Posted by: Tyler Rippeteau
Nov. 27, 2012
As I sit here on my patio on a mild, late fall afternoon
here in Boulder to reflect on The
Avery Project, what surprised me the most was how long it took me to
finish. I initially anticipated that it
would take me a couple of months, tops. As
it turns out, however, finding an hour to sit down and really, truly focus on a
beer, no matter how easily obtainable it is, is not so easy to do three times a
week.
So here we are 1 year, 2 months and 15 days later; 276
ounces of beer later, $129.83 and 617-plus IBUs consumed later; and 24 blog
posts later. That is what it took for me
to review 20 Avery beers.
To be fair, 20 Avery beers are not your typical 20 beers. The average ABV of beers I drank for this
project was 9.5%, which works out to be the equivalent of 43.7 regular,
12-ounce Budweiser’s…at least in terms of alcohol consumed. Flavor is a different story – not sure there
are enough Buds on the planet to equal the amount flavor I experienced during
this project.
When I set out on this little excursion, my goal was to get
to know my new hometown brewery in a much more intimate sense - and to expand
my beer horizons with their wide variety of styles. Along the way I was hoping that my journey
through 20 of their beers might enlighten a few people as to what Avery is
capable of accomplishing aside from their flagship brew. Since many beer drinkers, particularly those
outside of
Colorado, only know Avery for their IPA
I wanted others to have the chance to see more of what those of us here in
Boulder see of our hometown’s most well-known beer producer.
By the way, when I say that this journey was through 20
beers, 20 is the number that I actually wrote about and posted. During my visits
to the taproom over the past year I have probably sampled 50-plus Avery
offerings, many of which did not make it into the project. This was not because they weren’t great
beers, rather that when I drank them I was not in a position to review. Drinking great beer at the brewery with great
company is not exactly the time to break out the notes and start
reviewing.
Even during several of the occasions when I was able to take
notes at the brewery I was often unable to convert those notes into full
posts. At times it was not just because
I never had the time to make the conversion, but rather because of the intent
of the project. Had I began this whole
thing as an effort to only review rare and special releases that no one outside
of Boulder really gets a chance to try than my trip to the 19th
Anniversary party would have yielded five or six reviews…or maybe a few less
considering that by the end of said party I managed to spill three ounces of
Uncle Jacob’s on myself (I know, sacrilegious).
That day I had at least one glass of Summer’s Day IPA, Bourbon Barrel
Aged Salvation, Ross’s Mom, Tweak and, as
indicated above, more than my fair share of Uncle Jacob’s Stout.
Some other notable beers that I had over the past year
at/from Avery – Trogdor,
Piglet Purgatory, Odio Equum, Out of Spec and Lilikoi Mahu. All of these were amazing in their own way
(and in one or two cases a little too weird), but again, this wasn’t about
showcasing beers that no one can get. Avery
has very strong flagships, solid seasonals, several excellent rotating series
and some spectacular one offs – all of which deserved some attention here.
With all of that said, there are a few beers that could have
(and maybe should have) easily been included in this project but were not. I’ll start with my favorite beer that did not
make the cut – Mephistopheles
Stout – one of my all time favorite beers.
I actually wrote a review for it while sitting at the West End Tavern here in
Boulder, but sadly it was a month before I was able to sit down to turn those
notes into a full review. Writing a post
based on month-old notes did not seem appropriate for a beer that deserves such
respect. I ended up going with The
Beast as the representative from the “Demons of Ale” series instead – which
I was able to review and post in a much more timely manner.
So I guess now we’re at $134.83 + tip for the whole project.
Collaboration
not Litigation was a similar story.
This one I actually reviewed at home one night and I did not forget
about it. Instead, my computer crashed
half-way through the review and I never was able to retrieve it. Rather than go on memory alone, I chose to
skip it. An $8 mistake bringing the new
total spent to $142.84. By the way, this
is the eighth most reviewed Avery beer on Beer Advocate.
Next, Old
Jubilation is probably one of two that I feel the worst about missing out
on. No, it isn’t my favorite seasonal
from Avery, but it is one of the most popular and I simply never got around to
reviewing it. The good news for you all
though is that everyone else did – it is by far the most reviewed
full-production seasonal from Avery.
And that brings us to the final beer that could/should have
been included here, which is Eremita. Eremita is a taproom exclusive, sour, brett
beer that has had four iterations over the past year. They have all been very good and I am
slightly ashamed that I never got around to reviewing any of the four of
them. I may have to add an addendum to
the project just to sneak one of these in.
This beer really does say a lot about the brewery.
Additionally, some of you may have noted that two very
important Avery beers did not get reviewed for this project – Hog
Heaven Barleywine and Maharaja
Double IPA. The reason I skipped
those two is because they were both already reviewed here during our Barleywine
Project and DIPA Project respectively. I
did not want to unnecessarily double up on them.
Anyhow, a strong argument can be made that the lack of any
one of the above beers makes this project incomplete, but on the other hand,
what would I have removed from the list?
Karma? Rumpkin?
The
Reverend? Surprisingly, only 20 beers simply left too many bases
to cover.
Ultimately, I do believe that I was able to provide a good
mix of everyday Avery brews, special, but widely available beers and the rare,
highly sought after special-releases. I
made sure to review a few of the everyday, year-round releases like Ellie’s
and IPA,
a couple from the “Trinity of Ales” series (Reverend
and Salvation),
both beers from the “Annual Barrel-Aged” series, a few from the regular “Barrel-Aged
Series”, a collaboration (Repoterrior),
a couple Anniversary brews (Thirteen
& Nineteen),
a “Demons of Ale” release (The
Beast) and finally a special, once-every-four years brew in the Ale
to the Chief. I think, overall, it
is a pretty solid representation of what Avery Brewing Company does.
 |
| Collection of Avery bottles, not necessarily what I reviewed |
I worked hard to avoid simply reviewing the styles that I
prefer and I made an effort to try some things that weren’t necessarily what I
would always reach for and I am glad that I did. I learned a lot more that way and I am hoping
that you, the readers, have appreciated that and learned from it as well. Thanks for enjoying The
Avery Project. Stay tuned for the
completion of The
Barleywine Project and for whatever comes next here at 20 Beers in 20 Nights.
