Avery Anniversary Fourteen

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

Serve in Snifter, Trappist glass

Tap. Pours to a dark brown body with a lasting tan head and nice lacing. The beer has an aroma that’s sort of dank and simple dark grains. Dark chocolate, granola. I struggled on this one and did not finish my half glass (I was the DD). The flavor is oddly spicy. Chocolate, anise, and allspice. Very strange. The palate is rich, smooth, and velvety.

Bottle: Deep brown pour with ruby tints in the light, topped by a tan, creamy head. Aroma shows some sweet rye malt hints. There’s also some spicy/peppery hallertau suggestions, plastic-y, and sweet fruits of berries & plums. Creamy, velvety mouth feel. Flavor has some big spicy malts upfront. There’s also some fruity character of dark berries, nutty/brown sugar hints, and toasty toffee. The finish has a great roasted character which is almost coffee-ish. A bit less hoppy than I like my ASAs, but the malt depth is quality and has a balancing roastiness. No sign of alcohol in the flavor, and just a nice tasty Ale.

bottle. This thing was big and matly malty malty!! Brew poured a motor oil black with a huge tan head. Nose was chocolate, toffee, caramel, some spice as well. I t was a little rough on my palet, probably because it was my first strong ale in quite some time.

dark, almost black, with a large creamy tan head. aroma is very belgian with yeast, candy sugar, alcohol, hops, fruit cake, licorice. lots of scents to decipher. flavor introduces the dark quality with some chocolate and molasses but its still very deceiving. lots of belgian qualities with candy sugar and the yeast. lots of licorice and hops. also quite a heavy pounding of alcohol. lots of 2ipa qualities. what the hell is this?? a cross between and 2ipa and a belgian strong?

22 oz bottle. Blood red body with a medium beige head. Aroma is a bit spicy, sweet malty and hops. Flavor is sweet malt, quite hoppy and fruity. The alcohol is not to pushing and the beer is balanced same time as uncommon.

Such a quirky beer. My last bomber (can’t remember where it was purchased). Big and dark pour, with a pretty lively body and an impressive head. Tart aroma, with some modest chocolates in there. As you get into the beer, what first seemed to be choc malts expand into a drier, slightly more astringent molasses. Just a trace of sour fruit at the edges too. But then there are those quirky hops, suggestive of a Belgian black, or a schwarzbier, or even a black IPA. Slightly malty finish, deepening the complexity. I’m not always convinced it all hangs together, but the ambition is props-worthy and the beer is really good.

pours a dark red tinted brown color with a khaki head which leaves behind crazy lacing as it falls. interesting aroma... malty for sure, molasses, spices, orange peel, anise/black licorice, black raisins, grass/herbal/floral hops and the distinct smell of the insides of a fresh black fig. this is a sweet one. not cloying sticky sweet but enough to coat the tongue. flavors are odd as well... like that fruit cake that gets passed around over the holidays because no one actually likes it.... well, i’m the guy that eats it and enjoys it!... molasses, malt, grassy, lots of floral hops, chocolate, ripe black fig seed dryness, anise and an ashy finish. coffee and smoke in the aftertaste. medium to full body. soft and rich mouth feel but the alcohol, bitterness and seedy dryness balance it out. there’s so much going on in this thing!...

22 oz. bottle. Pours a deep dark brown with a large, light tan head that left very nice curtains of lace all the way to the bottom of the glass. Aroma is malt, caramel, molasses, citrus and plums. The flavor was a bit less satisfying for me than the aroma with malt, caramel, molasses, alcohol, and plums all present. The finish, which was dry and bitter, also tasted a bit smokey. A bit rough around the edges.