Avery Brewing- The Beast

[Monghetti]

Anyone try this beer? I was just to the local liquor store and they were having a cool Avery Beer tasting upstairs. Adam Avery, the founder of Avery was there and chatting it up about the beers. The Beast is a 15%ABV Grand Cru. OG=1.134. Lots of different sugars as well as raisins and dates. I think it was the first grand cru I have ever tried, and it was very interesting. I only bought one bottle, but might go back for a six pack and let a few of them age. Very tasty and complex beer.

 

[tdavisii]

ive seen that at the liquor store and wanted to try it.

 

[IXVolt]

Does it at all have the port wine type raisin / date flavors?

 

[Monghetti]

I only had a really small sample of it at the store and while it didnt come to mind while tasting, I do think it had a bit of a port wine/sweetish taste to it...Damn you and your questions...Now I am going to have to drink it.

 

[lpdb185]

i know this is late, but i just wanted to add that i have tried "THE BEAST" and i thought it was pretty amazing! i'm not a professional beer taster, but i would say it is VERY similar to the 120 minute. it is one that i wish was readily available where i'm at.

 

[jayavery]

I did a review on the 2011 Grand Cru here : http://www.youtube.com/epicbeerdude#p/a/u/0/LPu7owkUh1o

 

[DannPM]

Worst American attempt at a Belgian I have ever tasted, at least the 2010 release was. More hot fusel alcohols than anything I have ever tasted before. Cheap vodka is smoother and easier to get down than this stuff.

 

[tgmartin000]

The hog heaven is excellent. They call it a barley wine, but it's actually more of a double ipa.

 

[davefleck]

Worst American attempt at a Belgian I have ever tasted, at least the 2010 release was. More hot fusel alcohols than anything I have ever tasted before. Cheap vodka is smoother and easier to get down than this stuff.

Couldn't disagree more. You might have had a bad bottle

 

[BeerWard]

I have had it and its for sure an experience beer. Very sweet, high alcohol. Definite hints of dried fruits.

 

[SDVmnt]

I've had more than a few different Avery beers. This state can't get any of them but everytime I see them when travelling I snag them. Always in heaven when I get the opportunity. Personally I rate Avery as one of the top 5 "holy grail" breweries i've been exposed to in the past 5 years. I'm sure i'm naieve and haven't seen everything but love everything i've tried.

 

[DannPM]

Couldn't disagree more. You might have had a bad bottle

I honestly hope so because you'd be crazy to put your label on something that tasted like I had. It was on clearance for like 3.99 when I got it, could be the reason...

 

[jayavery]

I have a video review of it here: [ame]http://www.youtube.com/user/epicbeerdude?feature=mhee#p/u/0/LPu7owkUh1o[/ame]

 

[rgontasz]

Great beer! Give it a year or 3 and its even better!!! Can't say this is meant to drink fresh. Dann, you should give it another try after it has some time! its hard to make a beer that is 15% and is good its first year!

 

[ChandlerBrewery]

Avery Brewing is, in my opinion, an innovator of beers. By far one of my favorites. All of their beers, with the exception of 4 - 5, are incredibly full bodied and unique. The Beast is a part of their "Demon" series, which includes Mephistopheles and Samael's. These are known as "monster" beers. If you are ever in Boulder, you MUST try Samael's and the "Eremita", the best sour I've ever had.

 

[Hernando]

This is the beer my wife bought me for an anniversary present (along with two others 400 pound monkey & Black Jack Porter). It is aging (according to theirsite, it is cellerable for up to 10 years) and waiting for that special day for me to crack it open. I have had Samaels which is also in their demon series and that was a strong heavy oaked beer.

 

[scottland]

I had their Meph Addict (15% coffee imperial stout) while i was at the brewery two weeks ago. Pretty incredible.

 

[Taypo]

Had a sip of one of these on tap the other night, and I'm still not sure what I think about it. Caught the complexity that they were going for, but it was hard to taste around the alcohol content.

 

[MartyStone]

This is the beer my wife bought me for an anniversary present (along with two others 400 pound monkey & Black Jack Porter). It is aging (according to theirsite, it is cellerable for up to 10 years) and waiting for that special day for me to crack it open. I have had Samaels which is also in their demon series and that was a strong heavy oaked beer.

Samael's I think I didn't age long enough. Tasted like pure hot alcohol in oak, almost undrinkable.

 

[DannPM]

Mine was well over a year old and was still hotter than paint thinner. Imo they must used a disgusting strain of turbo yeast when they should have used a neutral wine strain. I'm honestly not sure how they got alcohol that hot, even my worst mead that was 17% abv was more drinkable at a younger age than this. Avery really ****ed up with this one.

 

[DannPM]

Not trying to sound arrogant with that but even though they may be pros, sometimes your average joe can throw a single pass better than the worst of a pro quarterback.

 

[Andrewtherooster]

Mine was well over a year old and was still hotter than paint thinner. Imo they must used a disgusting strain of turbo yeast when they should have used a neutral wine strain. I'm honestly not sure how they got alcohol that hot, even my worst mead that was 17% abv was more drinkable at a younger age than this. Avery really ****ed up with this one.

Never had any of these beers, but they would not be using a wine yeast to ferment these as most wine yeasts can not ferment a lot of the complex sugars with beer. And when using a wine yeast with beer, it is far from neutral. It's that hot because it's a lot of strain for beer yeasts to ferment these complex sugars up to that level of alcohol. They say these beers would probably be ageable for up to 10 years, but it sounds like they won't be drinkable until then.

 

[Hernando]

Samael's I think I didn't age long enough. Tasted like pure hot alcohol in oak, almost undrinkable.

Yes, Samaels not aged can be VERY harsh if not aged. I learned that the hard way. Bought two bottles from the brewery during one of their parties and drank one maybe a month after I bought it and it was extremely hard to drink.

 

[DannPM]

Never had any of these beers, but they would not be using a wine yeast to ferment these as most wine yeasts can not ferment a lot of the complex sugars with beer. And when using a wine yeast with beer, it is far from neutral. It's that hot because it's a lot of strain for beer yeasts to ferment these complex sugars up to that level of alcohol. They say these beers would probably be ageable for up to 10 years, but it sounds like they won't be drinkable until then.

The bottle says they use a secondary strain in order to get that abv. If they are incrementally providing simple sugars, and at 16% they probably are, a wine or turbo yeast would work. The bottle I had listed all the sugars they used.

 

[sweetcell]

in case anyone here happens to be in dallas tonight, the flying saucer in addison is tapping a keg of Beast @ 5 pm (according to their website).

 

[Taypo]

Its a shame that that Saucer is where it is, I just cant have a good time anywhere in Addison. We're at the Saucer on the Lake in Rockwall at least once a week, the environment is so much more relaxed and friendly.

 

[Kaleco]

If anyone is near Avery, they are tapping a 2009 Beast tomorrow at 5 PM.

 

[shelly_belly]

If anyone is near Avery, they are tapping a 2009 Beast tomorrow at 5 PM.

Any idea how long this will last? I can get there on Sunday.

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

I agree that there's a lot of good flavor in the beer but it tends to be very boozy.

 

[Kaleco]

Any idea how long this will last? I can get there on Sunday.

No idea, Shelly_belly. I haven't much experience with special tappings. Maybe someone else knows how long these special releases usually last?