Avery Thirteen

On-tap at the Happy Gnome: Classified as a "Weizen Doppelbock" and looking like so...Thickly leathered brown, nearly black appearance with a slim cap of light tanned, firm froth. Only some dotted lacing sticks. Not a surprise really given the malts this sucker probably has in it. And the aroma is just that. Malts! And lots of em; big on molasses with a slimming caramel swaft and toffee/chocolate bitterness keeping in stride as some root beer candy solidifies a tangyness found only in some overly malted and dark beers such as this. Touches of spice include licorice, dark wheat, under ripe banana peels, and pale bread yeast. Quite nice on the nose. Taste is smooth and inviting with a load of pale chocolate sweetness mixing with a semi tangy molasses, pruney/ plummy, toffee center as it rounds off to the finish quickly and eagerly with some soft dark wheat and banana estery yeasty notes and mild, floating away spices. Not as long of a ride as it should or could be. For some reason I wanted and needed more out of its flavors. What’s there is quite nice, but some how shortened in length enough for an unimpulsive give and take between its fairly thick and silky smooth body and its thicker set aroma. A bit disappointing I’m afaid as far as that’s concerned. Damn solid though. Body is well-rounded, slick, creamy, and smooth with a soft eager pull at the sweetness side of the malts as it rides evenly, somewhat, within a pale chocolate tone over the tanged molasses and pruney/dark candied stuff. Again the finish comes too soon and doesn’t linger for much attention grabbing as it should. Good little nudge of yeasty, wheaty spices make for some interst just before it trails off. Another solid offering by Avery, a bit sliding from the scale in flavor; more so in depth and length really, then the actual taste. But those kinda go hand in hand with me. Needs to be tasty, and stay tasty; ya know what I mean. Don’t get me wrong, the flavors are quite nice, just needed more of them to last. Perhaps it’s better then I’m stating here, solid for sure, and drinkable without any hint to the 9.5 % other then the hit to the head way later as the glass drains pretty easily. And another is needed. Again, Avery has a winner here, not quite a favorite though. Close...oh so close...

Bottled. Very dark ruby color, good big foamy tan head. Light banana esters, licorice and alcohol in the nose. Lightly roasted, fruity (banana esters), some alcohol but suprisingly light for this ABV, tasty, easy to drink. Sweeter than German ones, maybe because of hopping?

Bottled. Dark brownish ruby colour, big beige head. Aroma is alcohol, plum and a bit glueish. Flavour is malty, alcoholic and bananas. Some roast and smoke also. Lovely balanced. Pleasantly done and a great session beer.

This beer is a quality effort, and I don’t regret the purchase in any degree. I was just expecing a little bit more. Though it was highly drinkable and enjoyable I would have hoped for a little bit more complexity out of Avery. This is the first beer of their’s that I have tried and I will certainly try more, but I was hoping that they would have tried to go the extra mile and make this brew an exceptional weizen bock.

Creamy and chocolatey. Banana and clove. Really no alcohol flavor for me. Smooth and rich. Not really thick, but full. Some plum. Bitter finish. Even a little hops. The more I drink the more I discover. Brown sugar and molasses arise when it warms. Raisins come out too. Complexity is much better than I first found. A very nice offering from Avery.

Dark brown with a thin head. Alcohol aroma, some dark fruits. Malty, big alcohol flavour, some fruits. The alcohol takes away from the flavour. I don’t get much weizen character.

Dark brown with a small tan head. Aroma of roasted malt, wheat, raisons, dark fruits and alcohol. Flavors of dark fruits, wheat, rye, and maple syrup.

Pours a brownish red with a small tan head. The aroma is malty with whiffs of banana and alcohol. The flavor has primarily a roasted quality with some hints at banana and dark fruit.