Avery Anniversary Eleven

Formerly brewed at Avery Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Boulder, Colorado USA

Serve in Snifter, Tulip

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Rated at 1/21/06 Indianapolis, IN gathering and courtesy of atpayne. Thanks! Off-white small head that mostly diminished, transparent, no visible carbonation, and a light orange hue. Nose was malty and very hoppy and ditto for the flavor. Tingly mouthfeel.

Glad they retired this one. Nose is rather simple, just some piney hops and maybe some vanilla, the malts arent really noticed. Taste is not that great, a huge blast of bitter hops follwed with a rather weak body and a odd astringency. Maybe some honey as well. Where are the malts?

UPDATED: AUG 7, 2006 2004 bomber consumed on 11.23.05. Pours with an absolute immense amount of deep beige head that is very hard to contain. Even just a slight pour yields three to four inches of head. The bottle has been kept in perfect conditions, so this is not too surprising. Color is a dull bronze-amber, with some light mahogany-beige notes, clear and filtered, but with some sediment falling out of solution. Aroma shows pine soil, pine sap, lemons and sugar, limes, grapefruit, caramel, toffee and more resin. Not a whole lot of complexity, though the intensity of the pine has decreased I would imagine, having more of an earthy, dry, old chewy sentiment about it. The flavor confirms this. Chewy/sticky texture of pine resin, dry and lightly acidic, with light grapefruit, lemons and some caramelly sugars. Low to moderate carbonation, but yet the bubbles are large and hugely expansive, way too much so, giving a frothy, airy texture. Drinking more than half a glass proves tiresome to the palate, being cloyed from the lack of complexity and piney dryness. Caramel malt does little to break up the monotony, while some dry, earthy notes that just seem dirty and out of place. Alcohol is well-concealed and only lightly warming.

UPDATED: NOV 4, 2004 This was supposed to be a huge beer. A beer I would probably love forever, but it didn’t live up to expectations.. not even close. This seems too be the most overrated brew I’ve had unless I had a bad bottle. It poured a medium brown hue with a nice beige head. Aromas are of pine and sugar. Everything was okay until I had the first taste. The first thing my mouth noticed was the thick mouthfeel. No bitterness of hops.... Next was the swallow... The same thing... thick.... the worst part was the flavor..... malty sugar upon more malty sugar... upon more malty sugar....if I hadn’t paid so much for this bottle, I would probably would have dumped such a brew down the drain. The flavor was just sugary... Slightly sweet with minimal bitterness. I hope that others realise this and don’t rate it as others do....

The IIPA fails on all fronts. It is very muddy looking and probably needs to be aged in the fridge for a couple of weeks to be able to be poured and still leave the yeast in the bottle. Aroma is ok, very citrusy and oragey, but not all that pleasant. The hop character is almost sweet, all that citrus really gives a sensation of sweetness. Combine that with an already sweet malt flavor and the hop presence is almost lost. Bitterness is almost non-existent for the style. Too sweet, not enough bitterness, and a hopelessly lost hop presence make this beer a disappointment on all fronts. It’s a beer that couldn’t decide whether it was a double IPA or a barleywine, then failed at both.