Avery The Reverend

Brewed by Avery Brewing Company
Style: Abt/Quadrupel
Boulder, Colorado USA

Pours clear bronze with a soapy tan head. The aroma has lots of candi sugar, toffee, caramel and Belgium funk - it somes off as a sweet barley wine with a Belgium twist. Thick sticky body with carbonation that is fairly soft. The taste starts sweet and malty with brown sugar, mollases, and light Belgium funk - quite cloying. The finish is still sweet, but not as much so. There’s more of an earthy and spicy side mixed in with the sweetness. For the first third of the bottle this comes off more as a Barleywine than a Quad. Then the rest of the way down the bottle it starts having more of a Belgium earthiness and the brown sugar starts resembling the Belgium candi sugar more giving it a Belgium taste, but more of a Belgium strong ale than a quad. If you go into this looking for an enjoyable strong ale instead of a true quad you should be happy with it, especially for the price.

Bottle at Brewtopia ’04. Deep golden color with little head. Aroma is malt and spicy orange with no hop aroma as expected for the style. Flavor is heavily spiced, citrusy. Not bad.

On tap at The Taphouse. Pours a clear amber with an off-white head. Caramel, fruit and a touch of spice in the nose. Medium body and light carbonation. Sweet and surprisingly light taste dominated by butterscotch. Piney hops shine though in the finish and seem to quarrel a bit with the rest of the taste. I don’t see me finishing a bomber of this - glad I got it in a sampler.

22 oz bottle - Pours hazy amber with a thin, fading head. Suggestion - if you took this one out of the fridge, let it warm up for awhile. The aroma and flavor both seemed a bit lacking at first. Then as it warmed a nice aroma of malts, yeast, and dark fruits asserted itself. Initially the flavor mostly just tasted sweet. As it warmed the sweetness remained but the fruity complexity came out so much better. The finish is sweet and warming with the 10% alcohol largely masked. The weakness is that it’s still too sweet, but this is a quality ale.

Aroma is fairly complex, having some spiciness, yeasty aromas, alcohol, syrupy maltiness, and some of the sugar in it, too. Bottle had the cap sealed in red wax, interesting, and somewhat of a puzzle for the first few moments. Carbonation is very fine, with a thin head. Color is a reddish amber. Flavor profile is reasonably satisfying, with the sweetness blending into the fruity maltiness quite nicely. Has a nice warming alcoholic finish, but has a very smooth palate for a beer of this caliber. Finishes rather long, and has a great spicy, alcoholic aftertaste. Consumed at approximately 60 degrees F. Recommended.

I am only recently starting to experience the Avery beers as they just became available in my region recently. Had this one on draft at Smokin Joes in Pittsburgh. Poured a bronze color with a small tan head. The aroma is sweet and citrusy. The flavor is sweet with noted hops, citrus, pineapple, cherry and spice. The finish is spicy and dry.Interesting.

On tap at the Bocktown. Slightly darker than the ubiquitous pale yellow american lager beer. Has a little more orange to it. The head is composed of a thin layer of larger bubbles and smaller creamy foam. Barely has any aroma, perhaps I do smell a little candy sweetness in there. Initial taste is a little earthy and rather mild for a quad, hides the alky content well. After a few sips however, the alky bitterness and warming begins to accumulate. No warming down the throat but warming in the mouth. Barely any perceivable carbonation. Continued medium high malty bitterness builds with more sips. Body is mouth coating and approaches the feel of syrup. Tho I haven’t tasted many quads this is as good as Weyerbacher Quad and not as refined or enjoyable as 3 philosophers. Finish is medium length and rather alky.

Copper in colour. Aroma of alcohol, some fruit and a candy sweetness. Flavour had some malt, caramel sweetness, lots of alcohol. Medium-large body. Finishes with an alcohol bitterness. Pretty disappointing after just having the Allagash 4.