Avery Bad Sally

Brewed by Avery Brewing Company
Style: Sour Ale
Boulder, Colorado USA

On tap at the 2008 San Diego Strong Ale Fest, this golden colored brew is a bit sour and tangy.

Draft at the brewery during GABF week. Sweet, fruity aroma with some nice brett, some melon and oak along with touches of honey and pear. Hazy peach-golden color, with a lasting, creamy head. Interesting profile here, the Cabernet Sauvignon barrel aging apparent along with plenty of brett character, lending a nice tartness, sourness and citric fruitiness, the sweetness largely overtaken by these aspects, some lingering woody notes as well. Really quite tasty. Sharp, effervescent palate, body is nicely full. Good stuff!

Draught at Falling Rock Taphouse. Cloudy yellow - white head. Lots of brett, white sugar, elderflowers, flowery, wood, dryness, crispy, spicy, light hoppy. Very nice - a bit too much sweetness.

Draught. Low white lasting creamy head. Slighly hazy orange body. Mild spicy and hoppy aroma and flavor with low carbonation and a long bitter aftertaste.

Sampled on tap at Avery; October 2008 GABF week
This is very hazy, with a murky amber color that is topped by a frothy, long lasting, light tan colored head. The aroma is very funky smelling; aromas of sweat-soaked then dried blankets, aged moldy cheese and curing leather are each quite noticeable. There is lots of oak character in the nose that becomes noticeable as my nose gets used to the funk; spicy oak and a slightly buttery-oak note are the most noticed barrel contribution. The base beer really doesn’t show up at all in the aroma, the funk and oak are just too dominant.

This is quite dry tasting, but has a solid butyric funk flavor to it that is followed by a lingering oak character and then again by a finish of funk; and this all in the first sip. This is well carbonated and it was served a bit too cold (you would figure the brewery would have there cooler at proper beer serving temperature). Flavors of buttery oak mix with Brettanomyces phenolics that add light touches of plastic, faint band aid and solvent notes (though this has a light effect overall).

As the beer warms a touch of toasty, grassy grain character becomes noticeable. The oak contributes a spicy, tannic, astringent note in the finish, though it is definitely secondary to the Brett character. This is better than the regular Salvation, but it could use a bit more finesse as it is a bit disjointed; perhaps it could use a bit more age to meld things together.

Draught at Falling Rock, Denver. Hazy golden coloured with a small white head. Fruity aroma of spices and citrus. Fruity flavour of vanilla, spices, brett, grass and hops. Hoppy and bretty finish.

2008 GABF week @ Avery. Unfiltered glowing orange body with a white head. Nose definitely has taken on the wine barrel character - green grapes, blueberries, brett... reminds me of Bullfrog Beekeeper a little bit. Flavor is moderately boozy, has some light notes of white wine, but there is an unwelcome band-aid funk from the brett... lightly tannic... overall good but could be better. A poor man’s Beekeeper.

Sampled at ’08 BSAF. Beer is cloudy, light/medium-hued oxidized caramel. Head is off-white, frothy, large and mostly lasting.<P>The aroma is malty with light notes of toasted grain, biscuit, trace of cracker; Hoppy with light notes of flowers, moderate note of lemon zest; Yeasty with moderate notes of vinous white wine, balsamic vinegar, horse blanket and barn yard; Miscellaneous notes of light tart apple, trace of pepper.<P>The flavor is moderately sweet, moderately acidic (juicy), moderate/lightly bitter with a moderately long, lightly acidic, lightly sweet, slightly warm finish.<P>The body is medium, the texture is watery and the carbonation is light/moderate.<P>Well done.