Avery The Reverend review

Happy holiday weekend everyone! Hope you all stocked up for the long summer weekend. I sure did. This time, I get an extra day to buy beer as now it is legal to buy beer on Sundays here in Colorado. Today's beer comes from one of my favorite Colorado breweries - Avery Brewing Company. It also marks my first venture into Belgian Quads. Today I give you The Reverend. Part of the Heaven and Hell series from Avery. This brew comes in a tall 22oz bomber bottle that's topped off in red foil. The figure on the label reminds me of Mr. Spock from Star Trek (go figure). I knew up front that this beer is to be respected as it comes in at a hefty 10% ABV. This beer is loaded down with a ton of Belgian malts as well as a generous portion of dark Belgian sugars. Just a little something extra for the yeast to chew on.

This beer pours a deep amber color that yielded very little head. What head remained after the pour was thin and tan. This brew had been stored a bit cold in the fridge so I let it breathe a bit before imbibing. The glass quickly gathered a lot of condensation on the snifter so I knew it was cold. Once I wiped the sweat from the glass I could see that this brew was mostly clear with perhaps a slight chill haze. The initial aromas gave me a hint of fruit, perhaps cherries mixed with other spices with a definitive Belgian yeast aroma. There was a fair amount of malts detected in the smell as well.

The first taste was surprising as the higher alcohol gave it a bit of a medicinal taste yet without a warming burn. It is malty and mildly carbonated but not overly so. I was getting a sense of a flashback to their Avery Fifteen but without the funky brett taste. This quad is lightly bitter (just 10 IBU) with a crisp dry finish. You get the feeling that this beer is in a class above the common beers. It sips like a foreign brew with an American twist.

Avery's web site describes this beer as having hints of dark cherries, currants, and molasses, complimented by an underlying spiciness. I detect the cherries but I don't eat currants often enough to tell you what that tastes like. As for molasses, I'd probably not describe it that way. I give that distinction to more of the darker and thicker stouts rather than in this quadrupel ale. This beer does taste a tad sweet yet I drink it with just a bit of discretion. First because it is high alcohol and second, the taste is just spicy enough to make you want to drink it slowly.

Seeing how this is my first adventure with a Quad, I'll hold off making any rash scoring decisions on this brew. While I feel that this beer is made well I also have to wait until I've tasted a couple others to pass final judgment. Still, I'll give this beer a modest 3.3 out of 5 initially but will remind myself to revisit this beer again once I've had a chance to try others of this style. I've got an Ommegang Three Philosophers waiting for me later this weekend so I'll get to compare the two. Ratebeer and BeerAdvocate rated this fairly high but you be the judge.

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Avery The Reverend

Anyone have any suggestions for a food pairing with this brew? A dessert perhaps? Or perhaps an appetizer? I'm wanting to eat something with this beer.

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