RAISE THINE GLASS IN JUBILATION

AVERY BREWING (the pride of Boulder, Colorado) beers are now distributed in Northern California, where I reside. That means that for the first time I can try their OLD JUBILATION winter ale – and in fact, that’s just what I did the other night. This holiday concoction has none of the spices generally associated with winter ales, “just a perfect blend of five specialty malts”, as they say. Perfect? Well I’ll be the judge of that. OLD JUBILATION has a medium-to-high level of carbonation, almost zero “head retention” (you know, the foamy stuff you gotta wait out before you can drink), and a deep clove and licorice taste. I was actually a bit startled to taste licorice in there, but it was what it was – and I liked it. It’s 8% alcohol, and in general is just a STRONG beer all the way around. Strong taste, strong ABV, strong strong strong – but entirely drinkable and very good. Maybe not AVERY’S best beer, but these guys are total champs, so getting a “mere” 7/10 doesn’t really knock them down from their perch as one of the US of A’s ten best brewers. That’s what we think, anyway.