CulturAle Press

Avery Go Play IPA, Session IPA, Boulder Colorado

Date:  December 10, 2018

The Story—   See our post from yesterday for information about Avery.   They’ve made their mark by creating some of the most complex strong beers on the market, but this beer shows they can still appeal to people who haven’t won the lottery

SIPAs are all the rage these days, and most achieve the double goal of a reasonable alcohol content and a big hop punch.  Only a fraction of them however, manage that combination with even an echo of the interplay between big malt and big hops that characterize the best of the IPAs and Double IPAs.    This is one that does.  We don’t know how they manage to create the illusion of fullness of body with the reduced booze, but it works.

The Beer—  Complex blend of dank hops with some grapefruit over a softly toasted malt foundation.  Some juice as it drinks.  Full bodied and engaging and dank and fruity hops.

Value — Very good.

 This week we focus on the US to highlight some great American craft beers, some of which we’ve found in researching out first US Beer publication: Brews and Snooze-– Breweries you can visit and walk back to a fine place to spend the night.  Look for it in 2019.

Next week we return to  HIGHLIGHTS OF EUROPE–  Including some surprisingly good beer in “bad beer cities” we’ve found in researching our next book – a guide to great beer in European tourist cities. (Planned publication 2019.)   We’ll shift back to great American beer for a few days before ending our year with “the best 10 beers of the last five years.”

 About these posts:  We taste and evaluate over a thousand beers every year.  The beers posted here rank in the top quarter of those tastings.   Values:  “fair” is a good beer at an above market price, “good” is worth the money, “very good” is a bargain, and “excellent” is a steal.