What's at Avery

On any given Saturday or Sunday I tend to head down to Avery and see what they have special in the tasting room. It's a 15 minute drive, if that. Which makes life even sweeter when you enjoy the brews like I do. I went last Friday by myself and bellied up to the bar which was lucky as hell considering it was a barrel tapping night of the infamous Trogdor. This particular tapping was the Bourbon Barrel aged version that quite frankly was intense enough to remind me of a mouthful of Red Man chew. Doesn't sound good does it? In the beers defense I have never really been that big on smoky tasting beers. Like Scotch ales and such. And this was no different. In fact it was so intense the dude next to me loves smoky beers and he couldn't handle it. That's not to say it's not good. Just not my style.

Next was the Erimita the 3rd. or just Erimita III. A beautiful sour barrel aged ale that tastes of cherries and Cabernet. Which makes sense since it was aged in Cab barrels. It's not too sour and has a nice whiff of oak on the nose if you really dig deep into your olfactory blues. As it warmed up the mouth feel got even more intense and chewy. A great one and one of my favorites.

Every summer Avery comes out with the Lillikoi / Leopoldo which is a lighter ale, crisp yet un-filtered with nice subtle hints of passion fruit (Lillikoi). I really like this one. It's got some nice sourness to it along with a yeast hit that really makes it nice n bread-y. To me it's more Grapefruit then Passion fruit. But who cares. Cuz this one is worth quaffing on any given Front Range day.

Then came the Simcoe / Chinook version of their IPA. Hot damn was this good. I already love the IPA (always in our fridge) but the twist with these West Coast hops made it something special. It is a bit 'catty', or what I like to call dank, but that doesn't remove any of the delicious hop aromas that have consistently been in the original IPA. And really smooth too. It just kinda hangs in your mouth for a bit with a head full of flowers.

Lastly was a good beer that ultimately made my stomach do back flips for the rest of the day/evening. Good tasting, but almost painful. It's the Boulderweisse. Barrel aged in Cab Sav barrels for up to 3 years yet with no distinct colors of doing so. Hugely sour, almost too much for my taste, with hints of green apple which is really nice. It almost saves the beer in my opinion. It's got that live yeast funk as well which is what made me blow away the household, as it were. My suggestion is if you go for a full glass, at $10, drink with caution. Maybe down a Kambucha beforehand!

cheers

D