Avery Barrel Series #12 - Oud Floris

For the record I/we spent over $100 on a 12 pack of 12 oz bottles. Why? Great question. And quite frankly it's hard to justify unless you are a fanatic about specialty beers like I am and thousands of other folks across the globe. The wife and I got to the tasting room about 2 hours before they released the beer for sale. It was quite fun. They had some special barrels available that were leftover from Sour Fest for that day and that day only. Which included Ross' Mom, Bad Apple, and Grapes of Wrath. So waiting in line suited us just fine. I am talking about Avery's Oud Floris which is a barrel aged sour. When I say barrel aged I mean 4 different types of barrels. Here's the run down on time spent in barrels over a 3 year period:


67% Cabernet Sav
17% Bourbon
8% Rum
8% Chardonnay

I tend to be a bit suspicious when I see beer being brewed with such complication. But wholly cow is this beer special. It comes in at 9.39% with no heat to it whatsoever. The smell is chocolatey and deeply complex. As stated above the Cab barreling stands out more than anything else. Yet the combo of it all gives off a wonderful raisin smell and taste. The first sip was explosive and sticky right off the bat. As with many sours it's quite tart but incredibly balanced with the flavors mentioned above. I even get a nice taste of cherry popovers. So good. It's really effervescent. Like a champagne as I have compared others to before. And it has that signature sourness that most Avery barrel series have. Which is amazingly good compared to other breweries and their barreled sours. Not being a shill. It's just true IMO.

Menu for the day

Getting there early with no line and plenty of rare beers to taste

Waiting in line. Yes, we were 1st

Getting ready for the sale.

Oud Floris will not be easy to find. If you are curious I would call ahead of time and ask your favorit good quality liquor store. Some of them don't put rare beers on the shelves but rather in the back. So you gotta ask!

So as not to create another post I'll go into some of the specialty brews we got to have while waiting for the sell of the Oud Floris:

Ross' Mom
Super tart with tastes of cherries. Even sweet-tartish. The yeast stood out nicely as well without it being too sugary. A classic in your face sour. Those who don't like sours will hate this.

Bad Apple
Friggin delicious. Most folks flocked to this one. It has hints of Apple Jolly Rancher yet smells of fresh apples. New Zealand Sauv Blanc flavors. Champagne like taste and feel that is also cider like. Incredibly refreshing for the 100 degree day we had.

Grapes of Wrath
Very dark in color with tastes of Cabernet standing out as it was aged in those barrels. Fairly tart but refreshing with hints of dark cherries, Mellow carbonation. Delicious.

cheers

D