Avery Brabant

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

Tan full head with extensive lacing on the glass. Dark coffee color. Very aromatic, smells like aged oak barrels, mild sour flavor with aged oak taste.

Intense, wild aroma. Dark, rich funky aroma. The flavor does not quite live up to the aroma. Funky, dry flavor. Lightly astringent, and tannic but not great. Woody and dry, no real nice fruit character.

Bottle. Pours dark brown with an average, fizzy, light brown head, somewhat lasting with fair lacing. Aroma is heavy malt (bread, caramel, straw), light hop (flower, herb), heavy yeast (barnyard, horse blanket) with notes of band aid, bubble gum, plum, oak, wine, and cherries. Medium bodied, creamy texture, average carbonation, and a bitter-dry finish. Long duration, light sweetness, moderate acidity and bitterness.

Bottle from Aplusbreaks, sampled at March Houston tasting. Pours a deep mahogany with a nice head and an aroma of doo doo. Really, this stuff must’ve been aged in an outhouse. And OLD outhouse. Flavor is chocolate cherry with a smores finish. Average mouthfeel. The odor is a fecophiliac’s wet dream, but it tastes pretty good. Thanks, Austin!

The staff at Abe’s Six Pack shop told me how much people loved it and how it was the last one so I bought it. I’m not a fan of that Zinfandel vinegar like flavor. Don’t get me wrong, there are some decent sweet fruit tones here which make it easy to drink and they seem to meld with the brett. But the texture is very wet and lacks character.

Pours very dark brown with a crimson hue and large brown head. The aroma has lots of zinfandel and oak coming through, caramel, funky brett, smoothness, red berries and a hint of sweetness with all traits melding well together. Medium / full body that’s thicker than expected along with being smooth and velvety with lovely soft carbonation. The flavor starts richer and maltier than you’d expect for a wild ale aged in wine barrels. There is dark toasty malt with a bit of sweetness, but offset by the wine traits. The zinfandel traits are very bold, but not overwhelming. There is minor brett that is not as prevalent as the aroma suggested. The finish has more sourness from the wine barrel and some of the oak shows through. Very good stuff.

A solid pour into my large Tripel Karmeliet glass produces a fat-two-finger thick, lightly browned, tan colored head that leaves quite a bit of lacing and is pretty long lasting. The beer is quite dark with a black-brown color; when held up to the light the beer remains opaque, but shows some amber tinges around the edges. The aroma is tart and lactic smelling, but has a soft dark / roast malt side to it that is more toasted than roasted in character. The nose finishes with a signature Brettanomyces derived phenolic character that adds spicy notes of phenolic-soaked cotton and a slight curing plastic notes that reside on top of some fruit notes and some more toasted bread notes. There is a touch of up front berry aromatics, some concord grape like notes and a wine-fruit character all of which can be fleeting at times. There is a solid, spicy oak character that is quite strong, but at first melded so well with the funky Brettanomyces notes that I only just noticed it now. The nose on this beer is nicely complex; contemplative and enjoyable, it is made up of a nice mix of fruity wine-like notes, peppery-spicy oak, butyric-sweaty-barnyard Brettanomyces notes and a supporting dark malt character. This last seems to mix with the tartness and it almost seems like the burnt malt notes are boosting the perception of the sourness in the nose; or perhaps vice-versa, it is hard to say having not tasted the beer yet).

The beer has a soft, creaminess to it up front, though it is quite dry with no perceived sweetness after the first sip. The oak provides lots of tannic structure to this beer, which boosts the perceived body and velvety texture. The lingering finish leaves me with a butyric funkiness of cured plastic and musty, sweat stained dried leather. Dark malt notes can be picked out at times, but are somehow omnipresent too, with a roast-acrid note, a burnt bitterness in the finish and an underlying toasted grain character. The beer is nicely tart tasting with a lactic acid note that is pervasive without being over-bearing. The oak provides a biting spiciness as well as a touch of astringent woodiness. The barrel influence has also left lots of Zinfandel influence in this beer; it is another layer of this complex beer that must be contemplated to notice the signature of ripe berries, a touch of grape-skin jam, peppery and leather-like Zinfandel notes. I seem to get a subtle hint of the powerful wine that rested in the barrel before this beer.

I like how complex this beer is, layers of the rich, underlying dark malt character, its lush texture, the substantial yet smooth tartness, the subtly powerful Zinfandel notes, and the spicy, lively oak influence. This is a very layered, contemplative brew that has easily exceeded my expectations. This is most definitely one of the best Avery beers that I have had.

Black color. A little brett, not especially noticeable yet, it might need more time. Moderate malt, but what lavor is there is not strong enough.