Avery Anniversary Fourteen

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

Serve in Snifter, Trappist glass

Brown beer that turns more red when you hold it to the light. Fairly thick off-white head. Imagine my surprise when I take a sniff and come up with some tangerine smelling west coast hops! Beyond that there’s molasses and roasted coffee in there. I was well prepared for the citrus I got from the first taste and rather happy about the raw blackstrap molasses in the middle. The Finish? Maybe a little rough. A tad boozy which I expect from Avery offerings. For some reason, American beers seem to rarely get the carbonation levels right on these Belgian attempts. The carbonation is lively but not in that super spritzy mountain of head way. Forget about the finish then, these suckers are good! Congrats to Avery for Fourteen Years of brewing!

Dark brown, near black pour with a thick and volumnious tan head. Huge hoppy aroma but with underlying roasted malt, coffee and dark, dried fruit. Flavor is really remarkable. Warming alcohol is evident up front. Middle has more dark fruit, cherry, vanilla, oak, resinous citrus hops. Red wine towards the finish. Long, bitter with a light smack of hops. Only thing I’m not digging is the abv which is evident from the aroma to the finish. Besides that, this is a GREAT beer from Avery.

Glassy, burgundy and mahogany shades. Head retention couldn’t be more perfect. A young barleywine nose of licorice, red pepper, molasses, candied dark fruits, and whiskey. Floral hops hint with a soft kiss at the start and finish. Top heavy and crushingly sweet flavor. Raspberries and blackberries in a rye whiskey mash. Woodsy with a smoke and vanilla bean rum taste. A dark shade of peat begins to temper the dense sweetness toward the end. Dry, earthy bitterness at the very finish. Burns on the smack a bit, and alcohol generally dominates the palate. Full and reasonably smooth in spite of this. Difficult to drink – a bomber could happily be split six or seven ways.

What an oustanding beer, opaque color, very dark brown, couldn’t see through the glass, modest tan head with great lacing, very sweet nose with notes of honey & molasses, lots of body, certainly more of a sipping beer, one to be enjoyed, rich & complex flavors, a hint of dry & hoppy notes to add balance, flavors of honey, molasses, caramel & burnt toast, bitter & hoppy finish with more malt to follow, a fantastic brew

Pours a dark brown color. Big hoppy, floral aromas. Roasted malt flavors with that characteristic avery alcohol bite on the backside. Red fruit flavors linger in your mouth for a while. Sweetness is there too.

Bomber. The low ratings suprised me quite a bit with this one, I thought it was pretty tasty. The aroma is a little too subtle, but still quite nice. Flavor was very rich and sticky - ranging from chocolate to dried fruits to caramel to smoke to citrus to molasses to....... etc. With some warmth, the palate turned out to be even more enjoyable for me. Can you say an IPA/stout meets a Belgian quad meets an American Strong ale? - quite unique. Nice frothy head - loved the appearance, too. Not for the weak hearted as the alcohol did show through just a bit. Good job Avery, cheers on the your 14th!

Pours brown with a tan head. Hoppy initial aroma with some spice flavor. Flavor is hops, some spice, and alcohol. Complex enough to be intersting, but unbalanced.

Black pour, light tan head, moderate head with good lacing and retention. Aroma has an initially pronounced hoppy nose very similar to Alpha King, but also has lots of the usual dark malt notes: coffee, roast, chocolate, caramel, hint of darker fruit. Medium to light bodied, watery texture. Alcohol is in the flavor and finish, takes away from the flavor. Too hot and too light for everything it’s trying to display. Still enjoyable.