The Bruery Autumn Maple

Brewed By: The Bruery in Placentia, California  

Purchased: 750ml bottle bought at Binny's in IL; 2013 

Style/ABV: Spice/Herb/Vegetable, 10.0%

Reported IBUs: ?

In keeping with the Fall and Autumn beers, I thought I would deviate from the pumpkin beers for a bit and try a beer brewed with another Fall staple, yams. But first, about The Bruery: 

The Bruery are based out of Placentia, California. As with many craft breweries, The Bruery began as a homebrewing adventure when Patrick Rue, his brother Chris, and his wife Rachel brewed their fast batch of beer. Patrick Rue continued to homebrew during his first year of law school, until he decided that he had a passion for brewing beer. The Bruery opened up in 2008, and since then, they have built a reputation around their experimental, and wild ales brewed with a Belgian flair. To read more, check out the Breuery's website.

The Autumn Maple is an Autumn seasonal brewed with 17 pounds of yams per barrel. In addition to the yams, this beer features cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, vanilla, molasses, and maple syrup, and is fermented out with a Belgian yeast strain. 

The Bruery Autumn Maple

The Autumn Maple pours into a dark, brownish/amber body, and kicks up two fingers of thick, bready, Belgian-esque head. The head is khaki/tan in low light, and an amber color in bright light. The beer is a deep, hazy orange color in bright light, with nice streams of peppery carbonation. Head retention is good, there is some lacing, and there are some alcohol legs. 

You get a lot of spices on the aroma...nutmeg, namely, along with some allspice, clove, and cinnamon. There's a mulled wine thing going on with the spices, and beneath all that is some Belgian funk and band-aid/vanilla/clove. There's a vinous quality to this beer, and I'm picking up on some vegetal tannins on the aroma...you definitely get some of the yams on the aroma. It's a strange, spicy aroma.

As this beer warms up...it really progresses. You get a lot of fruity bitterness and spices in the mix, but there's also a lot of sugars in this. I'm getting molasses, yams, allspice/nutmeg/cinnamon, clove, and some vanilla. There's some shades of fruit, grass/lemongrass, and Belgian funk in this as well. 

This isn't bad...but it's not blowing me away. This beer is full-bodied, but at 10% the alcohol is well hidden and drinkability is good thanks to the high levels of carbonation. Palate depth and complexity are both okay. You get some Belgian yeast funk, molasses, and nutmeg/cinnamon/allspice up front; that rolls into clove, more molasses, big yams, maple syrup, vanilla; and the back end lays on some trailing sweetness. Some fruity and bitter hops show up from time to time.

Rating: Average (3.0/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Strong Average on this. I really want to love this beer, but I feel like it's kind of just doing the style justice. That's not a bad thing by any means, but this isn't blowing me away at the moment. I'm also hesitant to age a beer like this, because I feel like the big yam and spice character is going to drop off unfavorably. At around...what was it? Ten, maybe fifteen bucks a bottle, this is a tad bit pricey, but what can you do. I'd pair this beer with turkey, Thanksgiving dinner, sweet potatoes or yams, or a hearty beef and potato dish or stew. This is good stuff, and would taste good on a Fall/Autumn evening.

Random Thought: I'm really pulling for the 100 games lost for the White Sox, but they have some work to do if they are going to suck that much over the next few games. They are off to a good start after tonight's game, but we still have a few more to go. 100...come on, baby!!!