Avery Hog Heaven

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

Serve in Snifter

Great beer. Aroma is intense. Floral and grapefruit taste are pronounced in the taste ending in a strong bitterness.

A very fun barely wine that has a lot of flavor but is not a sissy in terms of solid mouth filling flavor.

I’m pretty certain I had this one back in 2005 or 2006, but haven’t had the chance (or memory) to buy it again until now. Poured a slightly cloudy dark orange/light brown color (relatively translucent, even with the cloudy body). Aroma was so heavy on the pine I was almost certain this couldn’t have been the beer that they described on the bottle. This one is hopped about like I like my beers - the malt wasn’t overpowering, and it was not sickly sweet like I find a ton of barleywines to be. May make it into my semi-normal rotation.

Bottle poured into a snifter. Amber reddish pour with a half inch white head that recedes quickly to white lacing. Aroma of rum raisin ice cream, caramel, and slight grapefruit. At first the taste of the beer was extremely bitter, but after drinking a few ounces the flavor became pleasantly sweet. As Avery states, the beer has a "caramel candy-like malt finish." Body was medium, but light for a barley wine. My first hoppy barley wine.

22oz bottle, shared with taylor at home. The AleSmith rep I ran into at Dutch’s called this his favorite barleywine, so I figured I’d try it. Nice, hazy red/brown color, khaki head. Good lace. Good crisp carbonation and dry texture. We enjoyed this fresh, and it was excellent. Drinks like a good and balanced imperial IPA. Great hop aroma here. Nice sweet and bitter taste, a hint of booze. It’s hard to sip this slowly, it’s so tasty. Kind of similar to Avery’s Maharaja, an IIPA I thought was too sweet. This is more balanced, in my opinion. Great.

Bomber pours murky amber/brown with a thin off-white head. Aroma of hops, caramel, floral, and malts. Taste is well round candied caramel malts surrounded my hops and citrus. Good stuff!

Sample with food pairing, Spuyten Duyvil, Brooklyn, 17/12/11. Clear copper with a slim cream head. Milk choc raisin aroma; caramel, peaches and raisins. Not mad about the hops. Wintery, warming with sticky throatsweet notes. Alright.

Floral, citrusy hop aroma and beautiful garnet color. Syrupy sweet flavor with dryingly flavored sharp hops. The bite from the hops is crisp due to the dryness and complements the sweetness. There is a lingering malty flavor at the end of the sip. Quite good for a hop heavy beer.