Avery Anniversary Fourteen

Formerly brewed at Avery Brewing Company
Style: American Strong Ale
Boulder, Colorado USA

Serve in Snifter, Trappist glass

On draft at Sunset Grill in Allston, MA. Pours very dark with a decent head. The aroma is a bit difficult to pin down. Very strong flavour hits you initially. Lots of sweetness from the alcohol. Flavour is strong, but I didn’t find it particularly deep. This one came off as too sweet overall for me.

22 oz. bottle. Bottled in 2007. A near-opaque brownish pour with a finger-thick mocha head that leaves rings of lace. A sweet and malty aroma that features lots of brown sugar, ripe apples, pears, some caramel and molasses. Full-bodied. Roasty and quite sweet upfront. Raisins, molasses and red apples are all present. Finishes with some tingly, drying hoppiness. Alcohol is noticeable, but not over the top.

22 oz bottle. Poured a clear deep reddish-brown color. Head was thick and light tan with good retention and lacing. Aroma was a combination of grassy hops, roasted nuts, and molasses. There were also occasional whiffs of anise, clove, and sassafras. Roasty and sweet up front with delicate acidity at the end accompanied by a touch of alcohol and lingering moderate hop bitterness. Overall, the alcohol flavor is minimal despite the almost 9.5% AbV. Malty molasses, toasted bread, and subdued clove round out the flavors. Not a bad beer.

22 oz. bottle from Plaza Liquors - Pours a dark brown color with a large, two finger thick light tan head that slowly dissipates. Lots of thick lacing. Aroma is toasted malt, esters, and floral hops. Flavor has lots of malt. Light roasted malt with a touch of chocolate and some light esters. It also has a touch of PNW hops in the flavor. Medium body. Smooth palate. Alcohol is slightly noticeable. I like beers. Throw a bunch of shit in there and see what you come up with. Good job Avery. Much better than the last couple anniversary beers.

22 oz bottle. I poured into a pint glass to find the beer matched the color of the dark brown bottle it came in. Very creamy head that stuck around, reminiscent of a creamy stout. Aroma was a bit faint but provided hints of "something Belgian." Taste was unimpressive and difficult to describe (nothing at all like a DIPA, tho). As others have pointed out, it’s all over the place. It does go down quite smoothly. I’ve had much better beers from Avery and I’ll look elsewhere.

Poured a very scary looking watery deep dark brown with a creamy, lacing light brown head. Aroma is very interesting, I expected more of a floral, citrus nose and what I found was a nose more like a Abbey Triple with yeast and medicine at the front with pine and grapefruit in the background. Flavor crazy, all over the place. When it hits the tongue you get heavy malt and fruit (grapes, apples, oranges). Then as it envelopes the tongue you get a barley wine type flavor with heat, alcohol, candy and yeast like a Belgian. Finish is slightly syrupy, slightly astringent but very drinkable. This was very unique and a cornucopia of flavors.

Bottle. Dark brown, almost black with a enormous light brown head. Aroma is piney, honey, heather, coffee, fruity and caramel. Nice body, warming alcohol, rather sweet at first but then turns bitter. Hoppy flavour, quite oily, notes of dark fruits, pines, mocha, oranges and wood. A very interresting brew, I think of it as a DIPA with a touch of roasted barley. I hope they make it regular!

A Mes rate: Bottle at RBESG. Can’t see what all the fuss is about myself. Dark body with a slight tan head. Smells of molluscs. Totally over the top in the mouth with nothing even close to finesse. Sickly sweet. Very sticky. Not my thing at all.