Avery The Beast Grand Cru Ale

12 oz bottle. Does not state which batch, but it does say it was bottled in 2006. Belgian strong ale? More like a barley wine. Where do I begin with this one, awesome beer. Pours a cloudy brown with a big frothy head, huge lacing. Aroma of alcohol, sweet malt, and molasses. Flavor is similiar, but much more complex. The commercial description is dead on, flavors of Belgian candy sugar, raisins, dates, etc. I loved this beer. The ABV on the bottle was 14.6% and it was almost undetectable. Velvety mouthfeel. I am going to keep a few 2006 bottles cellared for a few more years.

Bottle. Batch 3. Pours a deep garnet color with no head. Sweet malt aroma with some soy sauce and band-aid notes (crap). "Big" doesn’t even begin to describe this beer! Very sweet with tons of fruit notes; Raisins, figs, prunes. Married up with a nutty, almond flavor. Tons of alcohol, sweet honey-like tones. A bit hot. If I was sitting at a fireplace expecting a Barley Wine, this would hit the spot dead on. Lingering, sweet flavors mixed with bourbon. One of my favorites from Avery so far.

I’m not sure which batch this beer is, but it’s probably Batch 5. Doesn’t really matter though. This is such a teeth gnashing, snarling beer that no amount of change could produce a subtle difference in the recipe from year to year. I mean, this beer is actually liquid insane. I had a friend who swore off beer just by sipping The Beast, no joke. At one point in the night the beer actually rammed the wall of the glass and threw itself over the edge and onto the floor. Luckily I had a rag, blessed by the regional cardinal and imbued with holy water, which I used to balk the slinking puddle of booze before it escaped under my door. Jeez. The body is a dark, burnt crimson with a misleading soft, fuzzy cedar colored head. The aroma is fruity and verdant, and very appealing with its harvest of fig, cranberries, raspberries, Coca cola, dark chocolate, teriyaki sauce, steamed brocolli and wet brown sugar. The taste is equally powerful and rich. It may even be too rich. Raisin, soy sauce, copious handfuls of brown sugar, all-spice, teriyaki, smoked apple wood, green apple skins and a tiny pinch of cinnamon in a ruinous dervish of buzzing, cacophonous and swarming carbonation.

Apple cider colored pour. Decent lightened, tan head. Semi-frothy. Huge alcohol, fruit medley nose. Apples, apricots, peaches, some cherries, and molasses. I thought that I was on to something of a barleywine. Stop! This is where our journey into this brew should end. Overwhelming sweet flavor. Hell..this is a bottle of molasses with a touch of water. The alcohol macerated apples and peaches were there too, as well as a splash of cherry almond, but the honey, molasses and dried fruit was over the top. I must commend Avery on the attempt to create something big and strong. However, somewhere along the way..... they lost their minds. I drank it all...I made myself drink it all. At $9 a bottle I felt I didn’t have much choice. Never again.

This is an amazing Grand Cru. It’s balanced is a bit swayed toward a sweetness and alcohol presence, but it is still excellent. It pours a dark amber color with a strong raisin and cany sugar aroma. It has The taste is very sweet with the same flavors present at swallow as are in the aroma. The alcohol presence warms as it goes down and makes up for the lack of head and carbonation.