Avery IPA

Brewed by Avery Brewing Company
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Boulder, Colorado USA

Clear yellow pour with orange hues and sustainable thin off-white head. Floral pine hop aroma with notes of honey. Citric hop flavor is balanced, but has a distint hop kick. Medium body with low carbonation. Hop oil finish.

(Bottle) Pours light amber with a medium white head. Spicy, yeasty, some alcohol and some citrusy hops in aroma. Light floral. Hints of saffron. Bitter, citrusy flavour. Light malty background. Medium dry afterbitterness. Light to medium body.

Hmm. I had this with high hopes after being really impressed with Mehpistopheles. The IPA just sort of let the air out of me. It wasn’t bad but it was just so...plain. Aroma was pretty weak for an IPA, but when it fails to out perform SNPA somethings wrong. Slightly bitter, some weird funkyness in the nose and very minimal malts. Appearance was dark orange and cloudy. Mouthfeel was medium bodied. Flavors were just off for my tastes. No malt profile, hoppy and that’s really about it. It’s just too unbalanced to receive higher marks.

draught. Pours a slightly hazy copper with a fine lasting white head. The aroma is nice and zesty with adequate hop strength. Hints of pine, grapefruit, caramel, and tea abound. The flavor has assertive, clean, citrusy bite. Malts are nice here, just sweet enough to balance everything out. If you can get a nice fresh sample, it’s really aromatic, spicy, and dry. This is pretty much a standard IPA, though excellently executed.
[8.08.08]
On tap at Barley’s. Good to see Avery back in town. The pour is dark gold with a very impressive white head. It looks just a little cloudy. The aroma has American hops right up front. Plenty of grapefruit and a bit of pine are noted. Malts seem to be right in line. The flavor really delivers. It’s a very predictable, but satisfyingly robust and balanced India pale. Hefty suggestions of pine and citrus are found and the sweetness here is something like sweetened green tea and honey. I think this is a superior example of the style.
[September 24, 2008]
Bottle. Pours a solid copper with nice looking white head. Plenty of hops are found in the aroma to sate my craving for an IPA and they’re clean and citrusy. Straight forward spicy grapefruit and a simple caramel sweetness are found. The flavor is equally bold. Hops hit the palate first and continue to leave a dry impact on the taste buds. Grapefruit, pine, and a little lemon. This is a straight up IPA, no bones about it. It is very clean and provides excellent emphasis on the bitter notes.

Bottle. Pours a pale orange body with big soapy white head. Aroma is of slight hops and a sugar like feel (cereal?), grainy. Taste is slightly bitter with a light mouthfeel. A little off in flavor with a small citrus essence. Decent.

12oz bottle from Willow Bend Liquors (Tampa, FL). Pours a hazy golden caramel color with a one finger foamy white head that settles quickly. Aroma is sweet and floral with notes of citrus, pine, grapefruit, orange peel, fresh flowers, some hints of spice, malt, caramel. Flavor is sweet and floral with notes of ripe fresh fruit, citrus, floral hops, pine, hints of grapefruit, caramel, honey. Generally medium body with a pleasing floral hop finish.

Bottle. Pours a slightly hazy golden color with a few floaters. I poured it gentle so as to avoid most of the floaters, so the head is minimal. Nose is malt and wet grain. Maybe I have an older bottle and the hops have died down, but this is a really mild IPA hops wise. Slight lingering bitter aftertaste. Decent mouth feel. I’ll give it another try down the road and rerate if needed.

From a 12 oz. long neck brown bottle with a picture of a 19th century map on the label, no freshness date. Poured a clear orange hued golden with a nice foamy, bubbly topped white head that settled into a sticky, thin, bubbly lacing, active carbonation. Had a big grapefruity hop aroma with bare hints of the distinctive Avery yeastiness in the background. A semi-creamy, bitter medium bodied mouth feel, above average drinkability. Had a crisp grapefruit rind hop bitterness upfront, rough on the tongue, and a lightly sweet, bitter creamy finish.