Bottled January 2006, Batch 1.
My oh my! In the wake of Samael’s & The Beast, I was thinking that Avery had just about covered the bases on MASSIVE beers, but this went to a new level.
Poured from the 12 oz bottle into the Gouden Carolus mini-chalice it essentially had a body that is equivalent to motor oil, with a milk chocolate bubbly head that is quickly gone. Very little lace.
Aroma has strong but not overpowering alcohol, but it is intensely sweet. I mean SWEET, and that’s coming from someone who generally enjoys sweet beers.
On to the taste – well it’s definitely in the soy sauce/Teriyaki/Worcester sauce category with excess alcohol added! The sweetness is HUGE, even by my standards. Chocolate covered raisins with a little smoke too.
As usual, I was drinking a 16 oz glass of water with my 12 oz of beer, but I found myself drinking over twice as much water with these 12 oz. Like several of the other Avery massive brews the 12 oz could easily be split amongst two BA’s.
Obviously a sipper, but it lacks the drinkability of the two other big hitters from Avery, The Beast and Samael’s and I enjoyed it slightly less than those two. Having said that, this really is a “must try at least once” beer.