Avery Barrel-Aged Series 1 - Brabant

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

Serve in Snifter, Tulip, Tumbler

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Bottle. Head is initially average sized, frothy, light brown, mostly diminishing. Body is dark brown to black. Aroma is lightly to moderately malty (roasted grain, cocoa powder), lightly yeasty (horseblanket), with notes of burnt wood, sulfur, sour cherry, anise. Flavor is moderately sweet, moderately acidic, lightly to moderately bitter. Finish is lightly sweet, lightly to moderately acidic, moderately to heavily bitter. Medium body, watery texture, lively carbonation, lightly to moderately alcoholic, moderately astringent. An odd one, and not quite what I expected/hoped. Some nice notes in the nose, but very charred/woody which brings things down a bit. Overly bitter and astringent in the mouth...very tannic/rough. I just couldn’t get much joy out of it from chilled all the way up to room temp. More sourness, less bitterness and astringency, less burnt smell, and this might be high 3’s for me.

Dark cola looking belgian strong ale. Looks pretty good. Has a nice thin head that sits on top, and does not fade away. Very pungent fruit aroma. Smells like a sour ale, and I am pretty damn sure that the flavor will follow suite. Some tart aroma along with a hint of yeast nice pungent belgian aroma. Wow, there is nothing nice about the flavor just a very sour flavor with a nappy acute tart aroma. Not my favorite flavor. A very thin palate. Everything but the actual flavor is to my liking. Everyone of you weren’t kidding when warning of the flavor. A very dry finish as well. Just too close to wine for me to actually like this beer. AHHHH!

Bottled 2/10/09. Pours a dark brown red with a small brown head. Aroma is brett, lemon, funk, berry and citrus. Flavor is incredibly sweet with very little sourness. Palate is cloying and dry. Had potential, probably better fresh.

Mahogany purple. Grayish foam shows good retention. Dull cola-laden nose is accompanied by scents of iron, peach, red wine, plastic, and band aid. Suggestively meaty and fusel as well. Prickly forced-carbonation. Unfiltered. Thick and clingy acids are dull and poorly defined from the start, and the dullness is further exacerbated by a fuzzy, worty, and husky malt profile. Fuzzy carbonic residue sloppily disperses the muddled flavors across the palate as rampant Brett-derived sherbet and band-aid notes bludgeon all underlying subtleties. Severely dirty and confused, with little if any brightness to speak of. Meaty yeast compounds the already deeply muddled and unrefined nature of the beer as it links up with a chalky mineralic briskness. Leathery notes also add to the astringency. Loose tannins generate a subdued zing which echoes the even dwindling sourness. Oak only tarnishes the flavor as it’s flabby rather than crisp. Finishes medicinally grapey with an overbearing mineral, band-aid, and shoe-polish astringency. While a commendable effort, I’d say back to the drawing board. The aroma is tolerable, but the flavor is disastrous. Two swallows were more than I could handle.

not really sure what to think about this, the palate itself is weak and the aroma is unappealing. some taste of dark toasted malts and light fruit. the wild yeast makes this beer fall from becoming a truly special beer.

Gotta imagine this needs more time to let the brett or something do its thing. Tasted like it was trying to be sour, but couldnt quite get there. Dark pour, some sour notes but barely enough to get a "sour" tag, some tannin presence, cherries, wood andotes of the brett.

UPDATED: FEB 21, 2009 Dark brown color. Smooth, light tan foam. Nose shows a lot of brett, along with light notes of raspberry, cherry and oak from the Red Zin barrels. Flavor tastes like brett, alcohol, along with a lightly vinous character. Overall, it’s quite dull and simplistic in body. Doesn’t seem to have a lot of concentration or depth. Don’t like the nose to well or flavor, also would prefer natural carbonation. Tasted again: The combo of brett & the vinous character really clash for me.

Pours black coffee colored with a small head that dissipated quickly, but left considerable lacing. Could smell bananna bread, vietnamese grocery store (fetid tofu), belgian-sweet. These were tastes (meant not in a terrible way): sour smoke, spoiled wine, tar, like a wet horse smells, kimchee without the heat, can definitely taste the tanins from the zin barrels. Very full-bodied, highly carbonated, fizzy on tongue. One of us found it somewhat drinkable & interesting, the other would not order again. Must like sour beers to enjoy!

After hearing how bad this, and seeing 2 people gag in front of me, the ticker in me still stupidly gave this is a try. Served in a Bells tulip...Pours a super dark brown, can’t beleive how dark this is. No carbanation at all...The aroma is ok, light wood, vinous, sweet, just not much funk, hard to think of this as a wild...The taste is terrible, no funk, woody, harsh, stale.

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.