Avery Anniversary Fourteen

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

Serve in Snifter, Trappist glass

The Avery Fourteen was poured into a St. Bernardus chalice, and it looked a quite a lot darker than any other beer that had graced that glass prior. The head atop was smallish, but stayed put for a while. The citric and piney smell was backed by dark roasted malt, and would probably have been most at home in an Imperial Stout. The taste was quite any other beer I’ve had before. It was balanced between bitter, savory, sweet, and sour tastes and had each of these in spades. Very dry too as a result of the high hop presence, and the alcohol content. If you don’t like big beers, stay far away, as this would tun you off on multiple levels. Very difficult to drink at a rapid pace due to a sensory overload. Some maturation time would likely help in that department, but then the wonderful hop kick would be gone.

Ebony-brown with mahogany hues. Creamy light-beige head holds well and contributes ample lace. Confused and unrefined aroma reveals mint, watermelon seeds, black chocolate, stale tobacco, peach, and roasted malt. Overbearingly resinous and grassy. Obviously-forced carbonation quickly falls out of suspension before depositing a terribly fuzzy residue on the palate. Cool breaths of mint erupt from the combination of alcohol and hops, and soon give way to snappy, barky roast and toffeeish Munich. Bitterly piney and stewed peachy as well as harshly roasty. Rather than sporting a clean and poignant bitterness, the hop character is fairly dirty, muddled and lacking in definition. Gooey resins intensify by the second, leaving little to no room for any bright hop flavors to exude. Plummy esters are appealing, but only compound the gooeyness of the hops and poor attenuation/tackiness. Alcohol is well concealed. Finishes intensely resinous, but mostly flabby and limply hoppy, with notes of sherbet, grapefruit peel and bittersweet chocolate. Styrians are among my favorite hops, but the copious amounts used here have done little to help this. No restraint or finesse here at all. The hops, particularly in the nose, are so overbearing they begin to mirror cheese curd (not in that pleasant farmhouse kind of way, either). This comes across as a discordant mess more than anything else. And while I hate to sound like a broken record, if Avery would have put forth the extra effort and bottle conditioned this, it would be markedly improved. Attenuation could also use some work here (quite low), but the appearance is pretty good (for being force carbonated *doh* there’s that word again).

UPDATED: JUL 30, 2007 strong ale...Well, I put this more in the impy stout catagory. a strange beer., black in appearence, tannish head, with some serious alcohol warmth. Tastes very chocalately, with some grapes, cherries.

Dark chocolate appearance with a large tan head and lots of lacing. Toffeeish, caramel malt aroma, very fruity, with hints of plums, raisins and figs; nor do you have to dig very deep to encounter the sprucy hops. The initial earthy, roasted malt taste is counterbalanced with a big dose of hops exhibiting nuances of pine and citrus, along with a faint spicy note. Full bodied, decently carbonated mouthfeel that wears its abv like a badge of honor. Mildly bitter, long lasting finish.

Surprise bomber from Brandon that I got yesterday. Pours out a very dark brown color with a big thick tan head on it. Smell is full of nuts, molasses, tons of hops, some fruits. Really good smelling beer. The taste is sweet yet very hoppy. Grassy hop flavor, and sweetness come through towards the end. Really good stuff and most certainly worth finding. Wish I had more of these, but I am not sure how they will age, they are great right now though.

Poured a mostly clear very dark amber color with a beige head. Spicy and smokey phenols in the aroma. Some choclate notes as well. The flavor is sweet, fruity, spicy and roasty. The body is medium to full with some alcohol warmth. Somewhat dry finish.

Pours a dark copper color with a light tan head. Aroma is of molasses, citrus hops, caramel, dark fruits, and some alcohol. Very complex aroma. Starts of with sweet malts, molasses, citrus hops and some toasted malts. MIddle flavor is of dark fruits and nuts. Finishes with floral hops and alcohol to give it a delicious ending. I really enjoyed this brew.

Pours a deep brown with tons of ruby red highlights and a medium creamy off white to light tan head and left nice lacing. Aroma of molasses, light toasted malts, mango, banana, citrus, some toffee, nuts, caramel, dark fruits and nuts. Flavor of molasses, earthy, pine, some citrus buried in there, nuts, toasted malts, dark fruits, roastiness, light alcohol. Congrats to Avery on 14 and thanks for keeping it interesting. Really did destroy style boundaries here yet still created a solid brew.