The Bruery Or Xata Review

Name: The Bruery Or Xata
Style: Blonde Ale
ABV: 7.1%
IBUs: 20

Perhaps I was a bit too harsh with my first Bruery review on this blog, but I did my reasons for it nevertheless. In any case, I have another beer from The Bruery called Or Xata, which is a beer based off of Horchata, which is a Central American drink. According to the label, it's a blonde ale made with rice, cinnamon and vanilla beans.

I'll be honest, a blonde ale isn't exactly the style I'd choose if I were doing a Horchata beer as I would liken it to something more darker, like a porter or stout. I do recall reviewing a Blue Moon Horchata beer early last year but that one was kind of disappointing so let's hope that's not the case here.

Appearance - Hazy dark yellow color with a moderate amount of visible carbonation. The head is pretty thin for the most part and leaves behind no lacing

Aroma - Strong cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla flavors with some cereal grains and barley. I'm also picking up on some pale maltiness in here too.

Taste - Strong cinnamon flavor on the front of the palate that lingers to the end with some vanilla sweetness and pale malts towards the middle. The back end of the flavor continues with that vanilla & cinnamon flavors plus more of that pale maltiness. The aftertaste is also more of that lingering cinnamon.

I can certainly say I enjoyed this more than White Oak and I have to say I was actually surprised by how much I actually enjoyed this beer in general, despite my earlier reservations about the beer style of choice for making a Horchata beer. Yes, it may be a little too sweet and/or cinnamon-heavy for some people but if you are ever curious to try it out, this one is certainly worth a look.

The Bruery Or Xata - 8.5/10