Avery Thirteen

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

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.

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.

Dark brown with red notes. Almost no beige head. Chocolate aroma with notes of banana, alcohol, brown sugar, perfume, fruits and roasted malts. Dry chocolate flavor. Alcoholic with some sweetness.

Bomber. Pours a very very dark clear crimson, not much head, just a little bit of small bubbles. Mild aroma of bananna esters, alcohol, just a hint of peat. Subtle. Taste is sweet, fruity with lots of cherry and bananna up front. Light spices, corriander, cinnamon? Some vinous hints in there as well. Finish is slightly dry, a little toffee sneaks in. Body is full and sticky. This beer isn’t exactly my bag, but it’s well made and I think stylistically correct.

Thirteen over twelve and delve deeper into goatdom whilst knowing eleven may dwell in the Maharaja to this day. Would I put this side by side with Aventinus? Well I didn’t so I’m not going to try now. Maybe later, but as for now my thoughts are in a pleasant place and I enjoyed this, so that’s good and so is Avery.

750ml bottle poured into a tulip. AT pours dark brown with reddish tones. The head is medium with large rubble. The aroma is sweet, like molasses with a yeasty undercurrent. The body is very thick and oily and has a contrasting hop bite. The overall quality of the beer is fine. It’s really not very wheat-like though. It’s pretty sweet and reminds more more of a barley wine or double than it does a weizen bock.

Bottle... Barely hazy, very dark, ruby lager with a small, creamy, everlasting khaki head. Smells and tastes like a green banana dipped in chocolate. Sweet malt and dry, tangy wheat. Medium-bodied and oily with fizzy carbonation. Finishes tart and chocolatey like chocolate covered cherries.

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.