Fifteen - Avery Brewing Co., Boulder

I first heard of Avery's Anniversary Saisons from a flyer hanging up in the bathroom of the Avery tasting room next door to the brewery in Boulder, Colorado. This was just last summer so the poster was advertising the Sixteenth Anniversary Saison. A couple months later I was about to get my hands on a bottle of the Sixteen and thought pretty highly of it. It wasn't my favorite beer by any means, but I enjoyed it. As time passed, my memories of the Sixteen grew fonder. About a month ago I was smaller liquor store looking for a new release when I came across a bottle of Avery's Fifteen and couldn't resist taking it home.

After drinking a bit of the Fifteen it seems my memory of the Sixteen has cleared up a bit. Now I remember that tart and funky Saison flavor, it was a bit more crisp than I would've preferred and the overall flavor combination just seemed a bit lacking. Still, it was a good beer and it was definitely an evolution on the Fifteen.

Avery's Fifteen is a quirky, funky, sweet and spicy Saison that was brewed with "black mission figs, hibiscus flowers and white pepper." Hibiscus isn't a flavor I could pick out a crowd but everything else seems to be here. There's a sweetness that comes from the figs which is much lighter than I expected. Meanwhile, the pepper is right where you'd expect. All together, the flavor tastes pretty good... the pepper and yeast are a bit abrasive but not so much that it I didn't like this beer.

It's worth noting that this beer was bottled almost twenty four months ago and doesn't seem like it'd be a beer particularly well suited to aging. Be that as it may, if you see a bottle on the shelves at your local liquor store you should probably pick it up. It's worth the price of admission.