Avery Hog Heaven

Brewed by Avery Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Boulder, Colorado USA

Serve in Snifter

Bomber. Pours carmelly russet hue, with a nice two fingers of dense foam head. Head is so pillowy thick that the only aromas that slip through are caramel, pine, hops, and some floral notes, though all of this is faint, quite muted by the head. First taste is quite thick in mouthfeel, and almost equally muted in taste as in nose. Thankfully, the palate is lasting and fairly complex, so some grapefruit, caramel, and pine malty hopness come through in the mid and late palate. This brew has quite a body on it and a nice final burn that belies the ABV. Still, the flavors could be more prounounced and distinct. Not a top-notch barleywine, but an enjoyable quaff nonetheless, if you like the style, or a nice DIPA.

(Draft @ The Judge’s Bench) Served in a shaker. Hazy amber with one finger of light amber/off-white head. Aroma of grapefruit/pine with a little caramel underneath. Mouthfeel smooth with a decent amount of heft. Sticky, droopy rings of lacing. Flavor of big, hoppy grapefruit and pine over some caramel and vanilla. Really leans toward a big IPA.

Aged 2.5 to 3 years. A hopped resinous and caramel aroma mixed with a smell i can not describe slighter notes of erbal hops and syrupy malts come to mind. Pours a very hazed deep deep medium dark amber orange with big solid off-white head that subsides quickly leaving amazing lacing. Taste is spectacular! Despite its age the hops come across in very prominent spicy bitterness mingling with the candy sweetness. Heavy bodied finishes slick and oily yet doesn’t leave a bothersome aftertaste Very good stuff!!!

Big bottle from systembolaget, best before 2012, tried July 2010. Big beige smooth foam that lasts a long time. A litle clowdy with a small amount of debris. Huge citrus hop aroma that is almost perfect, could be that the beer is a few years old and don’t have the freshness that it once had. Big bitterness that isn’t balanced by the body. Some sweet maltiness but could be litle more to balance the big bitterness. A good BarleWine but still isn’t perfect.

Bottle. Very good looking reddish brown pour with a consistent frothy white head atop. Aroma is all american hoppiness, quite piney and resinous. Taste is very bitter with just a hint of malty sweetness, some alcohol taste as well. Palate is thick and heavy, definately a heavyduty beer. Drinkable - yes but not very much so, a nice sipper though.

Den har en fin djup rölig färg, hyfsat skum (tunnast ut lite snabbt). Den doftar en hel del humla, blommor (rosor?) och gula frukter. Denna Barley Wine ger en ganska het smak (som det ska vara), men inte så het att den förstör smakupplevelsen. En fin och välbalanserad eftersmak. En trevlig, fyllig och god BW

Clear dark amber body with a small off-white head. The nose is iced tea, caramel, grapefruit, berries, fruit juice and tangerine. The taste is very sweet, moderately bitter, with grapefruit, tangerine, tea and toffee. Full body is sticky, chewy and astringent. Moderate carbonation, thin finish. Basically, a newb beer.

I’m starting to figure out that barley wine just isn’t my cup of tea. The aroma of this one had a big alcohol burn to it followed by dried fruits. I had already had a few beers so when I had this one it was too harsh for me to handle.