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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Bottled. I’m always quite hesitant with Avery brews. Some are absolutely fantastic, but others are quite disappointing (though not bad). So I did not expect a lot from this one, but it turns out to be very nice. Hazy redbrown color, medium off-white head. Aroma of chocolat, slight malty, slight yeasty. Strong malty taste, milk chocolat, caramel. Smooth and silky bod mouthfeel. Very nice.

Bottle and served in my Aventinus glassware at near room temp: Mahogany hued topped by a beautiful creamy beige head and excellent lace. The aroma has notes of banana, prune, clove, caramel, wheat and yeast esters, and slight phenols.

Starts with a rich caramel and toffee malt taste with a lot of weizen-like character added in for good measure. Wonderfully balanced and not too sweet or alcoholic. Other than some medicinal flavor on the aftertaste, I could not find anything wrong with the beer.

Yep, I seem to dig this more than the average Ratebeerian but then again it is a style I wish more brewers would attempt. Should have bought more than two bottle! GET YA SOME!

On-tap at the Happy Gnome: Classified as a "Weizen Doppelbock" and looking like so...Thickly leathered brown, nearly black appearance with a slim cap of light tanned, firm froth. Only some dotted lacing sticks. Not a surprise really given the malts this sucker probably has in it. And the aroma is just that. Malts! And lots of em; big on molasses with a slimming caramel swaft and toffee/chocolate bitterness keeping in stride as some root beer candy solidifies a tangyness found only in some overly malted and dark beers such as this. Touches of spice include licorice, dark wheat, under ripe banana peels, and pale bread yeast. Quite nice on the nose. Taste is smooth and inviting with a load of pale chocolate sweetness mixing with a semi tangy molasses, pruney/ plummy, toffee center as it rounds off to the finish quickly and eagerly with some soft dark wheat and banana estery yeasty notes and mild, floating away spices. Not as long of a ride as it should or could be. For some reason I wanted and needed more out of its flavors. What’s there is quite nice, but some how shortened in length enough for an unimpulsive give and take between its fairly thick and silky smooth body and its thicker set aroma. A bit disappointing I’m afaid as far as that’s concerned. Damn solid though. Body is well-rounded, slick, creamy, and smooth with a soft eager pull at the sweetness side of the malts as it rides evenly, somewhat, within a pale chocolate tone over the tanged molasses and pruney/dark candied stuff. Again the finish comes too soon and doesn’t linger for much attention grabbing as it should. Good little nudge of yeasty, wheaty spices make for some interst just before it trails off. Another solid offering by Avery, a bit sliding from the scale in flavor; more so in depth and length really, then the actual taste. But those kinda go hand in hand with me. Needs to be tasty, and stay tasty; ya know what I mean. Don’t get me wrong, the flavors are quite nice, just needed more of them to last. Perhaps it’s better then I’m stating here, solid for sure, and drinkable without any hint to the 9.5 % other then the hit to the head way later as the glass drains pretty easily. And another is needed. Again, Avery has a winner here, not quite a favorite though. Close...oh so close...

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.

its got a nice kick..biggish head..can detect alcohol 4 sure..rich, chocaltey, smokey, delicous..smooth and full..satisfying 1st sip..bitter wheat taste..better than aventus, i think...considerably complex, some spices to it too

750ml bottle. Pours to a murky, deep ruby to red color, with a thick, creamy, head, and a moderate to lively carbonation. The nose on this beer is pleasing, with good aromas of caramel, toffee, and fruity estery aromas. The palate is firm, with good sweet malt, toffee, nuts, and estery fruit flavor. This beer finishes with good malt and fruit flavor up front, then ends with some peppery alchol, and a vinous note that lingers. A very tasty, delicious beer, but a bit lacking as a weizenbock. It lacks the signature aromas and flavors of a beer brewed with the Weihenstaphaner yeast strain. Avery states they use it, but it is lost in this beer. Again tasty enough beer, but not as authentic as I would have liked.

Pours thick and black with almost no head. Big chocolate malt, roasted malt, wheat, and port aroma. Smooth thick chocolate malt roasted malt taste with an after dinner drink smoothness reminiscent of port. Finishes nice and dry, this ages very nicely.

1 pint bottle. Dark brown color, lovely beige head. Sweet malt, hints of coffee, dark chocolate, liqorice and roasted malt. Sweet, with bitter finish. Vinous. Very good.

Dark, this one, opaque and nearly ebony. ("Ruby red" says the label. Nope, not mine, anyway.) Slim ring of cocoa tan on top. Aroma is sweet from the start, caramel, toffee, maple, hints of anise...wait, there’s more!...butterscotch and coffee. Quite an intriquing blend, here. Taste: hmmmm. this is a tough one, very complex and flavorful. Brimming with dark fruits, nuts, thick malt, molasses and carob...maybe. Very full in the mouth, long lasting on the palate, sits a spell in the mouth, and you like it there. Slippery texture, unrelenting flavor, very solid doppel, but it evades my expectations, based on the tastes of other wheaten doppels. Nothing wrong with a unique interpretation, though. This did dumbfound me from the start, as I didn’t detect the wheat, (actually, now I can taste it...it’s coming to the fore, and it’s tasty...why didn’t I taste it earlier?) and it comes of as more of a melding of a doppelbock and an Imperial Stout. Alcohol doesn’t bear down on the drinker, at least this one, until we hit the middle and that may be too late. Enough of this and I’m too numb to care, though.

UPDATED: JAN 9, 2009 <i><b>Rating #1300!</b> Bomber bottle rated on Halloween Night!</i> Big sweetness in the nose. Smells of juicy raisins and sugar-coated plums. Poured into a Sam glass, it’s dark brown at the thinner bottom, then turns black in the middle. A big, sudsy tan head leaves clumps of bubbles on the glass. Taste is this and sticky, with bits of licorice, weizen yeast, cherry, plum again, coffee candy and some pipe tobacco. Weizen spiciness conflicts with sugary sweetness, so no one dominates. Licorice is replaced in the middle by strong stout malt taste. Leaves a rime of malt sugar on the lips. Complex flavors just help disguise alcohol intoxication. If only those lights swirling outside my window would stop their incessant buzzing, I could enjoy this.