Avery The Beast Grand Cru Ale

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

Batch 2. 2004 18.1% bottle shared by my brother, who purchased this in Boulder, CO. Aroma is nice and vinous with some light cardboardy oxidated notes. Some sweet, nutty malts are also appreciated in the aroma. There are some boozy aromas retronasally. Smells like a big barleywine. Not too bad. Mildly hazy orangey amber colored body with a small, off-yellowish head. Not much for lacing. Vinous, fruity, chewy, malty start. Turns a bit nutty and caramelly in the middle. Still quite hot and boozy, but not as bad as I had feared. Warming finish, which is dry. This is big, malty, but lacks complexity. I can see why there are lots of haters out there for this beer, but it is a nice experiment.

07.23.04 Bottle thanks to MaiBockAddict. It’s damned big. BIG. Super unctuous, super sweet and full of candy sugars. So many crazy overripe fruits that it’s near impossible to keep track. The beer is quite burning even after sampling a dozen other big beers. Burns from nose to swallow. I’m so glad to have sampled this, now I know to cellar my bottle for a couple years when it should be great. Thanks for breaking the Beast out of hiding, Dave!

Dull brick red body with gentle carbonation and a medium sudsy head. A fresh bottle of batch #1 had big esters in the nose and elements of bananas, cinnamon, figs, apples, phenols, molasses, and rum. Flavor is of chocolate, dark fruits, more molasses, and leather. Sweet, toasty and different. Well-hopped, when fresh. Heats up on the way down but I don’t see this as a deterrent.

After a year of cellaring, batch #1 had a lot of oxidative notes in the flavor and seems to have lost some positive qualities of the fresh batch. Counter to expectations, this may not age very well. Has dropped several notches in my esteem. Comes across as figgy, syrupy, underattenuated and prone to oxidation. Sometimes I wonder if you couldn’t improve this beer by adding equal parts of Coors Light.

Batch 5. Crisp dark amber color with no haze or sediment. Creamy off-white head that slowly disappeared over five minutes. Sugarm, molasses, toffee and faint hops on the aroma. Oh, alcohol too. Sugar, molasses, dried pitted fruits and rich malts in the body. Yeasty bite on the finish.

Bottled in 2005. Malty aroma, sugar with some smokish peat, overripe berries, and strong alcohol. Heft caramel ala many American Strong Ales. Touch of honey and wheat, but the hops are all muddled. Dates and a touch of Belgian candy sugar. Deep red pour, dark and browning. Creamy beige head. Taste is sugary sweet with tongue-numbing hot alcohol, spices, too much candy sugar. Cloys. Molasses and raisins and dark honey and yeast. Full syrupy body. Aftertaste is medicinal. Another in the trend of producing gummy, high abv, liquerish sippers, and a muddled mess in all but the smallest of contemplative sips.

Bottle at Yeoman’s Road Pub in Tampa. Poured a deep reddish yellow like melted butter toffe with blood in it. Smell was biting with sweetness and alcohol both very present. Extremely strong alcohol tatse at first sip. There are some sweet notes behind the alcohol, but they never really break away from the brutal alcohol tatse. Reminded me of a Baltic Porter if Satan decided to brew a Baltic Porter. Not a fan.

bottle, 2008 bottle, golden honey color with a great fruity malt nose, flavor of almonds, refined sugar, caramel and light smokiness, finish is sticky and long lasting, alcohol is not biting but felt otherwise

Truly a great beer; I was skeptical that 15.7% ABV was a bit extreme but my fears were put to rest after a few sips of The Beast. Poured ruddy clear red-brown with a thin-medium light tan head. Very bready aroma with sweet fruit notes and alcohol. The very creamy, full body opened up with caramel, vanilla, woody tanginess, and sweet dark fruit (especially cherries) which became tart after a few sips. Alcohol was notable at first but became less noticeable as I progressed through my glass, never becoming a hindrance to enjoying the amazing flavor complexity and rich body of this beer. Incredibly drinkable and rich, and a must-try.