Avery Brabant

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

Okay, I was leery of this because of my bad experience with Avery 15. Thankfully, this was much, much better. Poured murky brown with a rocky off-white head and moderate lacing. A pleasantly dank aroma of brett and red wine, maybe some brown sugar and plums in there, too. Smooth mouthfeel, more carbonated than expected, but still nice. Funky and sweet taste. Lots of brett funk, some cheese, but an equal amount of grape juice and tannins. Saw that it was aged in a zinfandel barrels. The fruity wine flavors do come out in the end and give it a tart, dry finish. It was much easier to drink and more pleasant than 15, but it did feel as if it was missing something.

Bottled. Way too expensive. Nice yeasty notes in the flavor, lots of buttery oak, though a rather thin body and an incredibly dead finish. Some tar flavors through. A bit of lactic acid as well, though not too much, but some other lactic milky flavors aint great. This has potential but it doesn’t quite work. Too much barrel really and not enough body.

courtesy of the cheeseman! Rich dark fruit with strong funkiness with hints of chocolate malts. Pours dark brown almost black with a thick tan head. Rich chocolate malts, wine-like dark fruits, molasses, with apple skins, barn yard funk, with some oaky vanilla tannins. A great complex beer with loads of flavor, but still easy to drink and enjoy! thanks dan!

brown body with a light brown head.aroma of baby diapers,sour fruit,oak,and dark chocolate.flavor is green grapes,caramel malts,and funk.

12 oz bottle shared by Enniskillen. Nose of light brett, sweat socks, winey oak, and chocolate. Dark brown with a medium beige head. Flavor is slight smoke, brett, sourness, and grapes. Tastes OK but the nose is rank!

Brown black with a thin tan head. Aroma is baby powder, light funk, caramel, alcohol. Taste is a light funk, oak, caramel, slight roastiness, light salt. Good, but the aroma is a bit off.

Two bottles, one courtesy TheCheeseMan and the other courtesy tytoanderso. This pretty brew pours an extremely dark mahogany color with a thick, lasting head of spongy, mocha colored foam. Dense rings of patchwork lacing circle the glass, coating it very well. The nose is complex and interesting. Earthy overtones hit up front, as wild and bretty as advertised. Raw cacao and pungent pipe tobacco linger underneath, hinting at scorched caramel as well. Cherry pith and juicy Zinfandel notes offer tannic, vinous character, while oaky vanilla and even hints of peppery cedar lend spicy complexity. The flavor is tart, but sufficiently balanced by the dried cocoa malt and dark, earthy fruit. Fig comes through a bit more, replacing some of the more sour, tannic fruits that show on the nose. The oak gives of heaps of vanilla, almost as though a raw vanilla bean had been steeping in this brew for a good while. The mouthfeel is big and slick up front, transitioning to a more lively, dry, bretty finish. It’s not often you’ll run across something as complex as this, and it’s a drastic improvement over Avery’s first foray into bottled wild ales (Fifteen had a very band-aid like, chemical character). Very nice stuff!

Pretty dark brown pour with solid two fingers of head. There’s so much going on with the aroma that I don’t know where to begin. Everything from tart cherry and plum to oak to caramel. There’s a lot going on with the flavor too. Very woody and rather tart with a strange dark fruit clash in the middle. This is interesting but there’s too much going on for me to really get into it.