Avery Brewing (Boulder, Colorado) is known for its “extreme” barrel-aged beers, such as its 19 percent ABV 5 Monks “Quintuple,” so it’s no surprise that the man behind this madness, barrel-aging guru Andy Parker, enjoys beers that range across a wide spectrum. Here’s his sixer, filled with everything from an unhinged smoked bock to a clean gueuze and a resinous IPA for good measure.
Hennepin, Brewery Ommegang, Cooperstown, New York
My first desert-island beer has to be Hennepin. I went to college in Syracuse and remember when Ommegang opened. All of a sudden I had easy access to this world-class saison, and I could get a 750ml bottle for $4.50. Working here at the brewery, I have an unlimited supply of beer, but I still buy a bottle of Hennepin every few months because it’s just perfection in beer. For the first two years, I didn’t realize there was spicing to it; they’ve mastered the art of adding something to the beer without overwhelming the beer.
Urbock, Schlenkerla, Bamberg, Germany
Schlenkerla Urbock is also one of the beers I buy for myself a few times a year. There are a few styles like this that we don’t make but that are just so good. It’s not the kind of thing that you’d want in a six pack; it is so extremely smoky that it’s frequently described as licking a chimney (but in a good way). It’s a great pairing beer—you just need something that holds up to it. If I have a good steak at home, there’s nothing I’d rather have than a Schlenkerla Urbock sitting right there. It’s unbalanced, smoky as hell, and I happen to like that sometimes. If I were going to sit down and session beers, I’d take their Helles with a light hint of smoke—so delicious—but if I’m going for a big, burly food pairing, it’s Urbock all the way. Sometimes you want a balanced beer, and sometimes you don’t.
Abraxas, Perennial Artisan Ales, St. Louis, Missouri
I tend not to like beers with chiles in them. But especially the bourbon barrel-aged Abraxas is one of those beers that has so much hype around the country, and you look at the hype and think “there’s no way it’s that good,” and then you taste it … and it is. Despite having six or seven adjuncts in it, nothing stands out more than the others—it’s a perfectly balanced mélange of flavors. And it works really well with the bourbon barrel with that little bit of vanilla and coconut it adds. The beer is strong enough to hold up to it without becoming a bourbon bomb. It should be a style I don’t like. I blind judged it in a competition and remember absolutely loving it, then I found out what it was, and thought, “I should open up my mind a little more and try other stuff that I wasn’t going to try before.” Just a killer beer.
Boon Gueuze, Brouwerij Boon, Lembeek, Belgium
The beer community doesn’t talk about Boon as much as some of the funkier ones such as Cantillon. I like Cantillon—I think it’s good—but Cantillon is definitely going for funky, rustic, horsey. It’s delicious, but with the way my palate has developed over the past few years, I generally lean toward very lactic and very clean. Every time I’ve had Boon Gueuze, it’s been so impeccably good that I can sit down and drink multiple 750s at a time.
I’d say the same thing about Oud Beersel Bzart. It’s made with the champagne method, and even with the refermentation, it’s so clean. Yes, there’s a _Brettanomyces _influence, but it’s not the dirtier, funkier side. That clean flavor with the effervescence of the champagne method is something special. I rarely want to sit down and drink a 750 of something, but the Bzart and the Boon Gueuze are two that I could easily have a 750 and ask for another. They don’t have that acetic acid—that bracing bite.
Velvet Merkin, Firestone Walker Brewing Co., Paso Robles, California
We were out visiting the Firestone Walker folks a little bit ago because we’re scaling up our barrel program and wanted to learn from other companies with large barrel programs. A lot of the challenge of working with barrels is pure logistics—how to move barrels from point A to point B. It’s the boring part of it, but totally important. We visited Stone, The Bruery, Firestone Walker—these guys totally opened their doors and we traded any secrets that any of us had to try to improve our processes. We were staying at a hotel around the corner from Firestone and went to the local gas station which had bottles of Velvet Merkin—it’s a half a block from Firestone, why not?
So we took it back to the hotel, and I just remember thinking “it’s really hard to make a 7 percent oatmeal stout and put it in barrels and make sure it’s not infected.” Then I opened this fresh bottle of Velvet Merkin and had to admit to myself, “I don’t know how to make this beer.” It was incredible. Such perfect balance on everything across the board, and every time I’ve had it I’ve never had a hint of any infection or any flaws—they have their processes down. It’s one of those perfect beers. It’s not too strong, but it has so much flavor and so much balance.
Wookey Jack could also be my number five. Outside of Wookey Jack, I almost never like dark IPAs. There’s something about the combination of hops and dark malts that just doesn’t work for me, but Wookey Jack is one of the only beers in that style that I frequently buy. Somehow they hit the perfect hops and malt bill where you’re not getting any of the acrid ashtray thing that you get from too much black malt. We even tried an homage beer here—we brewed a black IPA and called it “Chewblakka” in deference to Wookey Jack. It was okay for our first shot, but I don’t know just how long it would take me to dial in that dark malt, lack of astringency, and huge hops nose that they get.
Senita [now GoneAway India Pale Ale], Half Acre Brewing Co., Chicago, Illinois
We have some friends at Half Acre and go out to FOBAB (Festival of Barrel-Aged Beers) every year. The first time I was there, getting to know the guys at Half Acre, they had me try everything on their tap wall, and I just remember thinking, “Senita is AWESOME.” It has a great combination of resinous aftertaste without having a lingering astringency. I go out to FOBAB and try forty different barrel-aged beers, and I judge at it, and the two beers I really remember drinking out there are Senita and Two Brothers Cane and Ebel—both 7 percent beautiful hoppy beers that to me are just perfection. [Editor’s note: In June 2015, Half Acre Brewing changed Senita to GoneAway India Pale Ale to avoid legal action from another brewery.]