The Bruery Celebrates Its First Year of Business

The Bruery Celebrates Its First Year of Business

Orange County, California – May 12, 2009 - The traditional first anniversary gift is something made of paper. The Bruery is giving their loyal fans the gift of Papier, their first anniversary ale.

While it may seem like The Bruery has been around for a decade, it was only one short year ago that Patrick Rue sold his first allotment of Batch #1 in Orange County, California.

A nation of beer fans followed Patrick’s blog from the inception of a business plan to an empty warehouse that was slowly filled with an assortment of brewing equipment. In due course, distribution networks were arranged, the 50th batch contest was executed and an entire team of hardworking employees grew around Patrick and The Bruery.

Through the year The Bruery has expanded from select Southern California establishments to being enjoyed by people in eight different states, spanning both coasts and still growing. Meanwhile, The Bruery’s distinctive beers have been collecting accolades and winning over palates with their unique twists on Belgian styles. Beer Advocate magazine tasted The Bruery’s three year round brews, Orchard White, Black Orchard and Saison Rue and published them all in the same issue with the same grade: straight “A’s”, calling Saison Rue “one of the top 10 beers [they’ve] had in 2008.” Draft Magazine then got ahold of Orchard White and distinguished it as one of the “Top 25 Beers of 2008” and called The Bruery the “brewery to watch in 2009.”

The success of a great brewery is shared by all. With growth, The Bruery has had the opportunity to build their menu of ales, expand their collection of oak barrels and provide room to experiment with beers made with Zinfandel grapes, yams, Thai basil and wild yeasts. The now overflowing Tasting Room serves a minimum of 7 different beers each weekend and The Bruery Provisions homebrew store recently opened adjacent to The Bruery so that others can experiment with their own beer visions.

With one successful year behind and a wide open future ahead, The Bruery is celebrating by releasing Papier, their first anniversary ale. A Belgian-style Old Ale layered with complex flavors of dark fruit, vanilla, oak, and burnt sugar, Papier is a robust ale, weighing in at 14.5% ABV and thought to be the perfect beer to mark this first big milestone. Best for sharing, this beer is ideal for cellaring until you have a celebration of your own…if you can wait.

On May 16th, The Bruery invites all who can make it to their anniversary celebration. The event will be held at The Bruery itself from 11am to 6pm, allowing 150 patrons in at a time to enjoy nearly all of The Bruery’s beers, including some very limited edition kegs and bottles. Papier, which hits shelves in June, will be previewed for the first time at the celebration, including tastings of the bourbon, brandy and rye single barrel editions. The door fee is $25 and includes beer, food, Bruery glassware and an amazing afternoon. Beachwood BBQ will be catering the event with their delectable BBQ specialties and there will be cheeses and desserts as well…did someone say Bruery’s Belgian Waffles?

Come celebrate with The Bruery, and if you can’t make it, pick up a bottle of Papier and share in a toast to more great beer to come!

The Bruery is located at 715 Dunn Way, Placentia, CA 92870

Kids Beer!

I just had to re-post this one... I spent several years living in Japan and never saw this! The bottle reads Kodomo Nomimono which means Kid Drink, but it looks like beer to me. I think it's fun, in the proper context. What do you think?

Life & Death of Beer Brand Names

When I first started drinking beer, it was about quantity and price. When you're looking for sheer volume and you want it cheaply, Milwaukee's Best was the weekly go-to. FORTUNATELY I grew out of that stage and it looks like I'm not the only one.

The article below was re-printed from Mediapost.com an excellent advertising news source. It'll give you a small glimpse inside the life and death of some well known beer brands...

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Rolling Rock's popularity might be soggy, but the brand -- which is reportedly up for sale by Anheuser-Busch InBev -- is not on the bottom of the consumer perception barrel for beers. Other beer brands suffer from worse reputations among consumers polled by YouGovPolimetrix' Brand Index, which says it is the only daily consumer-perception research service.

Four brands -- Coors' Keystone, A-B/InBev's Busch, and Miller Brewing Co.'s Milwaukee's Best and Icehouse -- demonstrate that longevity does not mean equity. The brands are so besmirched that the breweries should consider retiring them, it says.

The index -- which tracks 30 beer brands -- says that not only is the perception of those brands negative, but it is negative by a long shot.

The Palo Alto, Calif.-based firm says the four don't have a single positive score in the ranking based on surveys of men from January this year until this past Friday. The scores are based on an average of the satisfaction, quality, impression, reputation, value, and recommendation scores. In none of those parameters did any of the four brands score positive numbers, per the firm.

Ted Marzilli, SVP and global managing director for YouGov BrandIndex, says in the two years the firm has been following the category, the four brands at the bottom have stayed at the bottom. "But Keystone and Milwaukee's Best rate much lower than Busch and Icehouse."

He says Busch is relatively popular among 50-plus consumers, lower-income consumers and those in the Midwest. "And when you look at Icehouse it has a niche among African-Americans and is rated more highly by women; its selling points are that it is less bitter, and crisper than others."

Brands that have moved up over time include include Corona, which has gone up modestly, Pacifico and Heineken Light. Marzilli says Budweiser has dropped four or five points recently.

Milwaukee's Best has a minus-20 ranking, followed in ascending order by Keystone, Icehouse and Busch, at minus-10. The industry average in the index is currently around 4.9. At the other end of the spectrum is Samuel Adams, with the highest score -- 26.51 -- of the 30 major beer brands tracked by the Index. Two through five on the list are Heineken, Guinness, Corona and Michelob, with a ranking of 13.12. And Rolling Rock comes in at number 18, with a score of 3.18.

Per the research firm, BrandIndex interviews 5,000 people each weekday from a representative U.S. population sample, constituting some 1.2 million interviews per year. The research firm says respondents are drawn from an online panel of more than a million consumers, with a +/- 2% margin of error.