Avery The Beast Grand Cru Ale

Rating #666 for me. I was hoping to track down a bottle of Dark Lord for this one but I ended up with this instead. I guess beggars can’t be choosers...

Bottle from batch #6 2008 and served in a Duvel tulip. Blood red pour topped by a small slick of foam. The nose is very sweet with some notes of pineapple, dates, and alcohol. The flavor is very sweet and has a ton of alcoholic bite to it. Notes of fig, raisin, pineapple, and green apple. Nothing about it screams "Belgian" to me. If tasted blind I would have guessed it an English barleywine. Despite not being what they claim it is it is not bad. Not really as complex as it could be though.

Graciously shared by jerc and mabel with HogTownHarry and I. 2005 bottle. Appearance: Murky brown, small wispy brown head. Aroma: Wow - I wouldn’t smoke around this! Boozy, even after 4 years aging, nutty, fruit skin, smoky Christmas pudding, figs and dark fruit. Flavour: Concentrated blackcurrant, syrupy, maple syrup, thick, boozy, LOTS of dark fruit, brandy, long alcohol finish. Woah.

Batch 1, tasted as part of the Avery Experience at Brouwer’s. Thanks to Adam for digging into his cellar for us with this one! Pours a dark ruby bronze with no head. It really reminded me of the Lagunitas Brown Shugga. It has a huge malt backbone, with lots of dark brown sugar, some Belgian candi sugar, dark fruits... crap - this brew is huge, and HOT - even after five years. Good effort to go outside the box, but this one was just over the top for me.

Red-orange, no head. A bit too much. A lot of flavour. Sweet - raisins, dates, caramel. Malty. Hoppy - both aroma and bitter. But too much obvious alcholol on top of the sweetness.

Has a dark red body with a medium tan head.Alcohol and spice really stand out in this beer. All of the usual dark fruits are there also and the smell is very sweet.This is so sweet and strong it will set you back at first. It did tone down as I drank it but man it was strong.Very full bodied. It feels thick and creamy in the mouth.

Bottle. 2006 vintage. Pours clear amber with a 2 finger tan head. The nose is dark fruits, candied brown sugar and molasses. The taste is caramel, toffee, ripe fruit, brown sugar and rock candy. Medium mouthfeel. Way overly sweet, but it does hide the ABV. Not something I’d buy again.

This beer is a very strong full favored beer. Its dark and has a strong alcohol smell. I recommend it.

Batch 4 (2006) Poured a mahogany color with nice cream colored head. Aroma - very sweet like hard candy, raisins and honey. Flavor - extreme sweet taste with some honey and molasses. Palate - the syrupy creamy sweetness coates your tongue like honey. Definite honey/molasses aftertaste that lingers. Reminds me of when I chewed Redman tobacco. Overall - The intial taste is to sweet but as it sits on your tongue and goes down its pretty damn good. Aftertaste is the best part!!!