Oud Floris
Avery Brewing Company

Oud FlorisOud Floris
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From:
Avery Brewing Company
 
Colorado, United States
Style:
Flanders Oud Bruin
ABV:
9.39%
Score:
94
Avg:
4.23 | pDev: 8.98%
Reviews:
35
Ratings:
126
Status:
Retired
Rated:
Sep 13, 2019
Added:
Jun 25, 2012
Wants:
  77
Gots:
  37
Flanders-style Oud Bruin. An homage to the complex sweet and tart beers of the Flanders region. A blend of barrel-aged wild beers of various ages.

67% aged in Cab Sauv Barrels
17% aged in Bourbon Barrels
8% aged in Rum Barrels
8% aged in Chardonnay Barrels
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by Prospero:
Photo of Prospero
Reviewed by Prospero from Colorado

4.5/5  rDev +6.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
Love this style and with barrel-aging was anxious to see how it blended. This beer did not disappoint!

Poured a dark brown from the bottle with a tan head, pretty good lacing and retention for BA. The smell was filled with lots of character, nice tartness of fruit to it with scents of vanilla, caramel and tart cherries and dark fruit to it with the bourbon and oak blending in. The taste was simply amazing. A classic Oud Bruin base pretty mouth puckering but great body and character from all the barrel aging that brought so much more flavor to the table. The bourbon mixed nicely with the malt bill in the brown, the Cabernet & Chardonnay tannin blended well to balance the tartness, and coupled with the aroma just sent this sour brown to the top of my list for this style. Rich, medium bodied beer, even being mouth puckering it was extremely drinkable!

Simply amazing beer. Like others have mentioned this is better than La Folie. Great job Avery, hope you brew one like it again.
Jul 26, 2012
More User Ratings:
Photo of rodbeermunch
Reviewed by rodbeermunch from Nevada

3.59/5  rDev -15.1%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
From May 2014. Brown pour, tan head, 1/2" average size and retention, possibly better than average when parsed by style.

Aroma was wood, acetic acid, brown and red like malt patterns. Mostly red wine feels, the use of 3 other barrels kind of muddles it a bit. Bit of dark fruit notes.

Taste was a bit boozier than I like my flanders, but the oud bruin style does tend to be bigger than the red. The abv seems to diminish the leathery and earthy aspect of style. The sourness is probably a tad higher than average for style, but below Oude Tart (my standard). The other barrel influence isn't really noticeable beyond the red wine and dark fruit notes, maybe a hint of vanilla from the bourbon. I really don't know what the point of 4 different barrels was, other than to possibly try and justify the high price tag ($15).

Its like I liked it, but saw ways to improve it. Wouldn't repeat purchase bc of cost prohibitive.
Sep 13, 2019
Photo of Sammy
Reviewed by Sammy from Canada (ON)

4.06/5  rDev -4%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
Seven year old masterpiece. Bourbon sweetness and richness well integrated with wine ageing. Mouthfeel is slightly above average. Tasty gem without signs of alcohol.
Jun 11, 2019
 
Rated: 4.5 by Knobs303 from Colorado

Sep 02, 2018
Photo of Jugs_McGhee
Reviewed by Jugs_McGhee from Colorado

3.69/5  rDev -12.8%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4
BOTTLE: 2012 vintage. 12 fl oz. Brown glass with gold foil covering the crown cap. Bottled June 14th, 2012. 252 cases produced. #12 in Avery's barrel aged series.

9.39% ABV. Barrel aged "Flanders-esque" sour brown ale.

HEAD: 5-6cm of head. Pale khaki colour. Not the most robust, but not thin either. Retention isn't bad - maybe 3 minutes at best. No lacing is left on the sides of the glass after it's receded fully.

BODY: Translucent semitransparent amber of average vibrance. More appropriate for a Flanders red ale than an oud bruin, but nevertheless appealing. I see no yeast/lees within.

Appears aptly carbonated. It's a nice overall look for an oud bruin, but there's ample room for improvement.

AROMA: Nails the style, more or less. Acetic acid, obvious oak wood (along with vanilla, but I assume that's from the bourbon barrel as well), bacterial complexity (lactobacillus is present, though not dominant per se), and vague fruitiness (maybe dates and grapes). The barrel character is atypical of the style in spite of the presence of oak, with plenty of barrel sugars coming in and countering what should be dominant - the sourness - with too much sweetness. Sourness is a meagre 2/10 in terms of intensity, making this brew hardly seem puckering.

Still, this aroma suggests a balanced and true-to-style brew with some interesting barrel notes - and I think that's exactly what Avery was after with this beer. Still, the wine barrel character isn't horribly evocative, nor are the rum or bourbon barrel notes.

TASTE & TEXTURE: Tart and puckering, indeed - I misjudged the sourness horribly going off the aroma. This is easily a 6-7/10 in terms of sourness, though a lot of it is just lactobacillus, and it lacks the bacterial intricacy of the best truly spontaneously fermented expressions of the style. There's plenty of lactic acid and wild yeasty twang bouncing around in the build, along with the requisite acetic acid and oak.

What never comes through is the high ABV; I'll never know how Avery hides their high ABVs so well (or, to be fair, why they think every barrel aged beer they put out has to be a monster even in delicate styles like oud bruin). There's no booziness or heat here at all.

More umami notes of pie crust manifest - always a treat in any Flanders wild ale. Faint suggestions of grape, raisin, and date do emerge, along with some barrel sugar sweetness.

Speaking of the barrel character: only the wine comes through, which is fine by me (who wants the coconut and sugarcane of bourbon/rum in their oud bruin anyway?). The wine acidity plays well with the acetic notes and grape/raisin notes, fitting in naturally. Would I know this was aged in cabernet sauvignon barrels specifically in a blind tasting? Likely not, but it does seem to be red wine, and I don't find any crisp chardonnay notes like pear. Red wine was a good choice for aging this oud bruin, though I do think its tannic sharpness and acidity makes it an inferior choice to virgin oak.

Brown sugar. A hint of caramel. Subtle leather (possibly from the bourbon barrrel). Brown malts. A kiss of English character in the form of biscuity almost nutty notes.

Certainly balanced, even if the thick red wine does get too prominent on the finish.

Texture is oddly chewy and leathery for an oud bruin. Medium to full-bodied, with a high acidity that holds it back from being refreshing. Slightly coarse and dry (especially in the first act), which is a little odd. Carbonation is slightly high. I do notice some pleasant warmth in the stomach drinking this; maybe that's the ABV finally giving a greeting.

While this lacks an ideal harmony of texture and taste, the mouthfeel is generally well executed at least to the extent that it doesn't get in the way of the flavours. Nice depth of flavour, with high flavour duration and intensity. True, most great expressions of the style are a bit more subtle and delicate in their execution, but Avery opted for a bolder brew when they through this in barrels and upped the ABV.

OVERALL: Avery's barrel series continues its excellence with this oud bruin, though it seems the barrel notes aren't coming through as vividly as Avery's brewers/blenders may have hoped. Unnecessarily high in alcohol, though unlike Avery's stouts, barleywines, monstrous Belgian ales, and pumpkin beers, it isn't noticeable except as a pleasant warmth after consumption. In any case, this is amongst the best American attempts at the style I've sampled, though it does fall short of the best Belgian expressions of the style. Absolutely worth trying and worth the price once (even if traditionalists might prefer a 4 pack of Petrus). I'd like to see this aged entirely in virgin oak with less lactobacillus and more other bacteria strains as well as less acidity for a more delicate and dialed in brew; the result could be world class.

It's aged well aside from beginnings of cardboardy notes indicating it will oxidize going forward. Drink now.

B (3.69) / GOOD
Aug 29, 2016
 
Rated: 4.19 by jshusc from South Carolina

Apr 04, 2015
 
Rated: 3.5 by Kyrojack from Indiana

Jan 04, 2015
 
Rated: 4.25 by wethorseblanket from California

Jan 01, 2015
 
Rated: 4.25 by BT_Bobandy from Ohio

Oct 27, 2014
 
Rated: 4 by dkw0063 from Texas

Oct 21, 2014
 
Rated: 4.5 by Axnjxn from North Carolina

Oct 01, 2014
 
Rated: 4.25 by atone315 from Wisconsin

Sep 09, 2014
 
Rated: 4.25 by JCam9981 from North Carolina

Sep 07, 2014
 
Rated: 4.25 by funkyaudio from Illinois

Sep 01, 2014
 
Rated: 4.24 by kingjohnh from New Mexico

Sep 01, 2014
 
Rated: 4 by Satchboogie from Belgium

Aug 26, 2014
 
Rated: 4 by zestar from California

Jul 13, 2014
 
Rated: 4.25 by threedaggers from Kentucky

Jun 29, 2014
 
Rated: 4.5 by bruindre from Massachusetts

Jun 17, 2014
 
Rated: 3 by wrightst from Maryland

Jun 06, 2014
Oud Floris from Avery Brewing Company
Beer rating: 94 out of 100 with 126 ratings