Avery The Beast Grand Cru Ale

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

Dark brown, raisin, rum, black cherry, alcohol present. Very port-like taste and mouthfeel. Finished with a sweet cherry taste. Warms up the chest and pipes. Best at room temp. Thanks Ern.

Nice solid red color and a thin head. Sticky thick smell to it, cherry, plum, fig, oak, clove, a bit of ginger and some alcohol. The flavor is odd, as it reminds me first of a wine (not to bitter or sweet) for the mouthfeel, then it switches over to some strong barley treatment. Im somewhat disappointed at first with the taste of the beer, because the alcohol takes over, but ther aftertaste is something to behold. It has the you-just-drank-lots-of-alcohol feel to it, but it has the belgian strong ale good sweeter side. This reminds me more of a liquor with the feeling that you taste a lot of alcohol first, then the flavors of the drink second. Alterantively, I find that if I hold it in my mouth longer than usual the hops are felt more, along with the candy-like sweetness. Afterwards the slight burn from the alcohol is felt. Quite an interesting beer, I just wish I could afford to buy a second to hang on to for a while.

Well, well, well. The hotshots at Avery have upped the ABV on this sucker to 18.1%. We’ll see how that turns out... Pours a nice, deep amber--we’ll call it blood red since the beer is called the Beast but, keep in mind, we’re not calling it blood red because it is actually blood red in color. If you try, you can get a head to form but it’ll be gone faster than your sobriety when your sipping on this monster. Nose is somewhat alcoholic of course but underneath there’s a really good belgian beer--dark, raisin-like malts and a spicey yeast character. This stuff’ll make you howl and breathe fire. There is no hiding that alcohol in there but it works pretty well helping to balance the slightly sweet malty body. If you look for it, there’s a nice inter play between whiskeyish vanilla flavors, spice and deep, deep malt but, in the end, this beast comes across slightly simple because the ghastly amount of alcohol masks a lot of flavor. I’m still digging it hardcore but, then agian, I’m drunk. Did I mention this has a lot of alcohol? I think I might just lay one of these down to see if the alcohol wanes a bit and get drunk again at a later date.

2004/15.7%ABV Version: Pours a dark red with a medium head that fades slowly. Aroma is of sweet dough and alcohol. Flavor is of sweet dough, caramel, brown sugar with a slight hoppiness behind the huge malt. Very nice sweet, strong brew. The alcohol is present but not overpowering.

Bottled in 2007, the 12 ounce bottle poured a beautiful ruby colored crystal clear beverage with a modest sized creamy off-white head that was mostly diminishing but left good lacing on the glass. The aroma was mostly malty with notes of sweet dark Belgian candy sugar, orange, coriander and subtle notes of sweet sherry. The body was full with lively somewhat sharp carbonation and a syrupy thick texture. The flavor was very sweet from beginning to the end of the long finish. There was a decided alcohol warmth and an alcohol bite to it as well. Maybe I should have laid this one down for a year or two before tasting it.

I brought the ’05 for theisti and KAggie 97. KAggie brought the ’06. 2005: Clear mahogany color with very little head. Big raisin and maple and honey nose. Huge alcohol warming sensation with strong candied and sugar flavors. RATING: 7/4/8/4/16 = 3.9 2006: Similar in appearance to the 2005, but with a foamy tan head. Take some raisin and brown sugar and mix it with bourbon aromas. Nice. Not initially, with lots of candied fruits like apricots (and raspberries as it warms) as well ass rose and floral notes...and these all get swept away by cloying sweetness. Seems like it needs more time to mellow just a bit. RATING: 7/4/7/3/15 = 3.6

Bottle. Creamy off-white excellent fully lasting head. Orange-brown colour. Heavy malty and hoppy aroma. Heavy bitter flavor. Long heavy bitter finish. Syruply/creamy way too alcoholic palate.

Had last night on tap at Pizza Port’s Strong ale fest in Carlesbad. This was another of my favorites for the night because it was such an interesting beer. The nose and mouth were in complete disagreement, something I had not encountered before. The nose was sour, almost gueuze-like as if wild yeast were used with notes of tart pear etc. The mouth on the other hand was quite sweet, with little to no wild-yeast funk, instead being a pure Belgian style clean strong ale. A great and intrigueing beer.