III Dolia
Avery Brewing Company

Bottle at share. Dark brown pour with a foamy off-white head. Aroma is sour, vinous. Taste is sour with some notes of pit fruit and a large amount of pucker.

 

 

 

 

12 ounce bottle into a snifter.

Pours a mostly clear amber, with a small head and some foamy cling. The smell is sour, kind of funky, malt, cherries, some red wine and grapes, light green apple, a little peppercorn when warm. The taste is sour up front- but not overly so, tartness, wine, malt, yeast, cherries, raisins. caramel. brown sugar, oak. The more I drink this, the better it tastes. Smooth, solid body, the taste lingers.

This is good stuff, complex and well blended. The Madeira barrels really give it a different twist. Lucky for me to be at the brewery when it was available.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

i would put this series among the most compelling in all of beer, and i will be gosh darned if i ever miss another one. looking back on all the early releases, i wish i just bucked up for them, now that they are gone forever. this is not to be missed either, probably the strongest presence of madeira in all the beers ive ever had aged in those barrels, its really forward in nose and taste and reminds me of a crazy mushroom sauce for prime rib my mother used to make. it takes me there from this barrel, and i dig it hard. the beer is hazy and thick, not real carbonated, and sweet red colored, short of brown, but real deep. its also one of the most sour beers ive had from avery, or anyone else for that matter, its sharp and caustic and gripping, but definitely awesome, and definitely not at all one dimensional, with as much funk as acidity, even if it comes on late and goes away quickly. behind all the wine is a deep cherry flavor, raisin, dried cranberry, and brown sugar. its unique and vinous and puckery and complex, with a ton of wet wood to go with what was aged on it. i really dont think that this is unreasonably priced at twelve or so bucks a bottle, i know thats a lot for twelve ounces, but think about what all goes into this. process intensive to say the least, let alone the fancy wine barrels. i loved it, but ive loved them all...

edit: drinking even better another couple of years older now, seems like the hottest aspects of the acidity are gone, and the intensity of the madeira has mellowed to a level that lets some of the other wines come out. more carbonated too, a gentle swirl of the glass raises a short white head. every bit as good as it ever was, if you still have you, you are lucky, and should open it soon!

From a 355 ml bottle (bottled June 25, 2015) to a teku glass. Reviewed from notes dated September 13, 2015.

A-A normal pour produces a short, tan foam that fades quickly and leaves no lacing. The beer is cloudy and reddish amber in color. Some fine carbonation is visible in the murk.

S-The aroma is typical Avery with that unique funk and big lemonade acidity. This is not as tart as some of the Avery special blends, but certainly isn't a beginner beer. I sniff cherry and fortified wine, along with earthy fruits like fig and plum.

T-The taste is similarly sour after an initial bit of sweetness. Flavors of plum and grape meld with oak, vanilla, and tannin-like notes from the barrel. The beer has a vinous character that suggests red wine and fortified wine or sherry.

M-The body is light to medium for the style with a chunky carbonation. It pairs well with the beer.

O-I like this one. The flavor profile is unique and the beer does a nice job of mixing fruit with acidity with earthy flavors with funk. It will be interesting to see how this holds up over time.