruery (a play on the owners lasts name of Rue) has only been in operation for a little over 10 months. In some strange beer twist of events a friend met the owners and informed me a of a Belgian-style brewery just 15 miles from our office. So we called up and made our appointment to come down and see just what Belgian brew was going on at the Bruery.
The brewery is a reasonable size and the barrels surrounding the tasting room offers some comfort feel to the place. On tap they had at least 5 varieties, and even share some of the secret mixes they’ve been working on. When we asked Patrick Rue why he gave up law to brew he didn’t even have to answer. He just let his beer do the talking. “I didn’t want to come out with another California IPA” was his real reason for choosing the Belgian influence of brewing, which he said allowed him to try a wider variety of ingredients than the tradition Pale or Stouts that are fairly common in the area. We think he might be on to something as there aren’t more than a handful of well know Belgian style brewers in the area, or even country despite some of the big name micros dabbling in the style.
They are getting some good distribution and you might be surprised you can get their 750ml offering near you and for a pretty good price. Considering $15 is a low end bottle of “good wine” and $15 is a high end beer you can see the value and appeal.
We’ll be review one of their beers in the next issue and revisiting that tasting room often.
www.thebruery.com
