Avery The Beast Grand Cru Ale

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

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.

12 oz. bottle Batch 3 via my Secret Santa - Pours a murky light brown color with a thin light tan head. Little to none lacing or carbonation. Aroma is strong. Lots of dark esters, doughy malt, and spice. Flavor is fruity sweet. Full body. A real sipper. Alcohol isn’t overbearing with this one. Thanks Santa.

2005 12 oz. bottle courtesy of slob. Dude...you rock. Took me two nights to come up with anything approaching close to describe this critter. Pours a flat muddy brown with a huge fruity port wine like nose. No carbonation. Plums and some rasin like tones. I figured that this would relax me do I could get to sleep. I was right...and I was wrong. I stared at the ceiling attempting to figure out what I had tasted since this fell out of the normal mundane realm of nose/body hops/finish/ appearance hoo-hah. I figyred I’d give the second half of the bottle a go the following night after work. Complicated, sweet and deadly are my lowest common denominators with this sumbitch. Bert....you suck.

Name: The Beast
Date: 02/21/2004
Mode: Bottle
Source: Tasting, RateBeer SE Gathering, 2004

clear copper, rich sweet malt aroma, big strong malt flavor, nice sweetness, thin body, warming from the first sip, spicy bitter finish, too much lingering alcohol in the finish
-------- /> Name: The Beast
Date: 01/07/2006
Vintage: 2004

huge sweet aroma and a bit alcoholic, very hot and alcoholic, huge sweetness, needs much more time
-------- /> Name: The Beast
Date: 08/20/2006
Source: tasting
Vintage: 2004

still all alcohol, picking up some carmel sweetness as the only thing that can fight the alcohol
-------- /> Name: The Beast
Date: 04/29/2007
Source: tasting
Vintage: 2004

still hot caramel
-------- /> Name: The Beast
Date: 11/25/2007
Mode: bottle
Source: tasting
Vintage: 2007

never gets better

Aroma: 5/10; Appearance: 5/10; Flavor: 4/10; Palate: 5/10; Overall: 8/20
Rating: 2.3/5.0
Drinkability: 5/10
Score: *4

2006 bottle. Insanely sweet - but for whatever reason, I like this! Maybe the year-plus of age did it some good. I didn’t have any high hopes at all - in fact, figured I would end up dumping it. But sure enough, the heavy warming effect is very enjoyable (why can’t I be drinking this in the snow instead of the summer sun!?!?) Flavor is mostly black currant with some toffee, honey, and caramel. What a surpise! I always seem to like the ass kicker beers but I can definitely see this being a love-hate.