08 Dec The Bruery Moves to Houston

The Bruery in Houston?

Craft drinkers are celebrating The Bruery in Houston, and others may not have any clue who these “french guys” are.

For the unknowing, the Bruery is a boutique craft brewery located in Orange County, CA specializing in barrel aged and experimental ales. Founded as a small, friend & family run business in 2008, The Bruery takes it’s unique moniker from founder Patrick Rue’s family surname.

They distribute to a pretty impressive 20-some-odd states despite being relatively small in terms of BBL. They recently added a new state to their distribution, and that’s (you guessed it) the Lone Star State. As they made their splash into Houston, Dallas and Austin, they reached out to us to offer a few beers, knowing we’d gladly share a little bit about them and help spread the news of their arrival.

Well, if you’ve been following us for any amount of time, you probably already know that we drink a little faster than we can write, so up until now, we’ve only mentioned it on IG.

Anyhow, the four of us met and invited another buddy over to my house for tacos and wild beer one afternoon a few weeks ago. We huddled up in my back yard as boneless chicken thighs sizzled on the grill, and we poured one another some of The Bruery’s offerings. We typically only write about Houston craft beer but felt it’d be a dishonor to not post something here, even if it’s a little behind.

Let’s call it fashionably late.

The Bruery sent us 4 750 ML bottles. Humulus Terreux – Wild IPA, Saison Rue, Gypsy Tart, and Mischief. What follows is a brief summary of what each of us jotted down as we drank and joked.

Chris

• Humulus wild IPA: Great! Orange/tangerine notes. The beer I was most excited about by far and it still was better than expected!
• Saison Rue: Champagne taste, kinda bland and was my least favorite.
• Gypsy Tart: This is the gold standard for a sour beer in my book! I really enjoyed this beer!
• Mischief: Very good beer! Tastes like a fruity pale ale, without the hop bitterness of an American pale ale.

Tam

• Humulus Terreux: By far the best beer of the four. I enjoyed the smell of citrus that was heaviest. The body and taste of this beer is sweeter than expected but for its heavy hop-flavor, its super smooth. I enjoyed that this.
• Saison Rue: First sour we had – it was alright. It reminded me heavily of Moet Champagne and that’s honestly all I tasted the entire beer. Aftertaste was not smooth, but more of a sour bite.
• Gypsy Tart: Coco or watered down protein shake resemblance. This was aggressively sour. I hated this beer – it was as if someone got a whole package of sour patch kids placed it in a blender with water and liquefied it.
• Mischief: Blonde appearance. Nothing that made it stand out. It had slight tart notes with a smooth finish.

Nick

• Humulus Terreux: Fruity hops with slight dry finish, but less than I expected for a Brett fermented beer. Easily drinkable with citrus flavors.
• Saison Rue: Belgian spice, slight tart from the Brett, larger hop profile than I thought. Solid little saison.
• Gypsy Tart: Great Flanders style brown. Right amount of sourness with a full mouthfeel and malt backbone.
• Mischief: So-so Belgian style golden. Nothing special.

Myself

• Humulus Terreux: Terrific fruity, tangerine and citrus notes that were well-balanced and enjoyable.
• Saison Rue: A little on the sour side and finished kinda dry with a resemblance of champagne.
• Gypsy Tart: Nice and sour, apple cider vinegary plus the sour patch taste, light maltiness but it’s noticeable enough to lend to some sort of balance against all that tang.
• Mischief: A very Wit taste to it. A subtle fruitiness made it good, but not great.

Across the board, we enjoyed Humulus Terreux the most, and Nick even mentioned, “These beers are like a Bruery JV team. I’ve had some of their better beers that are out here in Texas now, like Share This, Or Xata, Autumn Maple, etc.” All in all, we were really pleased with the beer, and we’re happy to see another craft option on the shelves.

You can find The Bruery in Houston at places like Flying Saucer, Whole Foods Bellaire and The Growler spot in Fulshear, if you’re looking for it on tap. If you want bottles, Specs has some. This stuff comes and goes pretty quickly, so check TapHunter before you head out.

Welp. It’s been fun welcoming The Bruery in Houston, but now it’s back to business. If you’ve got something you want to add to the post, feel free to speak up in the comments below.

Beers to you, Houston