Avery Samaels Oak-Aged Ale

My least favorite of the three "Demons of ale" beers I have tried from Avery. This one poured a nice caramel color, but the aroma immediately reminded me of gym socks. Almost like instead of being aged on oak chips, this beer had been aged in a YMCA locker room. After trying to dig a little deeper than my first impression, there certainly are some nice caramel notes here and the malt is just intense. A great big malt bomb. There were some nice aspects to this beer, but the initial impression of socks kind of killed it for me. Might have to revisit and see if I get the same again.

355ml bottle (Pikkulintu, Helsinki)
Sweet oaky vanilla aroma - beautiful. Big alcohol bite. Very sweet sticky palate. Woody, and a touch nutty, and with loads of dark fruits. All in all very enjoyable apart from the big burn. (8:4:8:3:14=3.7)
Rerate: shared by Mirjukka and Janne - thanks! (7+:4:7:4:13-=3.5)
Vanilly and nutty aroma. Toffee. Sweet sticky taste. Plenty of hops, but a bit odd, I really don’t know what I’m drinking.

Pours a super hazy dark caramel with a thin off white head. Aroma is huge on toffee, toast, bourbon, citrus, oaky vanilla, a little caramel, and dried pitted, fruit. Flavor is hugely sweet, caramel toffee, vanilla, oak (pretty weak but there), there are some citrus hops to be had, there is a slight yeast spiciness, and a really strong candied yams taste, heavy on the marshmallows. Very smooth for a barleywine, body is maybe a bit too syrupy, but something (presumably the super high abv) keeps it from being super sticky. Great beer.

Bottle. Dark orange. No head. Aroma of malted barley, hops, raisin. Sweet fruity flavor. Not as extreme as the smell of it (probably becouse of the oaking). Some bad things going on in the aftertaste.

Bottle from Olbutikken Copenhagen. Amber and hazy with minimal head.

12-oz, capped and foiled. Wow, I have not had a night like this of clearing out extraneous bottles in over a year, since I kept all beer in one fridge. Dear god, this is soooo boozy. Pours a murky dark amber with a dense, shallow, short-lived tan head. No real lace. Huge vodka, bourbon, and barrel stave nose. Creamy medium body. Sweet tangy orange, butterscotch, toofee, bourbon, vodka, vodka, bourbon, vodka, and vodka on the mid-palate. Tarnation, this beer is h-o-t hot and twangy. Long dry gin and tonic finish. Lotta work and ingredients went into making this just-ok beer.

Bottled. A cloudy medium amber beer with a small, and fast disappearing white head. The aroma is sweet and vinous with notes of vanilla, dried fruits, oak, sugar and alcohol. Powerful nose. The flavour has an enormous sweetness and a oaky charachter. Perhaps too much sticky and syrupy. Full body, soft carbonation, long sweet finish with at least some bitterness to make it more drinkable. The alcohol is very present. Not overall sticky, which is a good thing. 14,5% ABV.

as far as barleywine goes, ill have this again. 9 bucks was quite the price for it though... from a retailer. maybe 6 would be better.