Avery Brabant

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 4 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 6

Bottled 2/10/09. Hopefully I didn't sit too long on this. Who was I waiting on to share this? Imaginary friends don't like to drink beer.

Fluted tulip. Thick brown on black body. Half inch of tan sea foam head.
Smell is sour, w/ a strong, plausible citric acidity(raspberry-ish). Mildly charred roast, w/ some unidentifiable florals, headachy tannins, & mild oxidation.
Taste is a mellow, tart, deep winey red, mixed-berry front, followed by a pithy bitterness. Restrained Twix-like, cookie-cracker-chocolate maltiness. Oxidation is mellow & hanging out way in the back with the barrel tannins & complimentary sinus headache.
Nearly flat, limp, runny body. Sneaky alcohol bypassed my usually reliant water buffer. I think I need to find a better brand of pretzels.

Felt like I was drinking a 3 day old bottle of wine the whole time. Probably like the best beer ever to go with your bolognese. Or maybe just in it.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

A mild dark sour with a slight roast character and lots of Brett infuence. Pours like a porter with a dark chestnut/brown body, foamy tan head and surprisingly great lacing. Fruity, funky enticing aroma. Flavor is a little more tame. Sourness is not overwhelming and plays along with a nice sweetness.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 8

Belgian Strong Ale...how? It aint Belgian? Wild Ale all the way. Anyway...pours porter-like, nice enticing aroma of brett, a little extra funk, roasted malt, and light berry-ish fruit, I assume from the wine barrels. Fairly mellow sour, but quite complex and pretty damn tasty. Would have liked to try this one...oh...3 years ago, but this'll do :) Bottled 2/2009.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 8

This is a darker color than expected, almost looking black once poured. A thin layer of head retention stays on top. The aroma is wine-like with oak, cherries, some dark fruit as well. Interesting blend of flavors; berries and light fruit combine with dark fruits (plums), light vinegar notes, cardboard in the finish. Toasted grains mix in that are interesting but seem a little out of place. The brett is there and dries it up and gives this some sourness but really not all that tart. I’ve got another bottle so I’m curious to see how this does a year or so down the road.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

I've never been to a city more exploitive towards women. It makes me sick and I can't wait to go home.

--But wasn't that you on the cover of Playboy magazine?

...What's that?

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Smells of wheat, yeast, wood, fruit and brett... Pours Reddish brown with some nice foamy white head that last. Beautiful medium body and carbonation with a smooth and very crisp finish. Flavor was off but delicious. It is a sour beer without being very sour.. which works very well. There is some hints of sour fruit and some earth. The yeast does dominate the flavor. AMazing different beer... Met the brewer who created it... nice guy!!!

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9

A solid pour into my large Tripel Karmeliet glass produces a fat-two-finger thick, lightly browned, tan colored head that leaves quite a bit of lacing and is pretty long lasting. The beer is quite dark with a black-brown color; when held up to the light the beer remains opaque, but shows some amber tinges around the edges. The aroma is tart and lactic smelling, but has a soft dark / roast malt side to it that is more toasted than roasted in character. The nose finishes with a signature Brettanomyces derived phenolic character that adds spicy notes of phenolic-soaked cotton and a slight curing plastic notes that reside on top of some fruit notes and some more toasted bread notes. There is a touch of up front berry aromatics, some concord grape like notes and a wine-fruit character all of which can be fleeting at times. There is a solid, spicy oak character that is quite strong, but at first melded so well with the funky Brettanomyces notes that I only just noticed it now. The nose on this beer is nicely complex; contemplative and enjoyable, it is made up of a nice mix of fruity wine-like notes, peppery-spicy oak, butyric-sweaty-barnyard Brettanomyces notes and a supporting dark malt character. This last seems to mix with the tartness and it almost seems like the burnt malt notes are boosting the perception of the sourness in the nose; or perhaps vice-versa, it is hard to say having not tasted the beer yet).

The beer has a soft, creaminess to it up front, though it is quite dry with no perceived sweetness after the first sip. The oak provides lots of tannic structure to this beer, which boosts the perceived body and velvety texture. The lingering finish leaves me with a butyric funkiness of cured plastic and musty, sweat stained dried leather. Dark malt notes can be picked out at times, but are somehow omnipresent too, with a roast-acrid note, a burnt bitterness in the finish and an underlying toasted grain character. The beer is nicely tart tasting with a lactic acid note that is pervasive without being over-bearing. The oak provides a biting spiciness as well as a touch of astringent woodiness. The barrel influence has also left lots of Zinfandel influence in this beer; it is another layer of this complex beer that must be contemplated to notice the signature of ripe berries, a touch of grape-skin jam, peppery and leather-like Zinfandel notes. I seem to get a subtle hint of the powerful wine that rested in the barrel before this beer.

I like how complex this beer is, layers of the rich, underlying dark malt character, its lush texture, the substantial yet smooth tartness, the subtly powerful Zinfandel notes, and the spicy, lively oak influence. This is a very layered, contemplative brew that has easily exceeded my expectations. This is most definitely one of the best Avery beers that I have had.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Sampled on 4/24/2009. This Belgian Strong Ale pours an opaque deep brown color from a 12oz bottle. Bottled on Feb 10, 2009. A medium sized white foamy head with nice lacing and good retention. The aroma is brett, grapes, yeasts, wood and cherries. A medium bodied Belgian Strong Ale. The malts are dark fruit, caramel, cherries. The hops are floral. Funky and tart with some oak and red wine flavors. Kind of a fruity zinfandel with some nice oak going on here as well. Nice balance between the funk, fruit and wood. Probably could use some more time in the bottle to bring out more of the funk. Nice carbonation. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is oaky and tart.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 6

12 oz bottle, bottled on 2/10/09. Pours a dark reddish brown with a large rocky light brown head that retains and laces the glass.

The aroma is some wheaty malts, funky yeast and acidic brett. As it warms some chocolate, fruits and leather come out.

The flavor is funky yeast and a little vinous fruitiness followed by a pretty big acidic bitterness. The mouthfeel is medium bodied with creamy carbonation.

Overall, very different. I'm not sure I care for the acidic bitterness. There's a lot of brett here but it's a bit over the top and not well balanced. I'd prefer a bit more sourness. It would be interesting to see how this ages.