Random Names from Awesome Companies - Avery Brewing: Collaboration, Not Litigation Ale (Batch 2) [Colorado]

When your parents visit and come bearing ales, it's typically the start to a good day. Particularly, as I've mentioned before, when they come bearing Belgian Strong Dark ales. I feel like there should be a proverb to that effect written down somewhere.

The bottle my father sent me was none other than Avery Brewing and Russian River Valley's mash-up of a brew, Collaboration - Not Litigation Ale. Apparently, sometime back in 2006, the people at Avery and Russian River Valley teamed up in the effort to make an epic brew between friends. As a note, I was a little wary of Avery; the only Avery beer I'd had up to this point was named "The Beast," a chocolaty badass of a Belgian Strong Dark (at 14% ABV) that knocked me on my tail in less time than it took me to drink it. Delicious nevertheless. To be honest though, they were pairing up with Russian River Valley, a company which, I will wholeheartedly swear is incapable of making bad beer. (Hell, BeerAdvocate gives them an A-rating. I feel pretty comfortable making that statement.)

I cracked a 1pt 6oz bottle of this and poured it into a Piraat tulip glass. The beer pours a nice burnt orange, arguably whiskey-colored brown with some sticky lacing. The head was about a finger-tip thick, but subsided pretty quickly. The aroma wasn't particularly forward, but I caught some basic malts, yeast, and maybe a bit of fruit. The taste was equally subtle. There was a light bit of carbonation, and then a well-balanced series of malts, finished off with hints of turbinado sugar. I was tempted to let it warm up a bit more, but the flavor pretty much stayed the same as before even after I did. The ABV was 8.72, which isn't too harsh for a Belgian Strong Dark. It was just enough to leave me feeling warm and cozy after finishing it.

Overall this was a nice and well balanced beer. For the most part, it's what I expected from these guys. It just makes me a little anxious to see what else these collaborators have in store. Hopefully, we'll see some ridiculously tasty things in the near future.

Avery Brewing - Collaboration, Not Litigation Ale ***1/2/***** (3 1/2 out of 5 stars)
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