Avery The Beast Grand Cru Ale

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

This is what being a beer lover is all about. By no means a "perfect" brew, but certainly a notable accomplishment in the brewing arts. My sample tonight is a 2004 bottling. Although it remains a bit "rough around the edges" it is warming and tasteful. Plentiful flavors of raisin, figs, honey, mollasses, caramel abound. Head is almost non-existant, but what would one expect with 18.1%!! Palate is oily and smooth with an endless pleasant bourbon-like finish. One who holds the discipline to bury a bottle or two in a cool, dark closet for 10+ years I think will be greatly rewarded. Feelin’ allright!

Deep reddish appearance, creamy head formation. Aromatic berry, cranberry aroma, fairly heavy bitter citrus. Acidic flavor with thickish cranberry and blackcurrant. Heavily hopped, bitting finish.

Dark amber color; small creamy head. Nice aroma, malt, very sweet, Barley Wine-like. Medium thickness, oily; malty taste, sweet in the beginning, balanced by a quite strong bitterness later. Too warming alcohol, light metallic aftertaste and not much complex. Good anyway. And powerful, of course.

Slight caramel, almost barleywine-like aroma. Hop bite throughout with a good balance of malt, caramel, and alcohol. Should age very well.

Poured a clear ruby color with a thick tan head. Big malt aroma. Taste is sweet with the malt up front with a cotton candy flavor. Packs a punch. Could be a little less sweet but overall, it’s very good.

(Rating number 500!!!). Clear classy brown colour with hints of ruby. Thin and creamy beige head. Powerfull aroma of banana, apples, raisin, alcohol, pepper and port. More pwerfull flavour of yeast, banana, oranges, sugar, honey and apples. Strong peppey alcohol flavour. Strong alcoholic finish with notes of madeira, banana and butter. A tasty beer but those "bomber" bottles is way too big.

Pours brownish red, with a small head. Aroma is sweet malt, alcohol, and brown sugar. Taste is sugary, kind of like rum, with bitterness at the finish. Alcohol is not hidden, but at this percentage, I didn’t expect it to be. Really good, interesting beer.

22oz. bottled on 1/21/04.Aroma is of a high quality belgian yeast,bubblegummy banana,Cherries(think Delirium?)A load of brewing sugars,sharp alcohol at first(warming helps this one out)even a tease of soy or teriyaki in there.A regal ruby to brown color/faint head/nice lace.A lot going on in the flavor department.I can't quite put it into a detailed description(Intense to say the least)The alcohol is very noticeable when cold but finds a proper place in the mix upon warming.The palate is smooth as silk,full and sticky and lingers & lingers.I love the aftertaste(sweey and stringbeany)Well I can't wait to age some of this super fresh intense sick love in a bottle.A bit rough around the edges in it's young state.The buzz is of coarse warming to say the least.The hops balance the sweetness well.The only other beer I can compare to this is Duclaw's Deception(a "quad")I detected a little yeast sediment at the bottom of the bottle(Go Avery!) Bottled on 6-25-04(18.1%) Still a great beer that just shreads you tastebuds,alcohol is too noticable though,but this will be a fine one to age for a good couple of years.Gets better upon warming,but damn this shit is hot! My buddy who is more of a liquor drinker said he is hooked,this is my kinda of beer..IWe both just took our time on this one(like a good hour and a half to finish a 11 oz. pour. Will have to check out the 1/21/04 batch to see how he's aging. This will be so good in like two years.