Avery The Beast Grand Cru Ale

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

[Vintage, Batch 4 - 2006] Bottle... Poured an opaque burgundy with a thick beige head. Aroma of brandy alcohol, rum alcohol, raisins and other fruit. Thick, chewy palate that really attacked the palate. Super bitter with strong malts and a thick syrupy, sugary alcohol dominance. Finished with cherries, molasses, and a honey sweetness. This beer is a Beast.

#6 bottle, crazy lovely aroma that is very barleywine esque. I was still smelling the bottle after I finished it. The aroma has candy sugar, chocolate and molasses notes. This beer is a beast, the taste is similar to the aroma with sweet malt notes as well but it hits you in the face with the alcohol. I really enjoyed this beer but if it had a little less alcohol it would be heavenly.

Crimson body with a thin eggshell head and no real lacing to speak of. Cotton-candy, brown sugar, molasses, and raisin are only outdone by the alcohol. This one is HOT. Warms the throat and then the belly as it goes down. Thick and chewy; like maple saltwater taffy. Slight Belgian influence...heavy influence of ethanol!!!

Batch 5, courtesy of mgermani. Pours deep ruby-copper, wispy beige head with thin lacing. Aroma is almost Wasabe-esque, horseradish, pickled ginger, hint of turmeric. Flavour is wildly alcoholic (no surprise there), slightly sugar-caney, with a robust profile of noble hops that’s difficult to pin down. Spicy and herbal notes prevail. Finish is long, warm and boozy. My socks were knocked clear into next week. Spectacular!

Bottle. Dark redish to brown colour. Smells like a barley wine. Butter and a bit sour tasting. Full bodied and heavy without any special taste beeing lifted.

Pours a lovely rich ruby with a thin layer of foam and minimal lacing. Aroma is SUBLIME! Oh my good glory: at first overwhelmingly sweet, but on closer inspection pickled ginger comes through strong and clear... The taste delivers on every promise of the aroma: strong and sweet with so many layers of spice one doesn’t even know where to begin... speculoo (brown sugar, cinnamon) raisin, lots of raisin in the finish, which lingers a loooong, loooong time. A surprisingly crisp body for such a dense-flavoured beer, decent carb. My god I love this beer and I fear it shall end me.

(Batch 6 - 2008). Fairly good carbonation for such a heavy alcoholic laden beer.Pours very tall head with lots of big bubbles. Blood orange red color in body. Aroma of yeast, albeit it very light. Wonderful flavor packed with LOTS of sugars. If you eat dates you can pick out the date flavor especially. Warming in the throat after swallowing the first few sips and the warmth continues to linger on the palate for quite some time. . Body is not overly heavy. I can easily see someone getting carried away drinking this stuff. If you like Belgians you need to try this. Addendum to this post. As little as 15 minutes after drinking this I’m actually feeling a little numbness. This was after ONE bottle and I’m a pretty heavy person. Avery is the only brewery that has done that to me. Not even the legendary EKU 28!! Drink, but drink with intnet of not driving for some time. :-)

Batch 6 Pours clear dark amber, thick, alcohol, dark fruits, molasses, little caramel, little roasty, little hop.