Beer Review – Avery Ellie’s Brown Ale

The other day, while out looking for something different, I picked up a six pack of Ellie’s Brown Ale from Avery Brewing Company. I felt secure in the purchase as the statute had run since my self-imposed Avery ban (see Philly Beer Week 2010), and since my fellow Booze Dancers have continued to sing their praises. Plus, I loves me some brown ale!

Avery, located in Boulder, CO, has been a craft brewer since 1993. The brewery has been expanded to produce approximately eight thousand barrels a year, and the increase in size allows for the production of several year round beers, as well as smaller batch, seasonal ones. Many of their beers have received awards at national and international competitions. Their Ellie’s Brown Ale has won a bronze medal at the Great American Beer Festival (2005) and was named the “Best of the Browns” by the NY Times (2007).

Here is what Avery has to say about their Ellie’s Brown Ale:

My, that’s a fine vicuna!

As a part of my physical therapy, I took a test run into town via PATCO on Tuesday with the Butcher and the Ale monger. Oh, and it was conveniently during Beer Week and we had an app for that. After a brief repast at the Down Home Diner (scrapple…good, poached eggs…good, baked apples …huh?) to lay a good base, we went in search of a dead guy.

Things I learned while on the search.

Opening up a bar (Finn McCools) is a lot less cool than closing one.

It takes just as long to unload and tap a Rogue Dead Guy Ale as it takes to down a Franziskaner Weissbier.

Both beers come in cool glasses.

Drinking at 11 AM on a Tuesday is pretty good.

An acceptable opening line for a coat check girl is not “My, what a fine vicuna”.

A vicuna is not like a deer and can be shorn once every three years.

There might be job as a vicuna shearing enforcement officer.

If there were vicuna in Philadelphia, Mayor Nutter would have a sixth deputy mayor in charge of vicuna relations and 10% of all vicuna jobs would be set-aside for Republicans.

With the dead guy down, we wandered off to find the second biggest beer from Golden, Co. (Avery).

Some more things I learned.

It must have been very hard to get a fire truck in and out of Ladder 15 what with all the tables and the long bar.

The Avery representative does not think it is funny to refer to his beer as just like Coors.

If the cook looks like he may have just been released from a state-run mental facility, he should probably stay in the kitchen.

A busted Avery tap makes a good souvenir.

Pretzel dogs come with cheese. Just because pretzel dogs come with cheese, the pretzel company is not anti-Semitic.

As my last stop, (and stop 3 of 10(?) for the Butcher and the Ale Monger), we made our way to Monk’s for a sample of Breury’s finest.

Final thoughts.

Mischief is a fine beer.

More time = more beer = more swag.

The sun seems awfully bright after three bars and four beers.

Leaving early during Beer Week feels a bit like quitting.