Avery The Beast Grand Cru Ale

Batch #6. Very sweet as to be expected. Pours a dark caramel color with beige head. Aroma is almost like paint - but that’s in a good way. Alcohol is strong in this one and it doesn’t hide it. Very sweet and tart, but dry on the finish. A lot of tannins on this one - I would almost guess this was Beast from the Wood if I didn’t know any better. Notes of raisins and oak permeate this beer.

A- Pours a super clear mercurial red hue, head is a small amount of white frothy bubble that dissipate to a thin layer, lacing is thin throughout S- Aroma is mostly sweet sugars and fruits, some syrupy molasses and brown sugar, cherries and figs, caramel malts, a tinge of citrus T- Initial taste is dark fruit and warming alcohol, soon followed by thick molasses and a touch of hops, this is one cloyingly sweet beer that is very high on cherries and ethanol, finishes with rich chocolate sweetness M- Medium-bodied, smooth and watery texture, lively, bordering on over-, carbonation D- This is one stiff drinking Grand Cru that doesn’t let you forget, there isn’t a lot of innovation going on here that would motivate me to bust through the heavy abv, interesting but not particularly exciting, there are better Grand Cru’s and better Avery’s out there that warrant your attention

Flaske: Årgang 2006. Fantastisk god karbonering og et fint skum i forhold til den høje alkoholprocent. Sød duft meget lig en klassisk engelsk barleywine. SMagen derimod er rosiner alkohol og mucovadosukker, men karboneringen gør den drikbar. Overraskende god i forhold til forventningen.

Bottle, batch 3. Pours a dark brown body with a thin tan head. Huge ethyl alcohol aromatic character, very sweet molasses, sweet malt, alcohol latent fruits and sugar. Lighter raisins, plum, and tobacco. Very aggressive body with a strong warming. Wow intense brew.

Rating #666. Batch 4, Bottle 2006. Dark earthy brown with a nice lasting cover of light tan head. Big alcohol soaked fruits, raisins, plums, nice maltiness for the aroma. For the taste, it has a nice syrupy feel, brown sugar and more raisins, plums, then a warming but balanced alcohol finish.

Bottle - Batch 6 (2008) - Poured a dark reddish-amber in color with an almost nonexistent head and very low carbonation. Aroma is malty and sweet with dark fruit (prunes, dates and raisins), bready Belgian-style yeast and brown sugar. Flavor is malty sweet with *lots* of alcohol up front. Once you get past that, the flavors of the dark fruit and brown sugar come through. This would be even an over the top barley wine with the alcohol tonnage that this beer carries. Mind you, I like very strong beers and I do understand that being "The Beast" carries a powerful connotation, but this is not subtle at all and it does detract from what would otherwise be a favorable overall experience... the flavors are very good, but the alcohol is much too apparent and/or overwhelming. There are quite a few other beers I’ve had that approach this beer’s ABV strength that do a much better job of hiding this. Maybe some cellaring would mellow it out some... Too bad as it shows a lot of promise and I really do think that Avery is a top notch brewer.

Red in color with a decent head. Malt and caramel aromas with some prune like aromas as well. Sweet very sweet malty flavor of candy sugar, raisons, molasses, and prunes. Very thick body.

Bottle, Batch 5. Dark amber pour with a medium size head. Wonderful aroma of caramel, raisins, sweet malt with very little alcohol coming through. Alcohol definitely comes through in flavor however, considering it’s 16.42% it’s very easy to drink. A little sip rolled over the tongue goes a long way with this one. Notes of sweet malt, raisin, brown sugar, caramel, some bitter hops and, as I said, alcohol. As a few others have stated, this definitely comes across more as a barley wine to me. Just one with more hops and alcohol. Damn good stuff!