Avery The Beast Grand Cru Ale

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

Picked up at a secret location. Batch 6 bottled in 2008. Glad to have purchased this except for the high price ($10.99 per 12 oz.) Dark caramel translucent brown. Very pungent. Big caramel malt aroma, not bad with the alcohol I must say. Nice aroma. There is also a slight sweet aroma. For this much alcohol the aroma isn’t bad. Big sweet flavor up front. The alcohol does burn, but this beer has a nice soothing sweet flavor. Nice fruit flavor as well. The alcohol warms everything up. Maybe if I were to have tried this in the winter it would be a bit different but this is 90 degree weather. Sweet malt flavor dominates. Starts off with the malt sweet flavor, and then the burn sets in. Very smooth beer, but again the alcohol is slightly intrusive. Overall, pretty good brew.

Had to try this myself to understand the hype of the 2006 Bottle. Aroma of caramel covered apples, maybe a hint of cherry pipe. Pours a ruby amber color, with a tan head. Sweet and malty with complex alcohol flavors. Full bodied, syrupy, and low carbonation. Not your typical lawnmower beer! Definitely a sipper with a good cigar malt beverage. I’m definitely putting four bottles aside and try it again in about ten years.

2007 Bottle. Transparent copper-red color with a fine film head. Beautiful hue that shines through my Trappist glass. I thought that the extreme ABV would have overwhelmed the aroma, but it was quite nice. Lots of honey, candy sugar, caramel and a nice bitterness from the eccentric hop combination. Sweet, sweet sweet flavor with notes of molasses and more honey. Fruity finish that goes down smooth, with a tingly warming effect on the palate. Definitely an ass-kicker, one bottle to myself that gave a fat head-buzz. I could def. see this beer getting better with some age on it. Nice beer!

Batch 2 (2004). very very strong. Aroma is good but smells like a barley wine. I was scared of this one at first but i warmed up shortly after opening the bottle. Not great but not bad either. worth a try

bottle dated 2006 I guess is batch 4 poured into a snifter has a fully hazed orange brown color and nice lacing on the surface with a ring of tan foam on the glass. aromas of alcohol, fig, brown sugar, plum, dates, and just is a pleasant aroma to take in. right from the first sip you know this is serious, took me a while of sipping to become accustomed to it and start to taste some of the flavors. good carbination through the tasting would re lace with a light swirl, sticky sweet but not quite to the overbearing point, brown sugar, molasses, malts, so many layers of dark fruits. really enjoyed one of these but it will take a while to find the need for another bottle.

Batch 5 (2007). Wow, and now for something completely different. . . Aroma is complex. Caramel, resin, raisin, apple, banana, honey, dates and figs, as well as alcohol. Pours with a small off-white/to almost yellow head. Excellent Lacing. Body is clear and an amber red/brown. Really shocking taste. An explosion of flavor accompanied by an explosion of alcohol, it may be a bit too sweet. Starts off quite sweet and goes a bit acetic. Body is creamy smooth offset by lively carbonation and a strongly alcoholic and mildly astringent (not really in a bad way) finish. If you like your hard liquors then the palate is awsomem but very much unlike any other beer that I have found so far.

Vintage 2005 bottle. Pours deep blood red, with a minor head which falls quickly. Extremely syrup and dried fruit in the nose. Taste is much the same, greatly masking the alcohol. A good brew, while living up to its name if not properly respected.

Pours murky reddish brown with no head. Aroma is riddled with dark fruit, caramel, and molasses. Flavor is intensely sweet. Honey is prevalent, caramel, molasses, and tons of brown sugar. Borderline cloying. Palate is like syrup. aggressive, and almost lacerative,