Avery Anniversary Ale - Eighteen (Dry Hopped Rye Saison)
Avery Brewing Company

Avery Anniversary Ale - Eighteen (Dry Hopped Rye Saison)Avery Anniversary Ale - Eighteen (Dry Hopped Rye Saison)
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From:
Avery Brewing Company
 
Colorado, United States
Style:
Saison
ABV:
8.12%
Score:
83
Avg:
3.65 | pDev: 13.42%
Reviews:
184
Ratings:
320
Status:
Retired
Rated:
Dec 22, 2016
Added:
Jun 03, 2011
Wants:
  3
Gots:
  19
No description / notes.
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Ratings by JizackFH:
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Reviewed by JizackFH from New York

3.88/5  rDev +6.3%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
A - This beer pours a nice looking copper color. It has a small 1.5-finger slightly off-white head on it. The head has decent retention and leaves some lacing behind on the glass.

S - It smells of bready malt, belgian yeast, and a nice rye spiciness. There is also some citrus fruit and an earthy grass-like smell to it.

T - The taste starts off with some nice bready malts and some rye. There is quite a bit of earthiness that really goes well with hop presence, which is stronger than in your typical saison. The finish is lingering rye spiciness and mild hop bitterness.

M - This has a medium body and moderate carbonation. It goes down easy and has a nice smooth feel to it. There is some spicy tingliness from the rye and spices. There is also a nice moderate hop bitterness throughout. There is a nice refreshing quality to this as well.

O - This has good drinkability. It goes down easy and has a nice smooth feel to it. I also found it to be quite refreshing. It is definitely an interesting take on a farmhouse ale. The rye added some nice spice notes and the dry hopping definitely increased the hop presence. Overall, i thought it was a really nice beer. I recommend trying it, and I would buy it again.
Aug 17, 2011
More User Ratings:
 
Rated: 3.75 by csfcmitchell from Texas

Dec 22, 2016
 
Rated: 3.98 by RAFH from Michigan

Mar 28, 2016
 
Rated: 2.8 by Akeah from Colorado

Mar 16, 2016
 
Rated: 3 by jrob21 from North Carolina

May 13, 2015
 
Rated: 3.5 by Eziel from Ohio

Apr 27, 2015
 
Rated: 3.44 by swanfungus from California

Apr 05, 2015
 
Rated: 3.85 by tommy5 from Michigan

Feb 09, 2015
Photo of Jugs_McGhee
Reviewed by Jugs_McGhee from Colorado

2.23/5  rDev -38.9%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2 | taste: 2.25 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.25
BOTTLE: 2011 vintage. Brown glass. 1 pint 6 fl oz. Silver foil-ed over pry-off pressure cap.

Cost was $8.99 USD. O.G. 1.069. 8.12% ABV. Served cold into a tulip and allowed to warm over the course of consumption.

Reviewed live as a saison per the label. Expectations are average; I'm a bit skeptical of it given it was brewed with five different Belgian yeasts.

No bubble show forms as it's poured.

HEAD: Pours a vigorous 4 fingers of foam. Beige. Decent creaminess and thickness. Nice consistency. Average complexion. Retention is good for its ABV and age - easily 6-7 minutes. Leaves no lacing on the sides of the glass as it recedes.

BODY: Vibrant deep copper. Translucent and semitransparent. Appears well-carbonated. Clean; no yeast particles or hop sediment is visible.

Not a unique or special appearance for a saison. In fairness, it's well outside style conventions, featuring unbecoming obvious filtration. Not hazy like you'd expect.

AROMA: Hmm. Age hasn't suited the dry hopping well; depleted stale hops lurk beneath the surface. This character is quite off-putting when coupled with the ill-chosen copper malt and Belgian pale malt base. I get hints of oxidation: cardboard, marshmallow. I search for rye's signature spiciness, but don't find it. Yeast attenuation seems poor judging by the rampant sweetness. But this doesn't suffer from a dead Belgian yeast/lees off-character as I feared. Still, it's a poor aroma for a saison, lacking fundamentals: there's no intricate spicing (a la Fantome) or nuanced milkiness (a la Dupont), and I find no brettanomyces funkiness or even any grainy barnyard character (e.g. hay or straw). Ultimately, it evokes an over-malted Belgian pale. Very poorly handled.

Aromatic intensity is moderately high. One would expect a more subtle aroma in a saison.

TASTE: That weird oxidized marshmallow tone is present, and I'd say it ruins the flavour profile if not for the bit where the flavour profile wouldn't have been satisfying anyway; it's heavily over-malted, with plenty of copper malt (more apt for a barleywine or even wee heavy) and pale malt (too sweet for a saison) in addition to the usual clean barley characteristics. What's missing is the promised rye malt (which would have lent this needed subtle spiciness) and barnyard/farmhouse malt character (e.g. hay, straw, grains, et al). There's no spice profile at all, nor is there any milkiness or brettanomyces character...so how is this a saison, exactly? The dry hopping hasn't lent this any interesting hop characteristics, though I suppose I would've found those more in the aroma anyway. Hop presence is minimal but what little there is floral in character; at least in this minor respect they satisfied one of the conventions of the style.

Has some ill-placed frutiness (replete with equally unwelcome esters), English caramel/caramalt, and even toffee...are they after a Belgian feel or a British one? The subtle white pepper notes I crave in a saison are sorely absent. There isn't even any clove or basic attempt at spice. What happened?

Where to start with the criticism? Well, the balance is completely off, and the build is completely wrong. Even as a glorified Belgian pale, it's overmalted and overly sweet, and lacks depth of flavour, complexity/intricacy, subtlety, and nuance. Flavour duration is above average, as is flavour intensity (in both cases, this is to its detriment). I do not like this, but it's not unenjoyable.

The ABV is pretty well disguised. This may be its best characteristic.

As it warms, I pick up on some artificial vanillin - perhaps a byproduct of its slight oxidation during aging?

TEXTURE: Closer to the style than the taste, but still quite lackluster. It's medium-bodied, smooth, wet, aptly carbonated, unrefreshing, a bit stale, and a bit gushed.
Slight astringency is noticeable.

Not oily, hot, boozy, harsh, rough or scratchy.

Overall presence on the palate is bad. This doesn't elevate the beer, nor does it do much to complement the taste.

OVERALL: A horribly conceived stab at a saison, Eighteen couldn't be further from its intended style and doesn't succeed as any other. Some of the worst work Avery's done and a beer I'd avoid in the future. Not only is it not a saison, the rye that was meant to be so focal in the build never even appears. I have to say I'm surprised this even made it to market. This is a strong Avoid, and is the kind of poor quality off-style brew I'd expect from someone like Bristol, but it's not undrinkable.

D-

***
2017.10.30: 7 years later, I figured I'd revisit the other bottle of this I had. $8.99 USD per bottle.

Aroma brings almost nothing but fruit, hitting on pear, peach, and green apple (possibly diacetyl). Smells more like Tusker Lager than it does a proper saison.

Taste yields heavy fruity esters from the Belgian yeasts as well as warm fermentation-derived pear and appleskin. Not as bad as I remembered it, but poor for a saison.

D+ / NOT RECOMMENDED
Dec 31, 2014
 
Rated: 3 by Hellpop65 from Kansas

Dec 13, 2014
 
Rated: 4.25 by olradetbalder from Sweden

Nov 14, 2014
 
Rated: 3.5 by athomasPSU from Massachusetts

Oct 28, 2014
 
Rated: 3.35 by booga73 from Michigan

Oct 14, 2014
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Reviewed by pat61 from Minnesota

4.25/5  rDev +16.4%
Had a fresh one on tap in 2012 and had a May 2011 bottle also in 2012. The dry hopping gives a spicy floral character which obscures some of the saison yeast notes.
Spicy nose from the hops and the rye, light floral, fruit, caramel, light roast
Pours a beautiful clear dark reddish amber under a thin white finely bubbled foam cap.
Palate starts malty, big rye flavors, caramel, spicy, with a slight tang and blight, large pitted fruit. Dries on the finish with a moderate bitter hop accent.
Medium body and medium high carbonation, slightly warming.
Sep 16, 2014
 
Rated: 3.25 by jzeilinger from Pennsylvania

Sep 10, 2014
 
Rated: 4 by richkrull from Wisconsin

Jul 26, 2014
 
Rated: 3.5 by zestar from California

Jul 13, 2014
 
Rated: 3.25 by KAF from Iowa

Jul 02, 2014
Photo of Can_if_you_can
Reviewed by Can_if_you_can from Minnesota

3.46/5  rDev -5.2%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5
Reviewed from notes, no date, drank with Nate on his second trip down.

Nate says after taste reminds him of Fresca. Medium cloudy brown with a thin white head, smells like an aged saison, rye definitely apparent in smell and taste, also taste faintly yeasty and clovey. Medium low in carbonation, slightly boozy. Taste like a mild version of John Henry's 3 lick spiker ale almost exactly.
Apr 23, 2014
 
Rated: 4 by afsdan from Colorado

Apr 04, 2014
Avery Anniversary Ale - Eighteen (Dry Hopped Rye Saison) from Avery Brewing Company
Beer rating: 83 out of 100 with 320 ratings