Brugge to Bottle Beer
IBJ reports that Ted Miller of Brugge Brasserie will be bottling 10 beers using the Terre Haute Brewing Co. facility. It's been my experience (at least the few times I've been there in the past year) that Brugge can't brew enough beer to keep their own restaurant stocked so it will be interesting to see how they make the switch to a larger facility and to bottles. Miller and his Belgian style brews are some of my favorite in Indiana so I hope he pulls this off! (And at the very least, hopefully this will be enough to increase his production capacity because I really like Ted's beer.) Wouldn't it be nice to take some of his Quad home? World Class Beverage will distribute and prices for 25-oz bottles will be $6.99-9.99 for his "regular line" and $11.99 to $19.99 for "specialty beers."
The new website for Brugge Beer notes their first five beers will be available at retail on September 1. First five will be:
White
Black
Sacre Bleu Saison
Dubbel
Tripel de Ripple
10 comments:
I see that there is a work permit in the window for a Chatham Tap (I believe it was called), a new pub a couple doors east of the Scholars Inn on Mass Ave.
Oh, and speaking of pubs, I finally made it to the Bourbon Street Distillary and have to say that their burger is one of the best in town - in fact I can't think of one better.
We were just there last night enjoying buckets of cold beer (and playing with the lables on the Coors Light bottles that change color with the temp!)
I'm especially partial to the pulled pork quesadilla -- the bbq pork for their sandwiches in the tortilla vehicle.
We saw the liquor application (a 3-way license!) for the Chatham Tap yesterday, too. I can only hope they'll have Dogfish, Upland, and Bell's on tap.
As for the Brugge, we never bother anymore. Only about a year after they opened, the Belgian beer rep sampling at Big Red (the Bloomington liquor store) told us how much beer she distributes to them.
My wife and I were in the Brugge last Wednesday at the bar and somebody was in there talking to the owner about a new venture he was working on on Mass Ave. I bet it was the Chatham Tap that you're talking about here.
We couldn't hear much and I didn't want to blatantly eavesdrop but I think they were either talking about the Brugge owner being a partner or perhaps about getting Brugge beer on tap. As much as I like going to Broad Ripple, it would be awesome if they could get Brugge beer downtown as well.
Brugge does sell a lot of other beer -- they've never claimed to only sell their own. (Ted has a pretty nice collection of real-deal Frambroise socked away in the cooler.)
That said, I love their in house beer but it's always frustrated when you go and they're only pouring one. And sometimes it'a a really heavy dark one.
When they first opened, they had framboise on tap. It was just the Lindemen's which is like soda, but still -- it was nice on a hot day!
Braingirl, that was exactly our frustation with Brugge - they started out with several of their own beers, but then that number dwindled (often, as you said, down to one). My husband felt like it was kind of a bait-and-switch. In fact, when I emailed him with this news yesterday, his response was "I'm trying to figure out what they are bottling, since every time we've been recently they had someone else's beer to serve us."
He is still smarting that they never have Son of a Thunder Monkey anymore.
I have been to Brugge several times in the past two months and every time the options have included three different house brews (Tripel, The Black, etc.). Once I do I recall a visit roughly a year ago when only one house brew was available. That's when the options included Stella Artois on tap, a tasty and logical offering for a place that focuses on Belgian styles.
I suppose you can call ahead and ask the Bruggge people what's available before going there. Otherwise you have many other options - especially the BR brew pub - if you don't like what they're doing there.
Admittedly, I've only been to the Brugge 4 times over the course of 5 or 6 months but they've always had 3 or 4 of their own beers on tap. I actually had no idea they ever had capacity issues. Sounds like they won't ever again, so I see no reason no to go.
I think this is a great insight into the operations of a restuarant/bar. Brugge has definitely gotten their production levels right the past 6 to 8 months, but people associate Brugge with never offering any veriety. You gotta come out of the gate strong! A.K.A You only get one shot at making a good first impression.
L'explorateur will be stocking many of Ted's bottled hooch!
Hi guys.
I'm one of Ted Miller's partners at Brugge, so I thought I would add a few points.
Our brewery in Terre Haute will brew 5 Belgian beers to be sold throughout Indiana - in both .750 champagne bottles and 1/6 barrel kegs - to retail liquor stores, as well as a selection of bars and restaurants, still to be finalized.
The 5 will be as mentioned:
Black
White
Dubbel
Tripel de Ripple
Sacre Fleur Saison
As soon as production begins –soon, very soon - most of these 5 beers will always be available at Brugge Brasserie, along with other specialty and seasonal beers created in the in-restaurant brewery.
A new web-site is under construction to offer more detailed information, including retailers, restaurants, and bars carrying our bottles and kegs.
www.brugge-beer.com
All that’s available currently on the site is an email sign-up to get on our mailing list.
We understand the frustration some have voiced about the “choices” available at the restaurant. Our only defense is the brewery on-site has been running at 100% capacity for the 28 months the restaurant has been open and some beers just take longer to make than others.
The new brewery in Terre Haute will relieve this selection issue.
Thanks for your interest and support.
Charlie Midgley
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