Avery Anniversary Fourteen

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

Serve in Snifter, Trappist glass

Sampled at the Arizona Craft Brewers Guild 2008 Strong Beer Fest, on February 17, at the Mesa Amphitheatre.

<i>Bomber from BOTW (Rochester), served at cellar temperature in a tulip glass. OC09/08.</i>

<b>App.</b>: Very deep ruby, clear (?), large tan meringue. <b>Aroma</b>: Very strong C-hops – grapefruits, pine and resin; a fair bit of caramel and sticky sweet malt, slightly tangy and fruity, some dark dried fruits, a bit of meaty/brothy/savoury soy sauce. <b>Palate</b>: Full body, fairly soft carbonation, syrupy. <b>Flav.</b>: More malt than the nose – caramleized sugar, molasses, lemony citrus, some ginger and allspice, some pine and resinous hops, some minty herbals; somewhat sweet with good bitterness and lingering alcohol, ginger, a little hops and malt.

Big beer!

ehh, not impressed. Bomber poured into a tulip glass. Black body with a tan head. Smell is leafy green hops with light grainy cereal. Taste is again green hops with faint alcohol. A lightly syrupy mouthfeel, lightly undercarbonated, low bitterness. Just kind of uninteresting, one-dimensional, and boring. Its all about this leafy green hops and I am not interested.

Bottle from Capones sampled with Mad_indian. Pours dark with a small beige head. Aroma of fruit, roast, spices, alcohol, and hops. The flavor is smooth, spices, fruit, roast, some chocolate, and grassy hop 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.

22 oz. bottle from BevMo LaJolla. Pours a deep brown, almost opaque, with gorgerous cherry color highlights when held to light, and a thick creamy beige head. Roasty flavor with rich dark fruits, cranberry notes, orange and cocolate, molasses, lemon zest, and bitter herbs. Dark bitter coffee flavors, bold citrus including orange and grapefruit, brown sugar, maple hints, blackberry, pine resin, fudge sauce with the alcohol well hidden. Full body, smooth carbonation. Delicious combination of roastiness and hops.

Pours a dark brown, with some reddish maroon hues. Has a huge, thick, foamy well retained light tan head. Very nice looking. Smells lovely, a lot of cinnamon and nutmeg, spices, candy suagr, and molasses. The taste is much of the same but with a little tartness and hops. A little bit bitter finish, with good doses of cinnamon and nutmeg. Really flavorful on the palate, alot going on in this beer. Aftertaste has some vinous characters and finishes bitter and hoppy. Interesting and very good.

22oz bottle courtesy of ckeegan04 poured into a tulip. Pours a dark, opaque brown with a big creamy tan head that shows excellent retention and leaves some gorgeous lacing down the sides of the glass. The aroma surprisingly still features a good bit of citrus hops up front but they’ve definitely given way to the hefty dark toasted malt backbone. Lots of dark fruit, chocolate and a bit of roasted coffee. The taste is even sweeter with a lot of caramelized brown sugar pairing up with the dark chocolate malts to form a hefty backbone. The hops are not as prevalent as in the aroma though there’s some orange zest up front before the sweet roasty malts kick in. The finish is slightly dry with more than a hint of booze and a slightly chalky toasted character through the aftertaste. The body is fairly full with strong carbonation and sticky with molasses clinging to the tongue alongside the roasty bitterness. This is a very good beer and one of the better efforts from Avery as far as I’m concerned. Very flavorful with tons of different things going on but coming together fairly well in the end.