The Beast Grand Cru 2006

The Beast
Avery Brewing Company
Boulder, Colorado
16.21% ABV
Style: Grand Cru

C: Slightly Cloudy
H: Burgundy-ish
N: Tons of Sweet Malt, Dark Fruit (Figs, Plums, Etc), Still has some Booze to the nose too

The Ferm: Wow well the dark bottle pulled me in, and the red foil top closed the deal for me. A bottle of 2006 Avery Beast was a very good way to close out a big week of 10%+ ABV Beers.
This Grand Cru is really a "beast" of a beer. While I have had this beer from draft before, it was just wayy tooo boozey to truly appreciate the effort put in from the fine brewers from Avery Brewing Company.
The 2006 bottle allowed for the booze to calm down and the complex malt notes to shine. There was a hint of oxidation to the bottle, but for the most part the super sweet,almost syrup textured beer was very good. Lots of dark candy sugar notes, dark fruit, and even a bite of bitterness on the tail-end.

Score: 3.865
(I am going to buy all three big ABV bottles and sit on all three for some time!)

AleSmith Grand Cru

Grand Cru
AleSmith Brewing Company
San Diego, California
10.00% ABV
Style: Belgian Strong Dark Ale


C: Cloudy
H: Amber
N: Booze Heavy, Malt Strong, and lots of Yeast Odors

Miguel: This one is a gift that Kirk Diggler gave me for my birthday last month.  And as we opened it up we got some more knowledge dropped on us by Fresh Beer Webguy about the meaning behind the name Grand Cru.  That guy isn't a certified Cicerone for nothing.  This particular Grand Cru is of the Belgian Strong Dark persuasion.  A malty nose with hints of caramel in it and an obvious Belgian yeast character.  The taste is a lot of the same with some dark fruit added in.  There is a booziness about it that becomes even more so when it warms up.  While I think this is a solid beer I wouldn't say this is AleSmith's best effort.  They have numerous others that I believe are much more worthy of a name like Grand Cru.

Score: 3.7224

The Ferm: Holy Booze Batman.....this beer is HOTTTT! Tons of yeast in the attack followed by a large amount of dark fruit. But wait....the BOOZE comes back the tail-end of the taste is covered in Booze Burn. Very good beer even though it is hot. I could see this aging extremely well. Overall not my favorite AleSmith beer, but good!
Score: 3.802

Overall: 3.7612