Avery Anniversary Thirteen

Formerly brewed at Avery Brewing Company
Style: Weizen Bock
Boulder, Colorado USA

Serve in Dimpled mug, Stein, Weizen

Long lasting head. Rings of foam lacing left around the glass. Very dark brown lets very little direct light through. Strong malt aroma with some yeast. As it warms some intriguing brown sugar scents come through. Thick malty body. Sweet malty flavour. Some yeast and alcohol notes. Thick combination of flavours: chocolate, licorice, toffee and brown sugar.

My Bottom Line:
Candied dark fruit and clovey spiciness smoothe into a hefty body made for sipping. This Americanized Weizen Bock will surely please malt lovers looking for intimacy.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-A veil of foam shields the darkened burgundy.
-Effervescence is rather soft for the style.
-Alcohol is very well-hidden.
-Some roastiness appears, as supporting herbal hops attempt to dry out the finish, which remains mostly sweet.

Bottle; no date.

Bomber. Pour is garnet red and brown. Nice lacing and a great looking oatmeal brown head settles nicely. Aroma is a little bit sweet malt, and a real nuttiness to it. Initial taste is mostly the malt with some dark chocolate. As this warms, it really opens up, both aroma and taste wise. I didn’t get much breadiness in this one, as other raters had. Finish is a touch bitter and hot alcohol, but not in an overpowering way, Nice.

Pours a very dark amber with a medium light tan head. Nice carbonation and decent lacing. Aroma is wonderful. Sweet rich candied malts, light spices, and a tad rummy. Flavor is heavy cake malts, spices, and yeasts. A full rich mouthfeel with a spicy bitterness in the finish.

Bomber bottle: Pleasant surprise to find this in the local market, as it’s one of my favorite styles. Poured into my tall Rogue tower, which handles most bombers nicely, and the head was perfect. The nose was fat, dark, sweet pumpernickel... buttered. Initial flavor was a tart, chocolate/toffee burst, and then the chewy fruit character spread out from there. This spring, I’ve had several really good Doppelweizens, this one really hits the spot, and life is good.

Bottle: Dark brown, hues of burnt caramel, moderate to large frothy beige head, fairly nice lacing.   Rich bready nose, some biscuit and nuts, semi-sweet malts, grainy caramel, soft soy... there is a lot to this one!   Big bready start, heavy dark pitted fruit, a bit sweeter than the nose and the fruit is a bit more unripened.   Some nuts, dates, caramel is in there too.   I am quite impressed with this one.   Big in body, full to moderate mouthfeel.   Light alcohol on the finish, remains very bready, somewhat heavy even.   Lingering dark pitted fruit, although a bit muted.   Warming to say the least.   Clean, no funk at the finish.   A little biting, could be it being green or the alcohol, but totally within its boundaries.   I really enjoyed this one!   Thanks Bill for the bottle!

UPDATED: OCT 15, 2007 I can’t think of a single thing that a goat and the number thirteen have in common, but somehow they come together to identify the per annum Avery brew. This year it’s a Weizen Eisbock with a distinct lacking of any goat or numerical flavors. Instead it takes on the character of an old fashioned dessert, from nose to mouth. The head breathes and bubbles like a kitchen sponge the color of light caramel. Beneath the outer crust the head turns into smaller, pushier bubbles with the same energy of a freshly poured Coke. A rich aroma of marshmallows, maple syrup, sweet licorice, banana taffy and Nestle’s chocolate syrup pushes its way into the nostrils and conjures images of a classic, old fashioned banana split. I remember finding this same aroma at a local diner called Gunder Toody’s, famous for its 1950’s-esque décor and doowap music selection. The flavor falls in suit with the smell, but clouds the flavors with dust and chalk more familiar in a Utah dessert than in a beer aligned to be a drinkable dessert.

Bottle. Ruby brown beer with a low off-white head. Malty/wheaty aroma. Malty/wheat/chocolate flavor. Lingering chocolate/coffee. Medium body. Low lacohol warming in background.