The Bruery Provisions

slander

New York

4.36/5  rDev -0.2%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | $$

On the heels of stupidly having hit the Bruery brewery proper first. Don’t get me wrong. I mean they had a pretty good selection of their wares, and we sampled what we wanted; it was just that there was nothing sour on. And that wouldn’t have been so bad had I not enjoyed them sourz just a few days before at the Barcade event and was now looking forward to them, which I was. But finding them here, I was not. Sampler and out; sad, like the clown...

But they’ve got a store somewhere somewhere, not near here but not too far away. It’s earlyish yet, let’s go see what Bruery Provisions brings. Oh, the main drag in town closed due to some inconvenient to me event in the street, we’re not off to a good start. But we parked round the corner and made tracks for this place in the strip.

A doublewide, with its center sections removed, and a clear differentiation of space between the upfront store and rear of the room bar/seating area (but we’ll get to that). Up front, a row of 9 cooler doors on one wall with soda & sixtels & bottles in between, plus 2 more ‘round the bend. The coolers are lined above with horizontal blackboards, listing specials and Brueryisms they want you to know about. On the opposite wall, a length of shelving racks holding warm beer, and some of the aforementioned provisions. Out across the floor, a large Bruery beer display, racks of wines, and clothed tables holding more of the dry goods; marmalades & jams, honeys, crackers, breadsticks, Stone hot sauces, Sierra Nevada mustards, olive oils, coffee from bean players Intelligentsia & Kean, tea, chocolate, etc.; quality select representations of each.

To the rear, meat & cheeses on the front side of the counter (They do cheese & charcuterie plates, but I just wasn’t feeling it). I can see a row of 10 Bruery handles back behind the counter, and then there are 2 rows of 10 nondescript handles behind them on each side. Order your food and drink, and hit one of the 2 longish communal hightop tables seating 8 each shared, or the bar counter space running an ‘L’ around it, seating for another 8 or so on backed stools. The seating area penned by a half wall; its sills lined with bulbed candleholders.

Beigey walls, wood slat floorings, and pressed tin ceiling with drop pan lamps. A most impressive large bottle cap logo mosaic on the far rear wall framed, and 2 dozen mounted & framed beer labels to the rear around a cork & cap logo piece that is also really quite excellent. I will mention that the bathrooms are pasted with colorful Bruery stickers, as well. Large windows over North Glassell Street with sprawling hoppiness lined barrels over the hang, and baby trees & other plants atop the shelving units.

8 house beers on tap; Nottenroth (Berliner), Mischief (Belgian Strong Golden), Humulus Lager, (Imperial Pale Lager), White Oak (Wheat Wine/Strong Golden blend), Loakal Red (Oak aged American Red Ale), Saison De Lente (Spring Saison), Filmishmish (barrel aged sour with apricot), Sour in the Rye (sour rye in oak), + 20 guest taps; ½ of them Westish coast craft (Green Flash Palate Wrecker Imperial IPA & Double Stout, Ballast Point Sea Monster Imperial Stout & Smoke Screen Lager, Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine, Stone Smoked Porter, Logsdon Kili Wit, Hangar 24 Orange Wheat, Cismontane Smokin’ Santiago Scotch Ale, Epic Smoked & Oaked Belgian Style Ale), and the other ½ a split between craft beyond (Oskar Blues Deviant Dale’s IPA, Allagash White & Tripel, DogFishHead Aprihop & Chicory Stout), and import play (Evil Twin Freudian Slip Barleywine & Biscotti Break Porter, Drie Fonteinen Zwet.Be Porter, Bockor Bellegems Bruin, Blanche De Bruxelles).

They do a pair of preset house beer flights which we no thank you’d, and just went with what we wanted (Nottenroth, a Berliner wannabe, or more likely a wouldabeen, had it soured up, which it did not, still, it was nicely tart; Humulus Lager, citrusy, piney, and very hoppy, more like an IPA than an impy lager; Filmishmish, love, amazingly quaffably pleasant; Sour in the Rye, funk & fruit, also one of the does not suck varietals; and then guest offerings Evil Twin Biscotti Break, just stellar, licorice, an imperial porter of fucking awesome; and the Bockor Bellegems Bruin, on the recommendation from the cooler kid, a nicely done Oud Bruin).

Easily more than 100 bottled offerings in all, including a good number of Bruery beers selections. Ben grabbed some Bruery/Lawson’s maple crazy collaboration (Acer Quercus), and later we wondered why we didn’t snag a Black Tuesday instead (serious duh). Yes, there were other goods I would not have minded putting my drink on. And in retrospect, a meat plate of spicy things would have been perfect (it had been a long day). Great tunes, we dig it here and are slightly bent that we wasted our time at the brewery tasting room instead of hitting this much earlier. It’s a neat, clean place; someone knew what they were doing.

08-17-2012 18:19:25 | More by slander

DoubleJ

California

4.35/5  rDev -0.5%
quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | $$$

It's ironic how the brainchild of The Bruery decided to open a specialty store just a few blocks from where he went to school. I'm not complaining, it's another beer stop in Old Town Orange, and with little doubt the best one.

But what makes it so special? Is it the bottle selection where two-thirds are kept cold and include Belgian brands I've never heard of (and harder to find ones like Drie Fonteinen), several Italian brands like Le Baladin, some Germans, and a good mix of American brands and styles? The beers are organized according to style in the cooler, and with some empty spaces, the selection can only get better. While not the hugest selection, TBP provides a unique selection. If there's any doubt about the selection score I granted, let the 30 taps which includes San Diego IPA's, Belgian beer, and 10 Bruery beers (including Melange #3 and -bal aged Coton) change your mind.

Oh yes, I forgot to tell about the taps. Flights are offered from tap, and I was also told you can get a sample of any one beer without the flight. An ample part of the store hold a bar area, probably enough 20 people to sip and enjoy whatever goes on draught.

In addition to the beer, cheeses and meats are offered. To make it more classy, books about beer and beer/food pairing are sold here too.

The store itself is very clean, darkish, and very presentable. It's right up to par with the quality of The Bruery's beers, and that's saying something. A cynical type could also say that the prices are too, though I'll admit for the quality I'm getting, that's not going to stop me from stopping by again and again for my beer fix. And with the tempting meats and cheeses, I may become an easy victim of suggestive sales :p

10-05-2010 05:26:31 | More by DoubleJ

northyorksammy

Ontario (Canada)

3.8/5  rDev -13%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4 | $$

Near the Bruery, about a half hour drive from LAX airport. A good selection of Bruery bottles, with a few differences from what they had at the brewery's tasting room. A pretty good bottle selection, at reasonable prices for Southern California. Not the best bottle store I visited on the trip, as it included Pizza Port's and Texas Liquor in Carlsbad. The outstanding feature is the tasting room where a quarter pint of many South Cal well rated books are served. My one complaint that detracted from this vacation stop, was that I settled up in cash on one of my trips for bottles and a flight, but was approached later with my Visa number. Its very possibly just a one-off error, but I would recommend people keep their purchases on their cards to keep records in any case. People were doing their own thing here, tons of couples and small groups of friends. service: One has to get up and get their flights and bottles. Still very much worth a stop.

01-18-2012 06:00:58 | More by northyorksammy

TurdFurgison

Ohio

4.5/5  rDev +3%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | $

What to add that hasn't been said before about this place. Not only is it a top notch bottle shop bit it also offers slightly upscale meats and flights of beer (not only Bruery beers, not that I would complain if that was the case).

The bottle shop is well laid out, with Bruery stock placed roughly in the middle of the store as well as in coolers. Reasonable prices pm everything, and although the house beers can get a little pricy you certainly won't find many of them elsewhere.

The flights were all $6, which includes 5 pours. The girl at the taps let me substitute from the pre-selected flights which was cool.

No question that I'll be back, just wish I travelled to LA more often.

02-08-2012 05:05:35 | More by TurdFurgison

corby112

Pennsylvania

4.39/5  rDev +0.5%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4.5 | $$$

Stopped by Provisions during a recent trip to Orange County. Located on the main shopping district/street that runs through the center of town. Very clean with room temperature bottles on the right, coolers on the left and a deli case/bar counter straight ahead.

This is pretty much the perfect retail space with a combination of rare bottles, an amazing draft selection(with flights available), merch and cheese/charcuterie. The selection of bottles outside of the Bruery beers isn't that impressive but the draft list is excellent.. They have a variety of different flights to choose from or you can make up your own. There's a small seating area for you to eat/sample beers. Lots of rare one offs on draft and cool guest beers. I tried Smoking Wood, Burly Gourd, Knuckle Sandwich, Telegraph obscura Vieja and Loakal Red. Quite an impressive selection and there were many more to choose from. They had lots of rare Bruery bottles that don't see distribution and a few other nice choices. Also, they sell some cool glassware and other Bruery merchandise.

We didn't try the food because we had just eaten but it looked delicious. Lots of artisan meats and cheeses. I've been to plenty of other shops with better selections but the combination of bottles, merchandise, food and quality drafts made this place one of the best retail spaces I've seen. If I lived anywhere near this place I would be there all of the time.

01-16-2012 08:25:35 | More by corby112

Beerandraiderfan

Nevada

4.15/5  rDev -5%
quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | $$

This is like in downtown or old town main street like Orange. Pretty easy to find, parking wasn't an issue.

Walk in, its like a little boutique shop. . . with tasters! Good amount of wine and just a hodgepodge of different beers here. Was surprised they didn't have a better selection of Bruery stuff, although I did find a bottle of the saison de lente, which I can't find in Reno, so that was cool I guess. Memorabilia, cool artwork with the bottle caps and bottle labels. Chocolate and cheese plates to pair with your beer. A little quirky, would just like to see more of their own stuff in here, growler fills, bottle service, drink em there, etc. . .

01-14-2011 18:20:55 | More by Beerandraiderfan

ThreeWiseMen

California

4.2/5  rDev -3.9%
quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $$

Stopped in here on Saturday right before the Bruery Reserve Society Initiation Party (my good friend and roommate, JustinA1, recently joined and I got to be his guest).

The Bruery Provisions store is a pretty classy joint. It feels a lot like an antique store, except swap the lamps and trinkets for beer, mustard, glassware, and Bruery swag. I wasn't interested in anything but the beer though; I paid little to no attention to the rest.

The beer selection is very solid; pretty much an even split between west coast micro-brews and European artisan ales. The selection is also split into a refrigerated section and a non-refrigerated section. (The hoppier ales are all kept chilled - no need to worry about that.) I was surprised to not see a whole lot of Bruery beers; I spotted Saison de Lente, Rugbrød, White Orchard, and possibly Loakal Red - that was it!

When I stepped to the register with my one bottle of GD Hibernation Ale, the cashier was very friendly and conversational. She bagged my beer and wished us a good time at the Reserve Society Festival.

All in all, I was impressed by this little shop. It was very clean and had a beer selection that was lots of fun to look at. If you're in the Orange area, check it out!

01-13-2011 04:47:25 | More by ThreeWiseMen

UCLABrewN84

California

4.5/5  rDev +3%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | $$

My wife and I visited Provisions yesterday with NoSignsOfPain and DarthKostrizer. Walking in it reminded me of a small bistro market. They have an area for sales of beer, cider, and I believe wine along with stuff like food items and shirts. There is also a food and tasting area that has tables for people to sit at. Provisions offers a wide selection of Bruery and guest beers along with wine. They also have food items like meats and cheeses for you to snack on if you desire. I was able to try a lot of Bruery beers and some from Beachwood, Evil Twin, and Telegraph as well. Everything was of really good quality. Service was very friendly and helpful. Overall, this is an awesome little spot and I really want to make it back sometime soon.

01-22-2012 20:21:50 | More by UCLABrewN84

womencantsail

California

4.35/5  rDev -0.5%
quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | $$

Stopped in here yesterday to pick up the Reserve Society allocations for myself and a few others. Luckily I was able to find a parking spot right across the street, but I think there might be some parking in the rear which would likely be a better choice.

There are some beers kept in the cooler and some kept out on the shelves. Beers in the cooler tend to be American offerings that are more "perishable" (IPAs, Pale Ales, Lagers, etc.) as well as some imports (namely Belgians). The usual suspects are here, but also some rarities for Southern California such as Midnight Sun, Drie Fonteinen (Schaerbeekse Kriek only on this occasion), Struise Pannepot and Black Albert, 50/50 Concentrated Evil, and a handful of others I can't remember.

There is also a nice selection of wines and cheeses, as well as some specialty meats.

There is a tasting area in the back. There is the standard Bruery flight, a seasonal Bruery flight, and a couple other miscellaneous flights (as well a couple wine tasting flights). They also offer some various cheese plates and the like.

The prices are actually pretty average on most beers, which was sort of surprising from the Bruery (who are generally on the higher side of pricing). But I guess when they're selling other people's beer too, they need to sell it at a competitive price. I won't comment on the wine or cheese prices, since I know very little about these.

As always with the Bruery, the service was top notch and very helpful and courteous. It's too bad that Orange is not quite as close as Placentia.

10-16-2010 21:33:24 | More by womencantsail

jdense

Oregon

4.38/5  rDev +0.2%
vibe: 5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$

123th beerfly review, and BA post which puts me into the next level of Beer Geekdom, so I have that going for me!

Located on the north end of the historic circle in Old Town Orange, this offshoot of the Placentia based Bruery presents an entirely new (at least to me) concept in beer merchandising. The beer selection features what appears to be approximately 500-600 beers, with 10 doors of temperature controlled coolers on one side of the room, and a like amount of shelf space for warm beers on the other. Two cooler doors are dedicated to The Bruery products, and this is the *only* retail spot where you will find Bruery Provision Series. I grabbed a couple of bottles (Snicklefritz, Tart of Darkness) to share with The Usual Suspects back home, along with a bottle of Mischief Gone Wild. I saw a number of interesting SoCal brewery products, Bootleggers, Telegraph etc., but decided in the name of limited suitcase space (with a trip to San Diego scheduled for the next day) to limit my purchase to those bottles. There are some wines available, but the real non-beer related highlight was the world class charcuterie selection, featuring a number of renowned purveyers, Fra Mani, Cypress Grove, etc. I didn't check the prices on the meats and cheeses but was duly impressed.

We spent our time doing some perusing but enjoying sample trays, the Classic Flight of Bruery products, 714, Salt of the Earth (a nice gose), Humulus ( a very hoppy lager), Iniquitious (10% Golden Ale) and the monstrous and tasty Cuir. We also had a cheese plate which paired nicely with our beers. The entire tasting tray was only $5, a great value, and while the beers were supposed to be limited to 2 oz. samples, most (except for the Cuir, which was still a bargain priced sample given the $20 price tag on a bottle) were closed to 3.5-4 oz. Note that beverages had to be consumed in the rear portion of the establishment, re you can't take your beer with you and you peruse the shelves.

The help was extremely nice, they seemed to be an extension of Patrick's friendly and outgoing personality. Any requests were met with a nice smile. All in all, this is a world class tasting room, which my buddy observed had the feel of a classy wine bar (which they also offered sample trays of). In fact, he said he was going to bring his wife by here for a before dinner libation. That's high praise indeed. I will certainly make it a point to visit here every time I'm in the OC, and you should too. Very Highly Recommended.

08-11-2011 00:31:52 | More by jdense