Anyone Who Wants to Be in Charge Probably Shouldn’t Be (Avery Ale to the Chief)

stinky — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 04:20:08 +0000

So the obvious question is wtf is a “Presidential Pale Ale.” The obvious answer is, of course, stfu, dygdb¹.

I happened to have three ounces of Avery’s new bomber, Ale to the Chief, today. Huge assault of hop bitterness on the nose. Hyper light body for 8+% abv. Phenomenally complex finish of fruity hops, pineapple then passion fruit then pine then I only had three ounces.

Home run for Adam Avery and beer in general. Drink immediately.

¹dygdb – drink your goddamn beer

Infected Sessions (Avery Fifteen)

mrb — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 19:57:02 +0000

Stinky and I have been on a pretty regular Friday after work brew session schedule these days, which is suiting me just fine. On the way to meet up with me at work, Stinky picked up the most recent of Avery’s anniversary beers — the “Fifteen.” Avery has been doing these anniversary brews for at least the past four or five years, with a range of styles from a Saison to a Weizen Dopplebock, to this, a sort of Belgian farmhouse “wild yeast” beer. Fifteen is brewed with 100% brettanomyces yeast, which is one of the signatures of experimental American beer — brewers like Russian River and Jolly Pumpkin are playing around with the chemistry extracted from famous European (primarily Belgian) beers to some pretty amazing ends. Most of the beers end up pretty intense (no, I won’t say “extreme”) and that is a good thing — trying to match the profile of a traditional Gueuze beer or other Belgian Specialty styles is a courageous and highly scientific pursuit, and making successful, ageable beers is no joke.

Avery has decided to keep the intensity a little bit more restrained with the Fifteen, which takes a wild yeast ale base and then adds black mission figs, hibiscus flowers and white pepper. Fifteen pours a nice darkish golden color with a fluffy white head which dissipates quickly and leaves a long trail behind it. The nose is very complex and remains complex throughout the course of the bottle. It has authentic wild Belgian yeast smells going on, with hay, ripe fruits, and other alternatively earthy, sweet, and sour notes coming through. It is a pleasure to sit around and smell this beer and then drinking it is a pleasant surprise. Avery has managed to create one of the first “Infected Session” beers I’ve ever had. It drinks really smooth, with a mild amount of funkiness on the palate, smoothed out by a bit of spicy dryness. This beer had the right kind of body to drink on a moderately warm summer day after work — it wasn’t too thick or syrupy, and the carbonation was at a perfect level for my palate. I didn’t get much of the fig in there, but man, this beer is drinkable! At 8% ABV, I could definitely handle a few of these — and that’s no surprise considering I really enjoy a wide range of Avery’s beers. For me, this Infected Session was a revelation, and I’ll definitely be going back for more.

brew dog blog » avery

Anyone Who Wants to Be in Charge Probably Shouldn’t Be (Avery Ale to the Chief)

Infected Sessions (Avery Fifteen)