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.

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!

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.

The beer disembogues the 22-ounce brown bottle a luminous ruby brown with a dinosauric frothy light tan head that settles rather quickly and the residual lace a tight sheet upon the glass. Oh my, is that alcohol I smell, sweet malt, caramel, over ripe pineapple, fresh, crisp, clean and a damn fine treat for my old schnozzle, start is all alcohol with a monsterous sweetness and a fair grain profile, the top is moderate to full in feel. Finish is submissive in its acidity with the hops burned out of existence by the 18.1 percent ABV and the specialty sugars leave a thick sweetness on the palate, big tummy warmer that is also quite dry, a monster of a beer, but one I do not think will appeal too many.

alcohol raisin and plum aroma, dark ruby, strong overbearing alcohol presence, some ripe fruits, a little hop bitterness comes through and an oily candy sugar finish

Bottle (batch 6, 2008) from BevMo, La Mesa. Deep amber in color. Huge dark fruit aroma. Some figs and alcohol with some spices. Strong flavors of raisin and tobacco. Some prune as well. A little hop bitterness. Quite the sipper. Light alcohol tastes, especially considering the strength.

Spicy nose, dark amber color, low tight head. Quick caramelly malt body with a slight yeast component that gets pushed aside by a fat, rich hoppy and spicy end. Huge pepper effect with some cinnamon too. Full body and a decent beer all around.