Avery Thirteen

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

Bottle: Dark brown, hues of burnt caramel, moderate to large frothy beige head, fairly nice lacing.   Rich bready nose, some biscuit and nuts, semi-sweet malts, grainy caramel, soft soy... there is a lot to this one!   Big bready start, heavy dark pitted fruit, a bit sweeter than the nose and the fruit is a bit more unripened.   Some nuts, dates, caramel is in there too.   I am quite impressed with this one.   Big in body, full to moderate mouthfeel.   Light alcohol on the finish, remains very bready, somewhat heavy even.   Lingering dark pitted fruit, although a bit muted.   Warming to say the least.   Clean, no funk at the finish.   A little biting, could be it being green or the alcohol, but totally within its boundaries.   I really enjoyed this one!   Thanks Bill for the bottle!

Bomber. Pours to a cola looking body with a thick bubbly/creamy dark tan head. The aroma is bready with some molasses and toffee. Estery, black German bread. The flavor is alcoholic molasses, deep charred banana chocolate, black German bread. The palate is intensely warming to the throat and the stomach. Slick velvety feel. 7, 3, 8, 5, 15 = 3.7

Rerate: Rich cola colored body with a creamy tan head and awesome lacing. The aroma is light banana and wheat bread. Sort of banana’s foster-ish. Light pecan pie. The flavor is dark toasted wheat, sort of Bell’s Wheat 6-ish. The palate is moderately bodied and mouthwatering. 7, 4, 8, 3, 14 = 3.6

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.

22 oz. Bottle, Aroma was sweet and of alcohol. Dark red body with small head. Thus beer was sweet from start to finish. Had some doppelbocks lately but none this sweet or high on alcohol content. Detected some notes of burnt bread also in the flavor. This was a little harsh on the palate and struggled to down 2nd glass from bomber.

Mostly, this is almost nothing but alcohol in flavor. It’s very strongly full of alcohol throughout and makes this a very astringent beer. One of the few Avery diappointments for me.

22 oz bottle, via Secret Santa X-mas 2006. Pours a clear dark brown with a ruby glow under a one finger foamy light brown head that fell to a partial covering. Nose is heavily malty with some spicy earthy wheat, coffee, molassas, hefty alcohol, light smoke, roast, and caramel. There’s alot going on here in the aroma. Flavor presents coffee, wheat, and roast up front. Lightly spicy yet still quite sweetly malty. There’s a certain depth missing to this though, and I think that it’s the lack of yeast. Mouthfeel is medium to full bodied and a little too syrupy with moderate fizzy carbonation. This was OK, and I hate to harp on the same old subject with Avery, but once again the heavy filtration detracted from this in every way.

22oz bottle pours dark brown with ruby highlights and a tall tan head that stayed pretty well and laced the sides of the weizen in sheets. Aromas of caramel and roasted malts with a hint of bannana, and clove. Flavor is yeasty with lots of caramel there too and a touch of chocolate and big bannana notes with some clove and a touch of bubblegum flavor too. Full bodied and robust but it does have a nice soft mouthfeel. I found none of the alcohol in this and found it very pleasant to drink. This is a style that I wish more would try. And to top it off mine was priced at $3.99.. I think they priced the first batch wrong.. I found this one fantastic! Good stuff..

Sampled June 2006 Pours with a frothy, light brown colored head that is creamy and large bubbled. The beer shows a deep, dark, ruby hued purple color when held up to the light, otherwise it is a dark brown, opaque morass that is approaching black. This has a really strikingly fruity aroma that is sweet, almost to the point of being saccharine. Fruity notes of raisins, hints of cherries and a butterscotch note that seems a bit out of place. Rum-like notes of alcohol also are found in the aroma. The aroma is almost too weird; it is right on the edge of not being good. Hopefully it is just a bit green and will mellow with a couple months of age.

The beer is incredibly smooth and creamy. Silky with a big palate coating body up front, but it moves to a sharp alcohol bite in the finish. Some light roast character is found in the finish as well. Notes of clove and banana are here as well. Once again it seems like the life has been stripped from another big brew by Avery. I just don’t get the need to filter all of the character from a beer. Passable, even drinkable, but this could be so much better. Hopefully age & a touch of oxidation will add some much needed complexity and depth to this brew.

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