Avery Anniversary Thirteen

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

Serve in Dimpled mug, Stein, Weizen

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22 ounce bottle shared with a friend. Banana and smoked malty aroma. This one pours a dark brown with a tan head. Sugary flavor and sweet but not cloying. Different and interesting. Kind of like a banana split. I liked it.

UPDATED: MAY 23, 2006 Pours brown with a short lasting off white head. Hints of banana, white wine, apple, toffee cloves and cocoa. Taste is dominated by the banana and toffee and has the other aspects hidden beneath. The palate has noticable alcohol but I like the way the toffee and banana combine together. Very impressive overall.

Pours a deep brown with barely any head but what is there is of-white and loosely knit. The aromas are heavily malty with bready notes, some fruity bubblegum esters and a big wallop of fusely alcohol. The body is med heavy with pretty dead CO2. The flavors are of bready malts, rotting bananas, and oh my GOD alcohol. Similar to other Avery "Big Beers" this is just swimming in a pool of its own fusel heat. Not a big fan at all. Are we really getting to the point on this site that all you need to get a good score is brew an over the top beer?

Pours a dark mahogany with a tan creamy head. Aroma of very ripe banana, bread malts, ester, cocoa, spicy clove, and alcohol. Flavor starts out richly sweet (banana, sugar cane) followed by a tart bitterness and ester fruitiness, and finishes with more bitterness, cocoa, and a warming alcohol flavor. Palate is medium bodied with a sticky mouth feel and medium carbonation. A very interesting brew. Has the qualities of a porter with fruity Belgian yeast. Flavor is dominated by ripe banana and cocoa. (Banana split!!)

Bottle at The Vine restaurant. Very dark reddish-brown pour. Tan head with fine lacing. Mellow in the nose with a bit of malt and something not quite coffee, maybe closer to mocha. The distinctive Avery notes are here, the sweetness provided not so much by the malt but by the Belgian candy sugar that I’ve come to expect in most of their brews. As a result, the coffee and roasted malt notes you would think to be predominant in this brew are only mildly suggested. The other Avery signature, the hop-loaded finish at the back is still there. A bit of dark cherry is in the aftertaste as well. Nice fizzy mouthfeel, and an altogether drinkable high ABV brew that hides the burn successfully. Very enjoyable, and quite a surprise as this is not within the styles of beer I usually drink.

Deep burgundy with a frothy, light tan head and lingering lace. Very inviting nose. Like fresh-baked chocolate bread. Creamy and super-smooth texture; deceivingly lightish weight. Complex malts, with notes of chocolate, cookie and fresh sourdough bread. Very balanced bitterness (dark chocolate, clove and a hint of tart fruit). Banana is far in the background, but it’s a pleasant addition. At first, aromas didn’t seem so strong; but given a little time to breath and warm up, they began to loft about nicely. Not over-the-top by any means, but it had a mellow complexity that was nice. Not my favorite style, but I enjoyed this stuff.

Bottle (bomber). Head is initially small, frothy, light brown, mostly lasting. Body is hazy dark brown. Aroma is moderately malty (cookie, chocolate, toasted bread, caramel), lightly yeasty (cobwebs), with notes of plum, raisin, date, light notes of apple, banana and alcohol, hint of clove. Flavor is moderately to heavily sweet, lightly to moderately acidic, lightly bitter. Finish is moderately sweet, lightly to moderately acidic, moderately bitter. Medium to full body, watery/velvety texture, lively carbonation, lightly to moderately alcoholic. Malty-fruity nose with the Avery thumbprint all over it, but falls a little short of the banana-clove punch I was hoping for. This is leaning more towards a straight Doppelbock to me than a Weizenbock, but that nitpick aside, it is unquestionably enjoyable. Delectable attic-like/cobwebby raw yeast smell underneath it all (delightfully devoid of vitamin B / dough smell). Great balance that is neither too sweet nor too bitter...but just a touch more tartness would be welcomed for this style. Rich, luxurious mouthfeel with fairly well-hidden alcohol. Nicely retentive head, though certainly not as voluminous as some (though this is a fresh-off-the-bottling-line, semi-agitated, low-fill bottle, so this unfiltered gem might improve on that point in a few weeks/months). A very strong contender in Avery’s arsenal and my favorite of the anniversary beers so far.