Avery Thirteen

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

22 oz bottle from some unremembered store in the midwest, October 2006; sampled at cellar temperature from a Ramstein weizen glass. One of those creamy, perfectly flat/smooth tan heads tops this dark caramel/walnut near-opaque monster; it dies slowly and leaves thick lacing.....fairly pleasant but unremarkable caramel-banana aroma with a fair bit of doughy yeasty character, kind of pasty and thick....smooth yet assertive body, lots of caramel and light yeast character but also plenty of sourdough notes adding a vinegary agressiveness to it all, touches of cherry and chocolate, quite full and naturally carbonated; alcohol is vaguely present but nicely muted, banana-clove notes also noticeable but never overwhelming....dark chocolaty touches near the finish help cut the doughiness of the yeast.....this is one of the more authentic American weizens of any stripe that I’ve had and certainly deserves credit for that; quite solid.

Deep, dark brown pour but surprising clear. Very thin head with decent lacing. Nose of toffee, coffee, caramel and prunes. Great flavors of roasted coffee, chocolate, toffee and some dark fruits. Full mouth feel with nice finish and aftertaste.

22oz. bottle. Interesting aroma, featuring a blend of milk chocolate, raisin, plum, spice and toffee, with lighter hints of clove, earthiness, pepper, vanilla, medicinal alcohol and a faint, almost smoky roastiness in the background. Deep, dark mahogany color, clear, with a subsiding, light tan head and intricate patterns of lacing. Flavor profile is a similar melange of dark, roasty, chocolate and toffeeish malts, old wood and wisps of smoke amidst lightly vaporous, peppery, musty, earthy, moderately bitter and estery undertones. Mouthfeel is warming, smooth, clean and finely carbonated with a rather full body. Perhaps not as finely rendered or as refined as some Old World examples, but possesses a certain amount of character and rough charm, so I did enjoy this.

Bottle courtesy of SS: Poured a dark black color weizenbock with a medium foamy head with average retention but good lacing. Aroma of sweet caramel malt is pretty enticing with some light clove note also noticeable. Taste of sweet caramel is a bit overpowering and hides the clove aspect of the beer which would have been enjoyable. Alcohol is slightly detectable but I had worst and beer is not fully filtrated which I ma grateful for. Overall, I would say that this is not the best of weizenbock but a very good effort nonetheless from a brewery that sometimes leave me puzzle.

Very dark beer with deep red glints when held up to the light. Creamy tan head that shrinks to a whispy film. Sour grain nose. Rich mouthfeel with wheat lightness. Tastes of sour berries, maple, vanilla, oak, molasses and noticable alcohol. There was an underlying sourness that faded as it warmed. I’ll have to try another bottle to see if that sourness was supposed to be there.

Dark brown with a decent head which fades fairly quickly. Aroma is of alcohol and some dark fruit and candy sugar. Flavor is primarily malt with some fairly strong sweetness and a slight alcohol bite. Fairly nice beer and not overpowering in alcohol like some of Avery’s other high gravity beers.

Dark reddish brown colour with a nice head. Aroma of chocolate, roastedenss and little alcohol. Very nice tasty flavour of chocolate, and alcohol, very nice and tasty.

From bomber courtesy of Immy. Pours a dark brown with hints of red and a thin tan head. Nose is caramel and dark candy sugar. Flavor follows with caramel and roasted malts. Bitter finish.