Avery Anniversary Fourteen

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

Serve in Snifter, Trappist glass

Deep, dark brown with ruby-red highlights around the edges. Cappuccino-like head; frothy, with tight and small bubbles. Residual lace. Smooth, soft, creamy texture. Dark roast. Multigrain, dark bread. Fresh nuts. Aromatic citrus, perfectly in the background. Dark chocolate ... even had that "sour" quality that high-percentage dark chocolate has. Nice hop presence, and just enough bitterness to cleave off the subtle molasses sweetness. Alcohol hints were welcome, even though it was hidden pretty well. Warming and cozy. Love the image of the Flatirons wearing their winter coat. I see a lot of Flatiron images, and the angle of this photo is unique. The timing on this beer (and its label) couldn’t have been better, as I just made my first outdoor climb last weekend on the First (the Flatiron on the right side of the label).

Bottle @ Happy Gnome. Dark brown appearance with a tan/brown head. Sweet Belgian chocolate, light piney hoppy nose. Sweet molasses,?caramelized, dark chocolate, mildly vinous flavor with a bitter, earthy hoppy finish. Complex sweet Dark Belgian ale finish with a slight bitter, hoppy, vinous touch.

Fairly well carbonated, this beer is topped initially by a three-finger thick, lightly browned, amber-tan colored head that leaves a wispy lacing pattern as I drink this beer down. The beer is a brilliantly clear, blackened-amber colored brew that shows deep red highlights when held up to a bright light. The aroma is interesting; it is certainly hop driven, yet somehow is reminiscent of a citrus & spice, black holiday cake / sweet bread. I get notes of roast coffee beans, bergamot, candied orange peel and some un-specified spice notes sort of like a mix of allspice, clove and cinnamon, but really unlike any of these. The aroma almost has a split personality; at times the hop notes provide a citrus character which mixes with the malt to form notes of a dark spice cake, but at other times sharper, herbal, green, pine-like, even menthol type, almost raw hop notes provide a rough contrast to the other side of the aroma. If you really dig around in the aroma a substantial malt character becomes noticeable with notes of toasted malt, browned bread crust and lightly burnt biscuits. As the beer warms, aromas of warming alcohol become noticeable.

Thick and quite a bit sweeter than I was expecting. The hop character is still quite evident, but again it seems to contribute flavors that meld with the malt character to display a deeply rich, sweet, dark spice cake flavor that has notes of molasses, burnt toffee, orange zest (the citrus character is actually quite prominent), at times notes of cherries and a bitter finish that has lingering notes of espresso and hop bitterness. The usual citrus hop flavors at times take on a fresh, raw hoppiness that reminds me of spicy, freshly chopped herbs, piquant pine needles, and even something like garlic chives. How would I describe this beer quickly, well it is a cross between molasses sweetened earl grey tea (with lots of bergamot and a green, herbaceous, tannic tea character) with a black coffee. The flavors are juxtaposed, cacophonous and jarring, yet somehow remain eminently drinkable and enjoyable. Despite the straight-forward sweetness, this beer has a fairly light body, or I should say that with this level of sweetness I would expect this beer to be sticky and cloying, but instead it has a medium fullness to it.

This is one of the more interesting beers that Avery has put out recently. When compared to there super-high alcohol brews this beer is quite stellar in the comparison. I really like the mix of hop character and dark malt flavors; even the sweetness seems to work here. In fact without the ample hop character the sweetness would likely overpower this beer and make it undrinkable for me (think the beast, mephisto or Samuel). I was fully expecting this to be another strong beer from Avery that was a complete flop, instead I am pleasantly surprised by a beer that almost seems like it shouldn’t work.

Darn near black, fair label, nice foil neck and bottle, medium khaki head that you can walk on. Dark malty aroma. I was a bit disappointed - the brew lacked cohesion. Initial olive flavors, some metal, strongly char-bittered. Finishes out with an unpleasant burnt character and some nuts. Medium heavy mouth. Better luck next year.

Big nose of hops, pine, mountain forest, plus a smoked element in the nose (perhaps a forest fire?!). Smooth but some carbonation. Orange in the finish, some rounder citrus edges. Clear brown, some percolation in the body. Typical Avery contribution.

Bottle. Hoppy nose with lots of caramel, malty with fruit and alcohol. Near-opaque ruby pour with a thick, creamy, lovely tan head. Yeast and alcohol with dark malt, bitterness, and light curacao notes. Brown sugar and alcohol, lightly acidic, faint chocolate with malted milk balls, touch of sticky imperial stout coffee bean and vanilla. Body is medium but enjoyable, surely not watery, and the aftertaste a vanilla/beany, lightly boozy fruit fest and citrus splash which dries out with time. Again, needs to tone down or better integrate the alcohol, but a fun little go.

From bottle. Nice sweet hoppy nose, plum and grassy hops. Pine. Twizzlers. Mild ozone and light roasted grains. Alcohol vapor, rich and hoppy. Dark black-brown with cocoa-colored lacing head. Medium-heavy body with medium carbonation. Starts sweet and rich with some caramel malt and brown sugar. Alcohol warming. Mild hoppy finish, fairly sweet. Big beer, very pronounced profiles, and still a bit hot.

Clear brown with a light brown head. Aroma is sweet, caramel and rather hoppy - grapefruit. Flavor is quite sweet and moderate bitter. Dry and moderate bitter finish. Very nice. 170609