Avery Anniversary Thirteen

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

Serve in Dimpled mug, Stein, Weizen

A rich deep amber, but definitely filtered, topped with a succulent foam of a tanned marshmallow hue. Hot and creamy aroma of munich malts and furious alcohol-dizzy citrus syrups. Dry hops seem to bounce off the walls of oozing caramel, smashed raisins, and vanilla extract; as typical, the intricacies of the malt tones and the aggressive punch of bitterness each seem indescribably hollow; needlessly sugary, and burdensomely warm. Melted toffee, apple skins, cotton candy, cocoa bread; so many nuances, and so little of central substance; the core is mostly a bland bitter alcohol, which even once surpassed by all these details can’t really be rectified.

Flavor, similarly, is creamy and dense, but the heat subsides somewhat, if not to be so blatantly searing, still to be quite oppressive to the other tastes on offer; almonds, bananas, cloves, and pine-like bittersweetness are the foremost impressions, and this might purport to be a slightly darkened and certainly dry-hopped strong hefeweizen. Alcohol really amps up the impact of that greenish, bitter character of still-kicking hops. The malts carry it through, though, and briefly offer a rich dried cherry and toffee flavor to outlast the initial bitterness. But further in, some floral characters still point conspicuously to the reckless level of hopping here given the style; given also, though, that their character is consistently soft and fragrant, it tends to work in an agreeable tandem with the fruit and floral qualities of the wheat and weizen yeast. So, at turns it’s smoothly aromatic to sip, flowers and spices and muscly malts all wrapped up neatly and with pristine aesthetic, while at others it’s simple and hot and overly sweet.

The body is full and slick, finishing on an absurd stickiness that unfortunately rushes the flavors toward their latter impression of generally cloying, alcohol-swamped sweetness. A flavor of bubblegum and lavender precedes that most viscous of final smacks, and then in finality there’s a bit of mango skin to make the alcohol less plain.

Ultimately this is the last Avery beer I will ever purchase, barring a miracle of some kind, and it really defines my experience with this brewery when it attempts styles that aren’t inherently "extreme." While this is a mostly-fine and often flavorful beer, it struggles to capture the essence of what it claims to be, and even if it does so with some ostentatious, violent americanized approach, it just can’t compete with the real thing. Still, the decency of this offering is reassuring; while I can know in the future that my money will be far better spent on other things, at least I can also know that such a widely appreciated brewer actually can produce something difficult, that isn’t too difficult to drink.

Rich ruby-tinged brown with a cap of coarse loudly fizzy bubbles. Big, full aroma that rises to greet my nose as soon as I crack the bottle. Earthy, primative bread aroma, smoke, hay. Rye, milk chocolate flavors, toasted marshmellows, some mollassas sour notes. Amazingly well-hidden alcohol. I would have never guessed almost 10% abv for this fairly light bodied and refreshing beer. My only complaint is that the phenolic character seems a bit loose and disorganized. Fermented a just a touch warm? Overall, a surprising and interesting beer from Avery. I love the hop-heavy stuff from these guys, but it’s fun to see them play with less hop-forward styles too.

Bottled version. Distinct banana aroma as soon as I pour this dark brown beer. Like a lot of the bigger Avery beers, this one may need some time to mellow out. The alcohol burn seems a little high but not so strong that I can’t taste banana bread. The thing that intrigues me the most is a hint of smoke near the end. It’s a solid beer that will probably taste best about the time Avery 14 rolls out.

Dark cola color, fizzy light tan head Aroma is odd, but has brown sugared cherry pie. Slightly smokey malt in a light wheaty fruit body, cherries, brown sugar. Okay beer; a little forced.

Dark, reddish brown appearance with a small tan head and modest lacing. Malty, fruity aroma with layers of cherry, banana and blackberries. Sweet malt taste with hints of caramel, dark fruit, molassas and multigrain bread. Hops are indistinguishable. Long lasting, sweet finish.

Thirteen over twelve and delve deeper into goatdom whilst knowing eleven may dwell in the Maharaja to this day. Would I put this side by side with Aventinus? Well I didn’t so I’m not going to try now. Maybe later, but as for now my thoughts are in a pleasant place and I enjoyed this, so that’s good and so is Avery.

22oz - Aroma of chewy fresh malts, molasses and hops. Pours ruby red with a big fluffy head and great lacing. Flavor is much stronger than the aroma. First molasses, toffee, and black licorice. Then alcohol. Finished by toasted malts and the lingering remains of the "first" flavors. Palate is snappy, sticky and a bit hot. Interesting and tasty. I think I should set one in the cellar to mellow the hotness.

Rich caramel malt and banana aroma with a bit of alcohol and some spiciness, maybe a hint of nutmeg. Dark mahagany in color with a thin head. Huge body. Tart and vinous and very strongly flavored with roasted notes, banana, toffee, some cocoa. Definately not subtle. Could do with some aging.