Avery Karma Ale

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

Pours to a brownish shade of orange. Lemonade aroma that has some spice and peppery things happening. Mild in flavor is a kind way to say it’s quite watery. Some woody flavors, mint, spice. Mostly, like flattened lemon mineral water. I wonder if this is really what they were aiming at.

A couple of bottles purchased in Portage Lakes, OH. This beer pours a hazy copper color with an abundant loose white head. I had two Karma Ales, and when I opened the first it blew up all over the counter, although it had been sitting stationary in the fridge for a few days...not sure if that indicates anything about over-carbonation or not. Smell is faint, and of caramel malt, biscuity-ness, and just a whiff of hops. Taste is pleasant, but neither challenging nor inspiring. This is a nice, middle-of-the-road amber ale, which for my taste was a bit boring, particularly given the other Avery beers I’d had which were neither boring nor middle-of-the-road. Mouthfeel was a bit thin, despite the high levels of carbonation. This beer was rather drinkable, and while it wasn’t what I expected from Avery, I did enjoy it.

Nearly clear copper with a bubbly white head. Weak aroma of yeast and spice. Light taste with mostly yeast, bread, and a faint fruity/citrus taste. Altogether, this is like a Belgian-lite.

Bottle. An amber color with a white head. A very lightly spiced aroma with caramel. A musty caramel malt flavor, bready, Only the mild hint of Belgian spices could tip this off as a Belgian Ale.

Starts foaming in the bottle upon uncapping. Hazy copper with a feeble cream colored soapbubble head. Huge butterscotch and powdered lemon-iced-tea-mix aromatics. Some pinetree and ammonia as well. I thought this was a mislabelled 14er ESB until tasting. Thin, cidery flavor and mouthfeel. A suggestion of brown sugar. Maybe some noble hop flavor?… too subtle to tell. A few sluggish bubbles at the onset disappear by the third sip. Tart appleskin aftertaste, gritty with tannins, and a saccharine/chemical funk. The inappropriate nose is completely at odds with the flavor. This travesty of a Belgian-style ale is an insult to Belgium.

12 oz bottle. Pours to a slightly hazy, amber color, with a tight, white head, that fades, and a moderate to soft carbonation. The nose on this beer is malty, with aromas of bready and toasty malt. The palate is firm, with some good bready and light nutty malt flavor. This beer finishes with more of those flavors up front, then ends with a mild bitterenss that balances the malt character of the beer. Nice, easy drinking Belgian pale ale, along the lines of New Belgium Fat Tire. Not as authentic or tasty as a De Konnick or Palm. Food friendly beer, that would match well with a number of dishes.

Dark, hazy orange color with a towering head that colapses in a few minutes. Kind of a yeasty and orange aroma. The taste is just... eh. There’s a bit of that breadiness that I would expect from this kind of ale, but really, there’s nothing. Not offensive. Not anything.

Golden brown, with a thick loose head. A full wheaty, malty, yeasty aroma. I can smell sour apples in there as well. Medium body without much flavor. A bit disappointing after the aroma.