Soft malt caress weaves through ester-y citric fizz, allowing nutty chocolate cadence and distant caraway spicing to imbibe non-traditional light-bodied brown ale. Juicy raspberry, blueberry, and apricot fruiting contained by polite black currant bittering, barely redeeming slim buttery finish. Slight enough to entice lightweight pilsner fans.
All posts by John Fortunato
AVERY ELEVEN DOUBLE INDIA PALE ALE
Veritable ‘hophead fave’ with tingly mandarin orange, pineapple, apricot, and honeysuckle tang gains lively floral spicing seeping into quinine water-crisped herbal mint twinge of dependable anniversary ale.
AVERY CZAR IMPERIAL STOUT
Challenging ebony-hued Russian-styled stout brings whiskey malt palate to dry chocolate-raisin confluence before sherry, bourbon, and port nuances drape black cherry, black currant, and red grape surge. Raspberry puree and rum cake illusions reinforce brown sugar glaze and burnt wood bottom, deepening alcohol pungency.
AVERY COLLABORATION NOT LITIGATION ALE
Interestingly, Cali’s Russian River and Colorado’s Avery brewery’s both had rival Salvation ales in stock. Instead of litigating for brand name, the reputable microbreweries jointly crafted an alcohol-ridden intricacy. Candi-sugared Belgian yeast sweetens initial dried fig-raisin-date splurge, bruised banana-orange midst, and tertiary cherry-strawberry-peach twinge. At oak-aged brandy-like finish, dark rum-spiced cinnamon-clove-nutmeg illusions and vanilla bean-chicory notes find solace amongst fruity lucidity.
AVERY CALYPSO WHEAT ALE
Upsetting acidic astringency and flaccid wheat pretense given decent lemon-lime fizzed insistence, but barren flowery hop blandness kills the deal.
AVERY THE BEAST GRAND CRU
Magnificently bold Belgian-styled ruby red ale offers syrupy molasses-butterscotch sweetness to honeyed brandy-rum warmth, completely overriding initial vinous oak-aged cherry waft. Poised orange-bruised cherry puree mellifluence and subordinate fig-date souring infiltrate capacious sugared malt incursion of brain-twisting barleywine-finishing 14.9% alcohol knockout.
AVENTINUS WHEAT DOPPELBOCK
Luminous auburn-clouded bock registers up-front burgundy wanderlust furthered by musty Muscat grape pungency, leathered banana-clove perk, cotton-candied bubblegum sweetness, rich plum-prune tartness, mild grape skin tannins and dewy cellar fungi. Perfumed hop insistence delicately nudges honey nut-roasted pale-crystal malting and sweet toffee-butterscotch-vanilla subsidy, culminating in creamy barleywine resonance. Not as heavily alcoholic as stronger doppelbocks, yet rich, assertive, stimulating. Aged four years and quaffed on tap at Ambulance, busy 2013 version gained mellow caramelized malt syruping and pronounced red cherry, cantaloupe, banana daiquiri and honeydew sweetness.
AVENTINUS WEIZEN EISBOCK ALE
Beware highly explosive carbonation of cloudy, beige-headed, yeast sediment-laden Bavarian double bock. Intensely creamy milk chocolate malting, dense brown sugar richness and remedial bourbon-rum-sherry swell reach beguiling barleywine climax. Midway, floral hop vivacity pushes forward fig-plum incline and lively coriander-clove-ginger spicing to medicinal finish of endlessly complex, slow sipping, alcohol-burned digestif. Eloquent, indeed.
(SLACK TIDE) AVALON AMBER ALE
As refreshing and cleansing as the Jersey Shore wave depicted on the label, Avalon remains a solid-bodied ale perfect with dinner. Roasted barleymalts thicken steadfast bitter hop aftertaste. Mighty fine brew manages to be both lean and filling.
AUGUST SCHELL SCHMALTZ’S ALT
Cola-hued German-styled ale secures chocolate malted brown sugar efficacy and sour orange splurge captioning spruce-hopped dryness. Sweet tobacco leaf finish decorated by cocoa, prune, and fig.
AUGUST SCHELL PILSNER
Soft-toned cereal grain theme spiked by prickly spice hops, but quick dissolving barley-wheat finish needs richer malting.
AUGUST SCHELL PALE ALE
Prickly spice-hopped sharpness fades by bland malt finish as embittered grains calmly cloak orange-peach aftertaste.