Avery The Beast Grand Cru Ale

Brewed by Avery Brewing Company
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Boulder, Colorado USA

Serve in Trappist glass, Tulip, Tumbler

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Draft. Pours orange with an off white head. Sweet malty aroma, with fruity and spicy Belgian yeasty notes. The flavor has sweet caramel malts, Belgian yeast, light spice and dark fruity notes. Not bad.

12oz bottle in a Trappist glass. Pours deep brown with a lacy, cream-colored head. Aroma of chocolate, caramel, and roasted malts with some spicy yeast and light floral hops. Flavor the same with strong alcohol notes. Smooth texture. A good beer.

2011 bottle, 16.83% ABV. Extremely excited to try this one out, hoping to avoid disappointment. Pours a murky brown/caramel color with reddish hues, and an off-white head. Strong aromas of medicinal booze, and candy sugars. Time to taste... Wow, The Beast indeed. Tastes of figs, dates, plums, some raisins, molasses, intense Belgian candy sugars, some cloves, all mixed with dark fruit. A very complex, full bodied brew. Almost a bit cloyingly sweet, very syrupy/thick beer, ends on a very sweet candy note. Warming alcohol is present in the finish as well. The Beast is truly a seducer, the high ABV is masterfully hidden and sneaked up on me without being utterly devastating. Such a delicious beer, definitely recommend this beer to fans of the style.

2011 Bottle; Pour is murky dark golden amber with a beige head in this glass that retains fairly well. Lightly, spotty lacing is present as well. The nose is heavy on the candied sugars, molasses, sweet breads, and dark fruits,really. The flavor profile is heavier on the bready side - its just a cluster fuck of flavors really. Yet it works as a sweet malty bomb of a brew in decent fashion - to me, it doesn’t quite come together like 120 minute in the category of high alcohol by volume brews.

2011 Bottle – Batch 9, this ale looked dark when poured but was a candy apple red with dark hues and honey brown at the sides of the glass when held up to a light, the pour made a light tan colored one and a half finger head, there was a gentle effervescence in the glass, and left small rings and spots of lacing on the sides of the glass, there was no sediment in the bottle, the aroma consisted of chocolate, dark fruit – raisin and date, brown sugar and some dark Karo syrup, alcohol esters, faint cinnamon spice and dark bread, caramel, there were some earth notes and I thought I got some hints of smoke as the ale warmed, there were a little liquor notes from the alcohol as this drink reached room temperature, the flavors were dark fruit which resembled dates and raisins stewed in alcohol with faint cherry, caramel and faint earthy spices, this drink is very malty with lots of sweetness, as the ale warmed up the alcohol was prominent and gave a good spice kick, the mouth feel was thick and had a small syrupy feel to it that coated my throat; the alcohol offered a warming on the mouth and throat that resembled Whiskey, this was a big drink with lots of alcohol and sweetness, may be ok as a sipper for a cold evening but aging would probably help remove the alcohol edge and sweetness, I liked the big malty nose and flavors but the alcohol in this drink is big and gets bigger as it warms, the same for the sweetness, and both take away from enjoying this drink.

On tap @ RnH w James and Streets. Pour is amber with small head leaving whispy, streaky lacing. Aroma is lemon (citra hops?) and pine. Palate is bitter fruit, banana and hops. Smooth mouthfeel - medium bodied. Tasty but could not drink more than 1 or 2.

Wow. The beast. Draft at rattle with streets and Brendan. Pours a hazy red body with light white lacing. Aroma is sweet, sweet fruits - apple and prune. Mouthfeel is thick and syrupy with notes of booze, thick apple cider, spice, sweet fruity malts. Just too much booze.

Bottle. Pours dark ruby with everlasting tan foamy head. Sweet vanilla aroma, some booze, caramel, dark fruit. Flavor profile is pretty much all malt, candied sugar, alcohol, raisin; could maybe use a bit of balance. Very smooth going down, encouraged by the nice alcohol burn, but for 16+%, it isn’t bad at all. I really like this; it is so close to being a great beer.

Draft at Avery Taphouse. To put it delicately in the most politically correct language possible this beer punches you right in the nuts. Big sugary aroma. Taste is brown sugar, molasses, and enough hops to prevent this from tasting like a glazed doughnut.

Pours dark brown, plenty of head, moderate carbonation. Big aroma of raisins and toffee. Taste is deep and complex with raisins, toffee, plum and alcohol burn--very noticeable burn....but ok in this beer. Pushes the limits on what I consider beer, but still beer nevertheless. This is most interesting to me as something to put in the cellar and revisit in 10 years. I would expect a beer like this to have major changes over years. It’s a winner if you want this type of a beer.