Avery Barrel-Aged Series 6 - Margarete

Formerly brewed at Avery Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Boulder, Colorado USA

Serve in Snifter

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12 oz. bottle, sent generously by aplusbreaks (thanks a lot, Austin), pours a deep dark mahogany with a tiny head. Pretty hot on the nose, full of rich bourbon barrels, a subtle presence from the cherries, and alcohol - smells rich and intense. Flavour is extremely decadent bringing out equal parts complex bourbon barrels and potent sour cherries - the sourness not being overwhelming at all, but instead perfectly situated amongst the bourbonized complexity. The 15+% is almost completely masked with only a light tickle on the back of the throat. Extremely thick body, with the sour cherries used expertly. Sour stouts never usually impress me, but this is easily the best take on the style I’ve had. Awesome stuff and my favourite of the Barrel-Aged Series so far.

Bottle. Opaque black liquid with low to medium carbonation. Aroma of licorice, soy, chocolate, light coffee, light ash, biscuit, bread, wood and cherries. Taste is medium to high sweet and low to medium bitter with notes of soy, licorice, chocolate and wood. Medium bodied with low to medium carbonation. Awesome.

Bottle last year. This was a heavy guy. Dark black pour with beige thick head. A little bit of lacing hung around. Aromas and taste of heavy bourbon, milk cocoa, molasses, oak, dark fruits mostly cherry. Medium to full bodied Russian Imperial. Thanks for sharing Brian.

Bottle 12fl.oz.

Clear dark black brown colour with a small, frothy - fizzy, virtually none lacing, fully diminishing, off-white head. Aroma is moderate to heavy malty, roasted, chocolate, caramel, berry, tart, spicy, wood - spicy wood, alcohol. Flavour is moderate to heavy sweet and bitter with a long duration, spicy, cherry, bourbon, sharp. Body is medium, texture is oily, carbonation is soft to flat. [20120720]

Soy sauce and overroasted astringent coffee with sour fruit and raw sugar. Some mushroom as well. Very sweet and tough to finish. Bleh.

Bottle. Pours a cloudy dark amber with a small off white head. The aroma is fruity malt and cherry. Medium moutheel with a sweet fruit flavor and sour finish. Alcohol present but not overpowering. Wow really enjoyed this one.

From notes. First reviewed 3/14/2011. Poured from a 12 oz. bottle into a tulip. This pours a raisin / black color with a creamy tan head. Decent retention, with some spotty lace. There is lots of cherry in the aroma, with a firm woodiness as well. Bourbon, molasses, and dark malts round out the aroma. Margarete is thick, full, and delicious. Lots of cherry is present, sweet more than tart, to start out the sip. Vanilla, bourbon, and oak add some quick depth to the fruit. Some chocolate and molasses help to contribute to the sweetness. If the cherries had more of a tart flavor, it would not be as good. Some roasted malt provides some support. The flavors casually linger in the mouth after each sip. Very good. This is velvety smooth, with the perfect level of carbonation to bring out the flavors and give it a great feel. Very full and viscous; I feel like I am chewing each sip. I think this is the one of, if not the, best offering I have had from Avery.

Bottled. Poured very deep brown with a short-lived beige head. The aroma picked up warm chocolate and biscuity malts with accents of coconut and sweet bourbon.. the coconut was quite prominent.. just a dusting of cherry zest.. enticing, but not what I expected. The flavor had bourbon and oak tartness plus another hefty dose of coconut throughout.. roasty chocolate and molasses on the somewhat muddled core.. finished with more barrel tartness, grainy residual sugars, and a well-masked dose of warmth, followed by an aftershock of coconut and bourbon barrel. Heavy-bodied with low carbonation.. the cherries didn’t hold up in the 13 months since it was bottled.. overall a solid brew, but far short of spectacular.

12oz botlle, been sitting on this one for a bit. Pours dk brown with little head. Thin body whch usually isnt my preference but it works okay with this. Warm bourbon burn balanced out by the cherry tartness. Chocolate and licorice makes easy drinkin. Wish i cold get a few more of these.

A steady pour into my large Tripel Karmeliet tulip produces a scant ¼-finger thick, light brown colored head. The beer is a dark, almost perfectly black color, that is quite opaque when held up to the light. The beer smells of up front tart cherries, that quickly subsumes underneath rich chocolate liquor notes (along with the warming alcohol notes), lots of smooth roasted dark malt, umami laden, almost teriyaki-like concentrated malt character, toasted brown grain notes, notes of smoky Bourbon like aromas, coconut liquor and then in the finish another light, but noticeable tart cherry character.

The beer is fairly sweet, though not as thick as it might have seemed. The sweetness accentuates a fruity cherry note, but this is dried out a fair amount in the finish by a burnt, roasted, bitter blackened malt notes, though it doesn’t quite beat out the sweetness. While this is lighter than it perhaps seems like it could be for a beer of this strength, it is still most definitely a sipping beer. A rich, umami-leaning, concentrated malt character contributes notes of smoked malt, slight teriyaki notes and even some balsamic like richness (but without the acetic character). The Bourbon barrel here isn’t very intrusive, in fact it plays a clearly supporting role; it provides some background woody structure that provides some astringency in the finish and a light woody note; a Bourbon spiciness that is a little peppery but mostly like spicy oak, some Bourbon heat (much of which is accentuated by the base alcohol in the beer) and some fruity Bourbon notes. Lots of bitterness (roast), and astringency from the oak comes out as it warms.

I wasn’t expecting a beer this big, for some reason I was expecting a funky / sour beer, but this is clearly not one of those. Still this isn’t nearly as bad as I might have expected, given that most of Avery’s huge beers don’t appeal to me. The rich chocolate notes pair well with the rich, sort of smoky and umami like concentrated malt, supporting fruity cherry notes, and light Bourbon character. This does walk a fine line between being a bit too hot and being smooth.