It should be no surprise to anyone that today’s three collaboration beers are coming from today’s featured brewery. When I first encountered early beers from The Bruery, they always felt to me like the gourmet-food version of craft beer. There were other breweries doing some interesting and creative beers, but The Bruery beers always seemed to be created by a brewer and a chef.
Of course it makes perfect sense for The Bruery to team up with Top Chef winner Brooke Williamson to create, brew, and design three new collaboration beers. This isn’t the first time Brooke and The Bruery have teamed up (they created Girl Grey & Kyuri Dragon previously), but it is the first time they will create three themed beers. These beers are specifically designed to pair with food and they will all carry the “Provisions With Chef Brooke Williamson” collection labels.
There will be three beers in the collection and as The Bruery describes them, “Provisions with Chef Brooke Williamson is a collection that begins with The Vine, a beer-wine hybrid with one of Chef Brooke's oldest inspirers, Andrew Murray, of Andrew Murray Vineyards. Next is The Berry, a huckleberry fruited tripel, inspired by their mutual love of tripels and Chef Brooke's favorite berry, the huckleberry. Finally, we have The Spice, a thyme-spiced imperial stout that showcases Chef Brooke's love of gardening and growing her own herbs with The Bruery’s love of brewing stouts. In fact, the thyme used in this beer was sourced directly from Chef Brooke's home herb garden. As Jeremy Grinkey further explains, "We want these Provisions with Chef Brooke to bookend and complement that special dinner shared with good company."
Naturally I’m excited to try them in the recommended sequence, so off we go…
The Bruery Provisions With Brooke Williamson The Vine
ABV: 12.2%
Style: Beer/wine hybrid
Packaging: 750ml bottles
Appearance: Deep Golden
Aroma: Tropical fruit & sweet grapes
Mouthfeel: Light bodied & effervescent
Taste: Sweet white wine up front with the depth of a complex beer. Very vinous and definitely leans toward the wine-side of the hybrid.
Overall: The Vine really does live up to it’s name. This beer feels and tastes a lot like a semi-sweet white wine, but with a really pleasant balance of wine grape flavors and mild beer bitterness. This beer does have a sneaky alcohol quality and I can see why it would make a great beer to start your feast with.
The Bruery Provisions With Brooke Williamson The Berry
ABV: 9.2%
Style: Belgian-style Tripel
Packaging: 750ml bottles
Appearance: Deep glowing crimson
Aroma: Fresh berries, mild citrus and yeast esters
Mouthfeel: Light bodied & low carbonation
Taste: Berries, bright blueberries & sweet grape flavors
Overall: The Berry is the perfect name for this beer as it absolutely highlights the huckleberries used to create it. This is Brooke’s favorite berry and it combines with the flavors of a traditional Belgian-style Tripel to make for a really flavorful and flexible beer. My initial impression is that this beer should be paired with dessert, but it makes more sense to pair it with the main course since the flavors and balance are so robust.
The Bruery Provisions With Brooke Williamson The Spice
ABV: 10.2%
Style: Barrel-Aged Stout
Packaging: 750ml bottles
Appearance: Deep brown black
Aroma: Mild chocolate and sweet vanilla
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied & satisfying
Taste: Dark chocolate flavors, sweet vanilla and subtle balancing spice
Overall: The Spice by name fooled me a bit. I was expecting a spice-forward beer, but instead The Spice is a really nicely balanced and slightly sweet dessert stout. I actually paired it with my home-made white chocolate ice cream and the pairing was divine. The beer is nicely balanced by the addition of thyme from Brooke’s garden and the overall balance and complexity is really perfect for your dessert course.These collaboration beers from The Bruery & Brooke Williamson were initially released on July 16th and they are available now in 750ml bottles; so get out there and pair them up for yourself (before I buy up the entire supply). And when you do try them, be sure to let us know what YOU think.
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