Avery Brabant

Formerly brewed at Avery Brewing Company
Style: Sour Ale/Wild Ale
Boulder, Colorado USA

Serve in Snifter, Tulip, Tumbler

Pours a brown/reddish color with a small head. The aroma leads me to believe that this is going to be sour, complex, fruity and yummy. I get cherries, red wine, funk, earthy notes, oak, grapes, currants and brett. Flavor is not nearly as complex and sour as I expected. Still, a good brew.

12oz. bottle: This one pours a dark ruby tinged brown color. There was about an inch of tan head on it that dropped away quickly. Play that funky aroma right boy! Definitely a funky/sour aroma to the beer. Some dark fruits and oakiness start to come up past the funk. Nice taste. There is a smokiness up front. Quickly followed by tartness. There are a lot of flavors in there, but maybe some plum and cocoa above the others. It is a very nice blend of flavors.

Bottle, 12oz. A clear, ruby colored beer with a lasting, dense, light tan head. Brett, chocolate, cherry-pits, oak and alcohol in the aroma. The flavor is pretty much the same, slightly roasted, with chocolate, cherry-pits, oak and a warming touch of alcohol. Full body. Bretty finish where the roasted, chocolatey malts are left in the far back. Definitely a nice one, want more of this! 100917

Bottled 2/10/09- batch 1-12 oz bottle poured into my snifter. A- Body is a quite dark brown/ nearly black hue. Pours with an impressive 2-3 finger creamy tan head. Head eventually fades to a thin collar and some traces of lacing are left behind in the glass. S- Nose is interesting and complex. Dark chocolate, plum, bread, yeasty funk, brett and anise. Not sure if it all blends together well in the nose yet. T- Taste is quite similar to the nose-but seems to fit together a bit better. Cocoa and a light dark fruit flavor and tartness are the most prominent upfront. The brett funk, a mild bitterness and spiciness come through for the finish as the cocoa and fruity flavors taper off a bit. M- Medium to high tingly carbonation and a medium weight body. D- This is an interesting dark wild ale-not really sour-more funky. I’m still on the fence about dark beers brewed with brett as they taste infected. This brew is still drinkable-just odd to me. Serving type: bottle Reviewed on: 01-05-2011 01:55:38

Bottle. Black colour wih an off-white head. Aroma is sourness, brett, malt, chocolate, oak, cherry stone. Flavour is brett, sourness, berries, oak, yeast, malt, chocolate. Nice beer.

UPDATED: JAN 1, 2011 Vintage 2009 bottle, aged about 40 days short of 2 years. Very dark beer, I’d say pitch black. With a light tan head that lasted through the whole drink with lots of lacing. Aroma of light hops, with lots and lots of white wine (zinfandel? Eh?). Taste initially hits of dark malt, but immediately huts hard with high ABV white wine and a touch of wood. Too bad though, that I don’t like white wine. Too heavy on dry finishing white grapes. So strange to have a black beer that’s soo much like white wine. But totally not up my alley.

Aged in Zinfandel barrels; bottled Feb 2009, 1½ years ago
The color is almost coffee black; medium sized, beige head. The aroma is quite complex, with roasted malts, red wine, cream, Bretts, lightly fruity; finally chocolate. The body has a good strength, and the mouthfeel is quite round; there is a strong chocolate flavor, with roasted and burnt malts; as in other beers (Alvinne for example), the heavily roasted malts don’t marry well the sourness and the vinous touch, the result lacks of harmony; the final shows some drier roasted malts. Confusing, not convincing.

12 oz bottle
A vintage bottle that I found when retiring a small dorm fridge, this was a reasonable beer. Given the price it wasn’t something that makes me want to hurry to get the rest of the series but I would be willing to give them a try. Overall it still has some legs which means if you still have one sitting around now is the time to give a try. Unlike some Avery beers this one actually lives up to expectations.

Aroma / Appearance - The deep reddish black body swirls like a oily mess complete with thin tannish head. A sour mix of chocolate, coffee, pureed berries, and vinegar the lactic acid has taken over while this was resting. It has a nice balance that is not intense but is not timid either.

Flavor / Palate - Olives garnished over cold coffee is an unusual but not terrible start. Mildly sour with a dry finish and light funk it has developed into an interesting experiment. Tasting a bit like an infected imperial stout this was a good test of what happens when you combine a strong beer with barrel aging and bugs. Eventually I might try another but for now I have too many other options to choose from.