Avery Thirteen

Formerly brewed at Avery Brewing Company
Style: Weizen Bock
Boulder, Colorado USA

22. Thanks, Goldtwins! Somehow I always procrastinate the Avery specials, pass them up on beer run after beer run, and end up left behind when they sell out. Larry and I had not talked about adding this one to the trade, but he pitched it my way, and I am grateful, because when I opened the box and saw it, I realized I’d spaced this beer completely last year. Better hustle down and look for the Fourteen if I haven’t rated that yet. Anyway, this one’s got a year on the bottle on it, and that’s gotta be an interesting thing, probably even a good thing.
This one pours black with a thickish sudsy tan head. Plenty of bubbly sheets of lace. Gotta love a wheaten bock that comes out that dark and sudsy. Beasty. Clearly the grain bill for this one wasn’t hauled in by hand. Mild nose. Not much happening there at all. Soft sour wheat note that wouldn’t smell like much of anything if you didn’t know what to look for. A little bit of nuts and mild black olives creep in after some time to warm and aerate.
Nice medium, creamy body. Very smooth and supple. So drinkable right off the bat. Soft, velvety carb.
Mid-palate gets a little goin’ on with sour wheat, some brown bread and black bread notes, mild olives again, and nutty, toasty bits. Nice complexity and harmony, subtle and satisfying.
The finish goes a bit acetic and maybe a bit overly sour, but only when the beer is at its coldest. As it comes up through and past cellar cool, it opens up and gets a nice dried leaf flavor and maybe a cola note, and the acetic quality disappears. Had been meaning to dock a point from the palate for that aceticity but not it seems unjustified. This is a good beer.

An almost uninspiring aroma of vague chocolate and malted wheat. Flavour is astingent and bizarre, with chocolate and burned note covering a sweet but oddly thin body. This one is really out of standard compared to the Avery portfolio. Mayby it was over age (bottled 2006) or infected..

Bottled. Rich and thick molasses and sugary sweet aroma. Tons of malt, plum, brown sugar, and fig. Luscious fruity notes with little hop character. Dark ruby-brown clear liquid topped with a thin off-white creamy lacing head. Medium-heavy body, chewy, with medium carbonation. Warming. Starts big and sweet with huge malt, molasses, brown sugar, anise, plum, and fig. Sweet alcohol, warming, with light carbonic tang. Finishes with light tangy character, a touch of bitterness, and sweetness that is short of cloying. Nutty sweetness, too. Tasty doppelbock with a wheat kick.

Pours a dark brown colour with a medium creamy tan head. Nose of alcohol, dark fruits and roasted malts. Initial taste of creamy roasted malts, sour milk, cocoa powder, and mild dark fruits. Finishing with roasted cocoa and bitter hops that is well balanced. Palate duration is average. Some head retention, medium-full body.

Heavy malty aroma, with coffee notes. Large light brown head. Excellent lacing. Mostly lasting longevity. Clear amber body. Light bitter initial flavor with coffee tast. Full palate and creamy texture.

Bottled sample via oakbluff. Opaque brown in colour with moderate carbonation. Aromas of bubble gum, brown sugar and malted wheat. Balanced chocolate and caramel notes in the mouth, along with some black licorice, berry fruit, and alcohol notes. Heavy in the mouth to start, but dries out enough for some balance.

Bottle. Dark reddish brown with a medium beige head. Complex fruity aroma promising raisins and alcohol as well as marcipan. Raisins and nutty flavours, delicious licorice. Full-bodied and soft. A treat.

<i><b>Rating #1300!</b> Bomber bottle rated on Halloween Night!</i> Big sweetness in the nose. Smells of juicy raisins and sugar-coated plums. Poured into a Sam glass, it’s dark brown at the thinner bottom, then turns black in the middle. A big, sudsy tan head leaves clumps of bubbles on the glass. Taste is this and sticky, with bits of licorice, weizen yeast, cherry, plum again, coffee candy and some pipe tobacco. Weizen spiciness conflicts with sugary sweetness, so no one dominates. Licorice is replaced in the middle by strong stout malt taste. Leaves a rime of malt sugar on the lips. Complex flavors just help disguise alcohol intoxication. If only those lights swirling outside my window would stop their incessant buzzing, I could enjoy this.