Avery Thirteen

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

[Bottle from Beermouth tasted with the hop-bros at Jess’ cosy inn.] Very dark malted and sweety germanlike wiessbucker, but where is the wheat? Not what I had expected.

Mellow sweet aroma of a good bock,just a touch of maple and chocolate, ,definite hints of grain wheat, if you dig really deep you get subtle bubbegum and banana,indications that German weise yeast has been used, surprisingly little or no head, a somewhat light fruity slightly sweet malt and melanodin taste, some alcohol can be detected,fruitiness goes right into aftertaste,a touch to thin in mouthfeel. Very good

pours dark but when you hold it up to the light it has a red tint to it.Definately full of flavor.Lots of roasted malts and grain like.Had some sweetness to it and the alcohol was hidden well.Very good stuff

A rich deep amber, but definitely filtered, topped with a succulent foam of a tanned marshmallow hue. Hot and creamy aroma of munich malts and furious alcohol-dizzy citrus syrups. Dry hops seem to bounce off the walls of oozing caramel, smashed raisins, and vanilla extract; as typical, the intricacies of the malt tones and the aggressive punch of bitterness each seem indescribably hollow; needlessly sugary, and burdensomely warm. Melted toffee, apple skins, cotton candy, cocoa bread; so many nuances, and so little of central substance; the core is mostly a bland bitter alcohol, which even once surpassed by all these details can’t really be rectified.

Flavor, similarly, is creamy and dense, but the heat subsides somewhat, if not to be so blatantly searing, still to be quite oppressive to the other tastes on offer; almonds, bananas, cloves, and pine-like bittersweetness are the foremost impressions, and this might purport to be a slightly darkened and certainly dry-hopped strong hefeweizen. Alcohol really amps up the impact of that greenish, bitter character of still-kicking hops. The malts carry it through, though, and briefly offer a rich dried cherry and toffee flavor to outlast the initial bitterness. But further in, some floral characters still point conspicuously to the reckless level of hopping here given the style; given also, though, that their character is consistently soft and fragrant, it tends to work in an agreeable tandem with the fruit and floral qualities of the wheat and weizen yeast. So, at turns it’s smoothly aromatic to sip, flowers and spices and muscly malts all wrapped up neatly and with pristine aesthetic, while at others it’s simple and hot and overly sweet.

The body is full and slick, finishing on an absurd stickiness that unfortunately rushes the flavors toward their latter impression of generally cloying, alcohol-swamped sweetness. A flavor of bubblegum and lavender precedes that most viscous of final smacks, and then in finality there’s a bit of mango skin to make the alcohol less plain.

Ultimately this is the last Avery beer I will ever purchase, barring a miracle of some kind, and it really defines my experience with this brewery when it attempts styles that aren’t inherently "extreme." While this is a mostly-fine and often flavorful beer, it struggles to capture the essence of what it claims to be, and even if it does so with some ostentatious, violent americanized approach, it just can’t compete with the real thing. Still, the decency of this offering is reassuring; while I can know in the future that my money will be far better spent on other things, at least I can also know that such a widely appreciated brewer actually can produce something difficult, that isn’t too difficult to drink.

Bottled version. Distinct banana aroma as soon as I pour this dark brown beer. Like a lot of the bigger Avery beers, this one may need some time to mellow out. The alcohol burn seems a little high but not so strong that I can’t taste banana bread. The thing that intrigues me the most is a hint of smoke near the end. It’s a solid beer that will probably taste best about the time Avery 14 rolls out.

Dark cola color, fizzy light tan head Aroma is odd, but has brown sugared cherry pie. Slightly smokey malt in a light wheaty fruit body, cherries, brown sugar. Okay beer; a little forced.

Bottle at LCRBM 2, Kulminator, Antwerp, Belgium
Deep brown, quite clear head. Aroma of pears, malts (strong roasted, straw, molasses), liquor. Nice. Moderately bitter, lightly sweet initial flavour. Moderately bitter finish. Quite heavily bodied.

Had this beer on 6/2/2006. Aroma is a mild sweet malt scent. Color is a deep solid brown with good carbonation and thick tight head. Taste is rich and sweet. Starting with a medium body it goes down sweet with a rich feel. Finish comes on with the rich feel building and ending with a rich sweet caramel taste and a hint of bitterness. Great brew and an excellent Anniversary Ale. Its almost a Barley Wine.