Avery The Beast Grand Cru Ale

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

Bottle. Dark brown, thick-looking. Candy-sugar taste, thick maltiness. Apples, pear, intense sweetness. Goes well with the cheese queadilla kind of thing that JoeT and JenT make. My only complaint is something a bit off in the aftertaste. What a night this was, with two drinks above 15% and a 20%!

very deep copper color quite clear, head is tan, surprisingly lasting for a while. aroma has alcohol burn and is heavy on burnt sugar. flavor has significantly less alcohol, but is still quite tongue-numbing. mouthfeel is quite thick with resin notes. the alcohol is just too apparent in this for me to be able to call it great. it is good though. this may be the most overwhelmingly alcoholic beer i’ve had to date (especially in the nose).

Aroma is a bold sweet malt scent with a full yeast scent blended into it. Color is a bright amber with very good carbonation and a very tight thick head. Taste is very rich and sweet. Starting with a rich body that goes down a bit sharp. Finish comes on rich with a sweet malt flavor that has a bold dried fruit like taste and a fruity Belgian yeast taste. The after taste is almost wine like with a warming alcohol feel. Overall I feel its a great brew but it is a bit rich.

Batch 3 2005. Somewhere around 2 or 3 years old. Pours a nice mahogoney brown color. Small peach colored soapy head that is gone quickly.Smells of bread and sourness. Tastes like pure belgian candy sugar. I get notes of honey, fruit, wheat, and molasses. A bit too sugary for my liking but a great after dinner beer.

Alcohol is, of course, very present throughout this brew -- from the nose to the taste, and dominates a lot of the other flavors. Definitely a lot of the "darker" malt flavors being kicked around here. For me it seemed to thick, syrupy, and lacked some of the fruit flavors to really be a grand cru belgian ale. Actually, thought it to be more of a imp. stout; not that this really diminishes anything from this brew. Overall, quite enjoyable to drink.

Unfortnaley, Batch 3. This was all alcohol and medicine taste. I want so much more from this, and should have aged this. If anyone has any....

Seems almost silly rating appearance on this one. What is it supposed to look like? That said, it’s much lighter than I expected, and actually has a little bit of foam. Nice. Aroma of port and dates. Palate is not all that thick considering the 18% ABV. But in the taste, the alcohol is right there. Also very sweet port flavors. I feel like there are other things waiting to come through, but at this point it still seems pretty raw, and everything else is crowded out. I think it’s great that Avery made this audacious stuff. To my tastes, it isn’t great right now, but it probably will be in five years, and that is pretty cool. Thanks Alaskanwarren for the taste! Mighty generous of you.

2005 bottle enjoyed at cellar temp. A strong port, honey, dark fruit, and wood aroma. A dark red/brown/burgundy color. Very sweet dark fruit flavor. Molasses, port, plum, raisen, a little spice, and some alcohol. Even though you can taste the alcohol it is still well hidden considering the abv. To sweet, but an odd beer that is enjoyable.