Avery Brabant

Avery Brabant… A barrel aged beer that, as is noted on the website, defies anything we have ever tasted.  It is a dark, dark brew with a dirty tan head.  It has a slight redish tint that comes through the very outer edge of the glass. Nose is sour… almost sour apple… perfumie… fruity… strong, strong, strong and almost scares me.  The body is smooth and you can definitely tell there are wine influences… finish is slightly bitter on the back of the mouth.  It puts you in almost a surreal state of mind as you wonder what the hell you are drinking but don’t care that much as the experience itself is worth it… something to experience for sure and something I will buy again just to find out if the experience can be repeated.

JBB6 Rating: Will Buy Again

Avery India Pale Ale

Avery India Pale Ale pours a beautiful orange-yellow with a minimal head. The smell is fruity but not overly so, you can definitely smell the hops in there. The taste is solid IPA… bitter on the roof of the mouth with the hops hitting moderately from start to finish. Nothing that stands out, but it has character and charisma and enough flavor to keep you wanting more.  In this case, just making a great beer as it should be is enough…  I actually wouldn’t expect much else from them.

JBB6 Rating: Will Buy Again

Avery Old Jubilation Ale

Generally a big fan of Avery, Avery Old Jubilation Ale left me with a bit of a bad taste in my mouth.  Don’t worry, though, I won’t hold it against them since some of their other offerings have truly been outstanding.  I am also willing to concede that maybe the moons are the starts were aligned just right and my tasting was a bit off… so if I see it again, I will have to buy some more to test my first reaction.

As far as the taste goes, this is a hoppy, sour beer that brings you a very bitter aftertaste.  At 8.0% ABV, this beer doesn’t hide the alcohol and it may even be a bit over the top.  In the end, the complete package just doesn’t deliver, keeping this in the middle of the pack.

JBB6 Rating: Middle of the Road

Collaboration not Litigation Ale (Batch #2)

Once upon a time in the west there were two Belgian beers, brewed with love, care and attention by their respective brewers at the Avery and Russian River breweries. Both were probably delicious, both were probably the apple of their father’s eyes… both were called “Salvation”.

High “uh-oh” potential, huh? But apparently not, for as the label on the bottle of this delightful ale relates, when the brewers got together

it was quickly decided that we should blend the brews to catch the best qualities of each and create an even more complex libation. In April 2004, in top-secret meeting at Russian River Brewing (well actually it was packed in the pub, and many were looking over our shoulders wondering what the hell was going on), we came up with the perfect blend of the two Salvations. Natalie, Vinnie’s much more significant other, exclaimed, “We should call this Collaboration, not Litigation Ale!”

“Perfect!” we shouted.

Perfect’s not far off the mark, either. The name’s a bit rubbish, but the beer itself is a testament to these fine gentlemen’s craft.

A big, bold, deep orangey-brown ale fills the glass and a gloriously warm and yeasty aroma arises from the thick, long-lasting head. This is Belgian-style beer at some of it’s finest, a huge mouthful of rich fruity flavour with deep malt undertones and sweet tang that leaves a sticky taste on the lips. A hypnotic cloud of carbonation sits just under the head, with a swirl of sediment at the bottom of the glass the final trace of the secondary fermentation that’s gone on in the bottle.

Fine stuff, and highly recommended – now, I just need to track down a bottle of each of the two original Salvation’s and see how they compare to this blended brew. An interesting comparison, I think. Let us know if you’ve tried it.

JBB6 Rating: For the Win

Avery Fifteen

I tried to pick something that would go with some broiled salmon tonight (very tasty) and decided that a funky little number from Avery Brewing might do the trick.  So I picked Avery Fifteen.  This is there fifteenth anniversary brew and it comes with 15 years of experimentation behind it, which wasn’t a bad thing at all.

Fifteen has a pretty accurate label… something I don’t always find.  But really, I think I could taste everything they explained except for maybe the hibiscus because I don’t really know what that tastes like.  From the site:

15 years of brewing! You know whats been the best part lately? Tons of experimentation! For the past couple of years, we’ve been working with several strains of brettanomyces (wild yeast). We found one and deemed it the best for it’s tart flavor and funky, fruity aroma. Adding black mission figs for a subtle jammy aspect, hibiscus flowers for an herbal bouquet and hazy sunset hue, and white pepper for a bit of spicy twang, we’ve created FIFTEEN– a unique drinking experience inspired by the wild farmhouse ales of Belgium. Though immensely complex today, more flavors will emerge with time, so throw a few bottles in your cellar for future celebrations.
Thanks to everyone who has made our 15-year ride possible. Peace to all and follow your dreams!

Check out wikipedia for some additional information on brettanomyces.  Pretty interesting stuff.

Overall, great amber color, good floral nose, fruity yet tangy taste and clean finish will bring this beer back to the beer fridge at some point in the future.  Good stuff.  Thanks Avery!

JBB6 Rating: Will Buy Again

Avery The Maharaja

Fourth beer of the night at Monk’s Cafe.  See here for original post.

Avery The Maharaja - On Tap

I *really* liked this beer… it was a bit twisted in its presentation as I was definitely not ready for it, but the wonderful folks at Avery were able to suck every fruity element they could out of this.  I remember tasting this beer and thinking I really should be on a tropical island somewhere, enjoying this beer with a plate of fruit.  The fruitiness infuses both the aroma and the taste, with the aroma more general at the tropical smell level but the taste more specific and on into the passion fruit realm.

This is a high ABV (9.7%) beer with an extremely fruity and rich flavor that really has me wanting more… right now… really.  I know Malt & Vine has some, so maybe I will head there… great stuff.

JBB6 Rating: For the Win

Avery White Rascal

Today was a good day.  A good day on many, many beer fronts.  I woke up this morning, not really knowing what to expect from the weather, the kids, etc.  I end the day with a shit-eating-grin on my face and a vision of a great beer future ahead.

Lets hit the good stuff summary:

1. I went to Malt & Vine in Redmond, WA today.  More on that in a second.
2. I picked up a bottle of beer my boss has been hounding me about for some time (…you know who you are!)
3. I finally took up enough space in our refrigerator to push the wife into commanding me to buy a beer fridge.

And now the good stuff details:

1. Malt & Vine… an amazing establishment.  Truly.  They have ~900 beers in the bottle, some wine that I didn’t pay attention to, and a couple of kegs.  Not only do you get to buy beer, beer, and more beer, but you can enjoy a small glass of some really good craft beer while you do it!  The owner was super-knowledgable, the beer he gave me was and outstanding dark Belgium Style beer, and their selection… oh their selection.  See below for a picture of what I picked up and what lead to #3.
2. The actual beer for this review is Avery White Rascal.  My boss has been telling me about Avery since we started the blog (not sure which brew) and now I finally found some.  So I picked up the White Rascal and their IPA to see what I could taste and low and behold their White Rascal is an outstanding white ale.  I would have to say that their complexity of flavors mellows it out to just the right level to make this beer really, really outstanding.  Has to be my favorite white for now.  Will see how long that lasts.  I poured the glass, left a little in the bottom of the bottle, swirled it around, and poured the last of the cloudiness into the mug before I took my first taste.  Pure nirvana… great work by Avery.
3. As I came home tonight with 8 extra bottles of beer, my wife finally had it and ordered me to get a beer fridge so she could have room in the house fridge for something called food.  Boy… you don’t have to tell me twice.  Dinner, kids in bed, and I was off to Lowes to find my sweet little beverage holder.  Little is right… there are some really small fridges out there, kind of like what I have at work… but I decided on a 14 cubic foot model instead.  $400 isn’t too bad and now we have more room for other stuff like kids drinks, etc. as well.   All around a win-win for everyone.

So there you have it… a great beer-day.  As far as the rating on this beer:

JBB6 Rating: For the Win

Two pictures today… my haul from Malt & Vine:

And the bottle of Avery: