Whole Foods Beer Tasting

Ok, This isn't really a restaurant but there is food (and beer) involved. We went to Monday Feb. 23rds beer tasting at The Tapas bar in Whole Foods El Segundo. This day was devoted to The Bruery's line of beers. I have to say this was probably my favorite beer tasting so far. Craig was the man behind the counter and an obvious beer enthusiast. All the beers followed a Belgin style which I am a big fan of so this was a good night. Food at these tastings has gotten way better too. We had several different cheeses, ham, grapes, blueberries, strawberries, flat bread, and amazing grilled cheese sandwiches, grilled with truffle butter...mmm


Orchard White - A very flowery Heffenweisen. Strongest nose of any beer I've had I think. Interesting and powerful taste. Not something I'd drink all night, frankly it didn't match some of the finger foods and reminded me of hand lotion or air freshener after a while, but perfect exotic taster-starter. I actually really liked this one, didn't think it was too fragrant, had a lot of flavor, good wit beer, thick and cloudy but smooth. Fruity but not over done. Not the kind of beer I'd drink a bunch of but one nice ice cold one would really hit the spot.
Black Orchard - good, but most dissapointing of them: I was the most excited about this one from its description online, it sounded very exotic, but it had one of the plainer tastes of the set to me. Had a lot of zip to it - reminded me of Chimay. Looks of it were very deceiving too since it had the appearance of a stout in my glass, but was light and crisp and anything but a stout. This one was my least favorite of the night but still better than a ton of beers out there. It reminded me of a cross between Chimay and New Castle if that makes any sense. Some interesting flavors but nothing compared to the others. Not a dark beer, stout or porter by any means.
Saison de Lente - Started getting into the solid Belgian style beers here. Had the nice honey and doughy taste but was really refreshing. No bitterness at all to this or any of the beers after. Our server, Craig, gave us a double taster of this one since he could tell we liked it which was pretty cool. I thought it was the Trade Winds that he gave us a double pour? I can see why this is their spring beer. It's refreshing and light but still rich and flavorful. Not as fruity and flowery as the White Orchid but holds it's own for sure.
Trade Winds - This one might have been my favorite. Very similar in my mind to the Saison de Lente but with rounder fuller flavors. Kind of seals the deal for me being a nut about this style of brew. This one was my favorite. The best of all the beers, lots of flavor but not too much fruit or flower, refreshing, not too hoppy or thick but still rich. And at 8% alcohol it gets my thumbs up for sure.
Saison Rue - A good finish, belgian Saison style again and same type of brew as the Trade Winds, but much differ punctuation to the taste. Slightly champagney to me, which I liked, but deeper and more serious like a good beer, but still no bitterness to me. Didn't seem champagney to me at all but a great beer. Craig's favorite. Another one I could only drink one of but it's a great one for that.

Over all a great night of different Belgian style beers (and grilled cheese). Why more people don't stop in to the Whole Foods tastings is beyond me

Whole Foods El Segundo http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/elsegundo/
The Bruery http://www.thebruery.com/index2.html