Avery Hog Heaven

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

old rating: 7/4/8/4/16 - 3.9 pours a clear brown-orange with a small beige head, and great lacing. smell of grapefruit hops, caramel, some floral, spice, some sweet fruit, and citrus. taste is light grapefruit, pear, apple on the first sip, then bitter, alcohol, some lemon, some tangerine, and a little caramel, ends a little dry and very bitter.

Bomber. Pours evil looking bright ruby red. Translucent with a soapy off-white head. Thick sheets of lace. Aroma is hoppy but not in a usual way. Salty, meaty, caramel, tequila, herbal and spicy. This has a very familiar smell that I can’t quite put my finger on though it’s food-related. Taste is pretty smooth and drinkable with the IBUs, ABV and all that considering. Spicy, malty taste, lightly bitter with tingly and slightly sweet finish. Very drinkable. This is pretty good though I don’t know if I’d buy it again.

Not too strong for a BW. Very drinakble considering its only noon when I was drinking it. Excellent start to the day before Brewtopia. Fruits and hoppyness. Some wood and caramel too.

Date: February 20, 1999
Mode: Bottle
Appearance: hazy amber, whispy head
Aroma: rich sweet malt aroma with floral hops
Flavor: light and fruity flavor, lots of bitterness, strange mix of flavors

Date: January 10, 2004
Source: blind tasting
Appearance: hazy amber, thin head
Aroma: big fruity citrus aroma
Body: medium body
Flavor: good balanced hop flavor, long light bitter finish, picks up some alcohol after warming and becomes thin

Date: August 04, 2005
Source: Ale Atlanta
good fruity malt flavor well balanced by great hop flavor and bitterness, a fine bw

Date: December 02, 2006
Mode: draft
Source: real ale fest
Aroma: big earthy hop aroma with lots of sweet caramel malt
Flavor: flavor follows through, long bitter finish

Aroma: 8/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 13/20
Rating: 3.5/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: **+/4

Bottle, pours orange-brown body with tan head that leaves a good amount of lacing. Aroma is spicy and malty with a hint of citrus. Body is heavy and solid; strong malt flavors along with the hops. Finishes a bit on the astringent side, but gets better as it warms.

Tasted on cask at the 2007 Pizza Port Strong Ale Festival. This barley wine poured a medium gold color. Medium sized white foamy head. Aroma is floral and grapefruity. A medium bodied barley wine. The malts are fruity and sweet. The hops are grapefruity and citrusy. Lots and lots of grapefruity hops and a bunch of caramel malts, its in that zone between the Imperial India Pale Ale and a Barleywine. Nice balance. Very smooth taste. Mouthfeel is full. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly bitter.
Earlier Rating: 5/26/2003 Total Score: 4.1
Dark copper color. Large head. Aroma is malty and a touch grapefruity. A medium bodied Barley wine. Malts are nutty and sweet. Hops are grapefruity and spicy. Big bold barley wine. Touch of orange oils. There is a high alcohol oiliness to this beer. Otherwise a very smooth and no other discernable alcohol bite. Well balanced. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly bitter.

22oz bottle. Nose of hops, spice and caramel malt. The beer stared off with strong alcohol pressence, but dissipaited as the temp of the beer rose. I love barley wines, this was nothing short of amazing.

THOUGHTS: A nice hoppy barley wine that hid the alcohol wll. A very nice barley wine. Tried this years ago and thought it was OK, but now that I know how to drink beer, I think it is great. It just got better the warmer it got. An incredible beer and a great barley wine. It warmed me up without a harsh alcohol burn. Even a bad barley wine is still pretty good and this one is a good one to begin with so it’s great. But it did get a little overly hoppy when it got really warm. TECHNICAL: Bottle. Poured a medium to dark red with nice carbonation and a large, off-white head that mostly diminished but hug around for a while and left excellent lacing all over the glass. The aroma was moderate caramel malt and light to moderate citrus hops (grapefurit, orange & lemon), along with apple and maybe some cherry. The initial flavor was lightly bitter, while the finish was heavily sweet and moderately bitter with an average duration. The flavor was caramel malt, lots of citrus hops and some fruitiness that was like apples and cherries. The medium to full body was slightly syrupy with fizzy carbonation and a metallic finish.