The Bruery – Brewery and Tasting Room

Enjoying a great beer tasting at The Bruery was an A+ lesson in perfect timing at an outstanding brewery in Placentia, California

One morning, I woke up with a mission: I needed to solve an issue I was having with my pottery wheel set up. So, that naturally led to a need to drive to Aardvark Clay & Supplies in Santa Ana for the solution.

Now, driving down to Santa Ana on a weekday is trash for one’s sanity. Once I got what I drove down for (along with some other things because – sigh – art), it was time for a break in the monotony of driving in Southern California.

Almost randomly, the idea of searching where The Bruery was entered my mind. I hadn’t been there in literally over a decade. But, I remembered that my first visit was fantastic. But this time, something intangible was drawing me to it.

Immediately, it was strangely like I was supposed to be there. But – Why?

Well, after entering the tasting room, I noticed a group of people sitting and having fun at one of the tables. One of the people looked familiar, but I couldn’t place her. One of the other people at the table looked at me and complimented on my outfit. Immediately, we started minor conversation – until the woman who I’d noticed actually recognized me from the DTLA Brews & Bike Crawl by Just Ride LA!

The chain of events that led us to meet again, at that moment, was absolutely wild.

She invited me over to their lively group of three. But, not before I ordered a tasting palate of OR XATA (7.2% – Blonde Ale with rice, milk, cinnamon and vanilla), RETREAT [THIS IS A HAZY DOUBLE IPA] (8.6% – IPA – Imperial / Double New England Hazy), FUEGO FRESA ESPECIAL (17.3%- Blended Barrel-Aged Ale with Strawberry, Aleppo peppers, vegan marshmallow and vanilla beans) and the FIELD HORSE (7.2% – foeder-aged saison ale with pomegranate and lemon verbena).

As I sat with the group and introductions went around, I felt an awesome sense of how fun life can be if you just follow your intuition and simply have fun. We laughed, talked, shared tastings of beers and just had fun.

Drinking some of the best Southern California beers possible with awesome people? What more can you ask for?

After finishing up and purchasing a four pack of Retreat, I was so happy that I made the decision to stop at The Bruery before heading to my second stop, Laguna Clay and Glaze in City of Industry.

The next time I need to drive to Santa Ana or Anaheim, I’m definitely stopping by again.

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