The Bruery Black Orchard
Black Orchard is an unfiltered, bottle / keg conditioned Belgian-style black wheat beer, or “black wit”, if you will. This dark but surprisingly light bodied beer is very drinkable while still having character and complexity. Chamomile is added for its floral aroma, while the coriander and citrus peel give the characteristics of a traditional witbier. (ABV: 5.7%, IBU: 15, SRM: 26, Release: Year Round, Format: 750 mL bottles and 30L kegs)
3.3
342 reviews
Placentia, United States
Community reviews
Pours a nice very dark brown with red highlights with ample and light tan head. Very tasty. Lightly roasty and hints of chocolate and wheat. Similar to a dunkleweiss but not as fruity. Liked this.
Pours a black color with the aroma of coffee and hints of floral and citrus. Taste is surprisingly easy drinking for such a dark colored beer. Flavor has a hint of citrus and flower. Overall a tasty belgian ale that was light and airy.
Geruch fruchtmalzig vermengt mit Kaffee und etwas Metall. Prickelnder sehr brausiger (grobblasig) Antrunk, säuerlich-malzig. Mitte Karamell und Vanille. Trocken-säuerlicher Abgang. Unrundes Bier, leider nicht so gut wie erhofft.Test vom 18.5.2010, Gebinde: Glasflasche
A - Served a dark brown-black color with a finger of frothy white head. The head faded down slowly leaving behind some nice lacing.
S - The aroma was a mix of roasted chocolate malts, wheat, spices, and some slightly-sweet burnt aromas.
T - Started out with some mild wheat and burnt chocolate malts. Through the middle, some spices and some burnt chocolate flavor comes through with a bit of sweetness. The finish is a mix of roasted and burnt chocolate and some wheat flavor that lingers.
M - Medium-plus bodied with moderate carbonation. Feels smooth and fairly dry from the burnt flavors.
D - Pretty drinkable. Interesting mix of the dark flavors with the wheat flavors. That being said, if just felt a bit off overall.
This brew has little complexity, despite the marquee on the bottle, and is a tad bit underwhelming. The Bruery found a way to euthanize the flavor of this black wit, sadly, and the carbonation almost supersedes any lingering taste. Not a huge fan.
Orange County tasting room, pour 3/5. "Dark wit" is the proclaimed style, I suppose a play on craft’s recent "black IPA" misnomer. Definitely black...like a schwarzbier. You get the distinct aroma of coffee, like a stout, but the beer turns a complete 180 when you get to the palate. Light and bouncy like a wit. The flavoring additions let it stay dry and drinkable. Light coffee bitterness in the finish. Some floral and spice emerges as well.
750 mL bottle - pours a completely opaque black color with huge light tan head. Aroma is creamy, yeasty, slightly fruity with notes of pear, sweet apples, cherries, hints of grains of paradise and corriander. Flavor seems to contrast quite a bit with the aroma. Flavor is fairly roasty, with bitter malts and ash present, notes of apple and oak. Finish is mildly bitter. Carbonation is high. The aroma on this is pretty nice, but the flavor just seems unnecessarily roasty. It just seems out of place.
750 bottle. Pours pitch black with a ton of slightly off white head. Nose is certainly different than most in this style. Very doughy with some unusual floral herbal notes. Must be the chamomile. I do not get any of the citrus notes but certainly some smoke. Taste is malty with herbs and spices. The most pronounced feature is the enormous amount of carbonation. Too much actually. I have a feeling this would be good aged in some bourbon barrels for 9 months.
Bottle. A dark reddish brown beer, clear, and topped by a big, diminishing, dense, beige head. Citruspeel and orange fruityness with some spices and a whiff of yeast. Oranges, some roasted and cellary notes, and a subtle bitterness towards the end. Full-bodied and nicely carbonated. An unusual one, but nice. 110204
750 mL bottle poured into a Trappist glass at 42°. Color is a near black amber with good carbonation and a fizzy head. Aroma is fruity with a light roasted undertone. Body is light with a foamy mouth feel. Flavor is also light, the yeast comes out with a nice apple taste then a very faint bitterness comes in with a bit of spice. After taste is clean with the apple taste lingering. Overall, its like nothing I’ve ever tried more like a fruit beer then a Belgian. I like it, its a very tasty and easy drinking brew.
759ml bottle in a tumbler. Pours deep brown with a lingering, beige head. Aroma of light wheat, some hints of roasted malts, notes of spice, and some floral hops. Flavor about the same, but a little too much on the hops. Average texture. A pretty good beer.
Eher laffer Antrunk mit holzig-röstigen Aromen, würzig aromatisch und leicht säuerlich. Wenig prickeldn, insgesamt eher laff, die vorhandenen Aromen stehen meist disharmonisch zueinander. Wirklich keine Meisterleistung. 12/7/8/9//8
Bottle. Dark amber colour with a tan head. Aroma is fruit, malt, coffee, berries. Flavour is fruit, malt, coffee, berries, spices, yeast. Nice beer.
750 ml bottle. Deep amber with a huge tan head. A bit vague aroma of malt, wheat, fruit and spices. Flavor is smooth, light malt, spices, traces of liquorices and moderate bitterness. Very pleasant.
Too light in body for me. Pours like flat coke and has a palate like flat coke. Sweet candy sugar aromas with very little typical Belgian aromas. A rather disappointing aftertaste, again, rather like flat coke. Sweetness and a very faint citrus in between.
Reviewed from notes.
Pours a near black color with a nice head. Pretty good lacing on the way down. The nose is quite aromatic, with some nice pepper, roasted malt, light citrus, and a bit of coffee. The taste brings in some really nice spice and yeast as well as some mild roast. Good, light mouthfeel with nice carbonation. Really a unique bear and another success.
Serving type: on-tap
Reviewed on: 10-23-2010
Dark amber brown pour very dark beige head ... aroma of dark fruits .... taste is of dark fruits sweet caramel malts with a spicy and rind feel light wheat ... more of the dark fruits come through plummy with a dry wheat finish ... a smooth brew and enjoyable
750 ml bottle purchased a year and a half ago at BevMo ($7.99). I did not know that this has been retired. Pours a pitch black with great big mocha brown head. The color of the beer and head as well as the bubbles sticking to the side of the glass very much brings to mind cola. Aroma is weak but includes notes of light chocolate, spice, and floral hints (the chamomile?). Flavor has a lot of dark roasted malt character first and foremost (creamy chocolate, some espresso and ash). Also notes of tangy spice, subtle fruitiness, and yeast in the flavor. Finishes wheaty-smooth and with a hint of bittersweet chocolate. Good carbonation. Probably better to think of this more in the porter/stout category than wit, but still enjoyable. (308, 460)
Bottle.Pours brown with an of-white head.Aroma of yeast, fruitiness, spice and malt.Flavor is somewhat sweet and spicy with some yeast and malt.Medium body, average carbonation.Nice belgian .
Poured into an snifter.
3.5 A: First pour yielded one hand of head. After my fourth round of pouring, I finally had a full glass. Black color. Two fingers of frothy tan head with pretty good retention and minimal lacing.
4.0 S: Surprisingly grainy, which I like. Roastiness, some toffee, and a touch of coffee. Subtle grassy hops, touch of burnt, and a slight peppery yeastiness. Fairly simple, but pleasant nonetheless.
2.5 T: Fairly powerful and unbalanced roastiness. I think I’m detecting some of the orange peel in the form of bitterness, joining with the hops and roastiness. Clove and pepper yeastiness. Pretty dry. This could benefit from a higher mash temp. Oats and brown malt are there and maybe a touch of chamomile. Really mismatched flavors. This doesn’t seem to have any direction. Doesn’t taste anything like a wit.
2.5 M: Lighter medium body. Carbonation was explosive in the mouth initially. I had to wait a while and drink half the bottle before it was acceptable. I never got to a point in drinking this that I was happy with this. Too thin, too carbonated, not particularly smooth.
2.5 D: Though the Bruery seems to be doing a bit better with carbonation levels now, late last year they overcarbed the hell out of stuff and this is nonetheless. I’m all about innovative, but they should have made a test batch of this first, then decided it wasn’t going to pan out.
Serving type: bottle
Reviewed on: 09-12-2010 05:22:18
Bottle pours deep brown with an off-white head. Aroma shows notes of light roast, wheat, yeast, funk, and a touch of coriander. Flavor shows the same with additional notes of bread, and maybe a hint of citrus.
This definately did not hold up.
Bottle.
Pours dark brown with tan head.
Aroma is roasted malt, ripe fruit, wheat and a hint of liquorice.
Flavour is roasted malt, wheat, yeast and sourish.
10th January 2009
Bleacj wheat beer. Very frothy dark broen cloudy beer. Very dry, light and crisp. Mild wheatiness and super subtle chocolate. Very light spice. Very light everything! Okay but somewhat ephemeral!
From a bottle that i have been saving for a couple years.Unforunately everthing must go and I could not save this beer forever,But I wish it did u
Bottle @ home. Pours a deep black body with a large brown head. Brown malts, yeasty, candy sugar smelling Belgian aroma. Roasted chocolate malts, yeast, candy sugar, corriander, and orange peel in the dark Belgian flavor. Finish is sweet, slightly syrupy, and roasty. Aftertaste is very similar. Good beer but not great.
Deep brown pour with a fizzy head, Aroma of grain, sweet ripe fruit, spice and floral hops. Flavor doesn’t match. Fruity and some hop bitterness, but sort of weird. Interesting, but not great.
Pretty good. Pours very black with no foam. Aroma is roasted and fruity. Flavor is tangy yeast, sweet roasted malt, not very dry or bitter.
750 from Bier Stein. Pretty close to pitch black in hue with very light brown head. Smelled of plum, licorice, wheat, light citrus. Tastes of wheat, licorice, vinous notes, cherry, coriander and pepper. A very unique beer and one that really pleased my tastebuds. Wish this one was still around.
750 mL bottle. Cloudy brown pour with a massive tan head. Aroma of brown sugar, dark fruit and faint floral hops. Surprisingly medium to thin mouthfeel with the flavor of caramel and Belgian yeast. Light finish of bread and caramel.
750ml bottle: This one pours an opaque, dark brown color. There was a huge tan head on it, but it dropped away quickly. Lacing was minimal. Interesting, but slightly lighter aroma. Floral, chocolate, coriander, faint wheat and maybe some grapes. Slightly lighter body, but still a good taste to it. Some spice, wheat, a touch of chocolate. Nice.