Avery The Beast Grand Cru Ale

Old rating Drank in March ’06? 2005 bottle. Maroon color. Plummy, alcohol aroma, also some turbinado sugar, vanilla, and raisins. Taste is caramel, apple cider, turbinado sugar, and cinnamon. Mouthfeel is thick and chewy. I think this is a rather enjoyable beer, though one I would only want to have at the end of the night.

2007 Bottle. Transparent copper-red color with a fine film head. Beautiful hue that shines through my Trappist glass. I thought that the extreme ABV would have overwhelmed the aroma, but it was quite nice. Lots of honey, candy sugar, caramel and a nice bitterness from the eccentric hop combination. Sweet, sweet sweet flavor with notes of molasses and more honey. Fruity finish that goes down smooth, with a tingly warming effect on the palate. Definitely an ass-kicker, one bottle to myself that gave a fat head-buzz. I could def. see this beer getting better with some age on it. Nice beer!

Had at the Flying Saucer in Ft. Worth - Bottle / Batch 5 - Nose was Tabasco Pepper Sauce, or at least that’s what i could equate it to. Initial taste was nearly sweet, very smooth, no real over alcohol taste, very well hidden, the finish was spicy, definatly would drink again.

Bottle. Batch 3 (2005). This one has aged enough I guess. Pours a deep ruby red with light brown head. Aromas are sweet and full of sugared berries and candy with light hop notes to spice it up. Very interesting nose on this one. Palate is sticky as hell, honey and syrup like, and tough to wash off the glass. Flavors are deep and full of more malty sweetness than raisin/fruit sweetness although the dried fruit thing is here as well as a touch (small one) of the artificial cough syrup sweetness but only because I look for it. Hop spice is abundant but nearly overwhelmed by alcohol warmth and chewy candy like malty sweetness. Finish is warm and cleaner than I expected. I’d have another glass for sure, but not today.....this is a big big brew.

12 oz. bottle. 2005. Pours a cloudy rust color with a thin, almost creamy, light tan head that lasted through about half the glass and left very little lacing. Aroma was prunes, brown sugar and fruit brandy. The flavor was quite strong with prunes, raisins, brown sugar, molasses, and brandy all present. Very sweet, actually a bit too sweet even for me, who doesn’t mind sweet beers. Full mouthfeel, although a bit cloying because of the sweetness. The alcohol at 14.9% was definitely present, but was not overwhelming. A fun beer to try.

Batch 4 (2006). I was a little scared by this beer at first. I wasn’t sure what to expect with it being 14.6%. Surprisingly even with the alcohol presence, this beer was extremely smooth and had a wonderful sweet flavor to it as it warmed.

Batch 2. Thanks to BillVanE on getting this one. Not the same as I first remembered but great anyway. Aroma had lots of malt and sweetness. Flavor is overpowered to a degree by the hotness of the alcohol. I love this beer, its like sipping on a glass of whiskey.

Batch 4 2006 Whoa momma. First off this puppy has a 14.9% ABV in it, but it is masked by a complex and thorough palate. For some it might be a bit too syrupy or sweet, although I think right now that might have to do with it’s age. It pours a reddish hue with massive bubbles that I could almost stick a pencil through. Okay, maybe they are not THAT big. I wish I could lay this one down, but I am in a wandering stage right now in life, so it would only be able to sit for a few months instead of a few years. I think that the thick flavor is necessary to hide that nasty alcohol flavor that too many brewers leave in high ABV brews. This is a beer drinkers beer and not for the faint hearted, though we all know it would probably be best after it is allowed to mature.