The Bruery Mischief

Up for a breath of air from writing PAB4...and what do I do? Write some more! Brilliant.

But I had to, because the sample of The Bruery Mischief I had last night was compellingly good. Look, I'll be honest: I was predisposed to not like Patrick Rue's beers. Most beer geeks, they hear a beer is from A-B, or Redhook, or even Goose Island, and they'll never give it a fair chance. I'm kind of the other way around: if a beer's from a new place, if it's a small brewery that's fawned over thousands of miles from its home, if it's the darling of the geekerie...I've got a chip on my shoulder. Just how I am.

Howevah...after my experience with 2TD and this beer, I have to admit that The Bruery is definitely not all puffery. Mischief pours clear (at least, the first pour does: the second pour kicks up quite a bit of sediment, including one large dollop that plop!s into my glass) and straw-yellow, a strong Belgian-type golden with hops, and yes, they're in there. I had to fight Cathy off -- she'd poured herself a glass of XYZin, and she was digging the Mischief more. "That's really good!" Yeah, but it's mine. Drink your wine.

Because the Mischief was good, easily better than half the hoppy Belgians that have been popping up lately, including the ones from Belgium (the De Ranke and Poperinge are in the top half, maybe Houblon Chouffe; others....well, not so much). It's dry, and too many "Belgian IPA" beers I've had are sloppy and sweet. Doesn't work. This is crisp and brisk, but still with that spicy/sweet touch that says "Belgian yeast." (Yeah, I know, there's no "Belgian style" flavor, there's many. Fine, you get your geek points for the day. But I bet if I put this one in front of you completely blind, one of the first 20 words out of your mouth would be "Belgian.")

Nice job, and the second pour, the one with the sediment, is, if anything, more tasty than the first.

Chip's off my shoulder now.