Avery Samaels Oak-Aged Ale

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

Pours a deep ruby brown with quite a full oatmeal colored head. Nose is sweet, malty, and oakfilled, with a bit of apple like fruit. Flavor is sweet and woodsy, with an alcohol burn that is quite strong. More like a sipping liqueur, or brandy, than an ale.

Very dark copper......slightly opaque. Fluffy white head that fades a little fast. Very fruity, sweet aroma with lingering spicy notes. Extremely complex front, with many different flavors present......including a good deal of vanilla. An immediately crisp mouthfeel, and a sweet, yet strong back. Finishes very smooth for the style, with a lingering strong, spicy aftertaste.

12oz. bottle, 2005 vintage. 14.5% abv. Hugely malty nose, caramelized and sweet with notes of brown sugar, honey, buttery toffee, cherry, vanilla, faint whiskey and oak. Clear medium-dark amber color with a head that fully subsided. Flavor profile is full of rich, dark, sugary malt from beginning to end, the oak gentle and in the background, blended with some date, fig, nuttiness and tobacco about midpoint, the finish massively lengthy, warming, alcoholic and syrupy, showing touches of peppery bitterness, candied cherry, maple and spiciness late. Supremely thick and low in effervescence on the palate, sticky and coating, with a monstrously full body. I’ve had a mental profile of this stuff in my head for quite some time now, reading the reviews and others’ experiences, and knowing pretty much what it is as a result. I purchased this guessing that a couple of years of age and being selected on the right frigid, dark night might well do it some good. It appears to have done so, indeed, and fit my mental image very closely. More satisfying, as a result, I think.

Bottle. Pours copper-brown, with a small tan head and some lacing, and floaties in the body that look like snowflakes. Aroma is very strong caramel, bourbon, wine. Flavor is very sweet, with caramel on top of caramel, and maple syrup?? A very strong aftertaste of alcohol, without a strong hop presence. Also taste some bourbon near end, with touch of vanilla and cherries. Winish quality to flavor.

Batch 3, April 2007. Sampled at about 9 months. Pours a clear, dark caramel amber body with a foamy, off-white head that settles to a wispy film. Thick, splotchy swaths of lacing decorate the glass well. The aroma is nothing short of intense. Caramel and maple malts provide massive sweetness, while gobs of vanilla and new American oak show equally huge. Freshly pressed almond oil makes its mark, as do indistinguishable fruits and some doughy yeast. I can’t recall a beer that had a more intense vanilla component than this one. Smells nice, despite considerable alcoholic fumes and overt sweetness. The flavor is a continuation of the nose. Sweet caramel and maple blend well with huge oak and vanilla. The fruit content shows through the massive sweetness surprisingly well. Finishes very warm from all the alcohol. The body is outright full and syrupy. I was expecting a huge, alcoholic mess, but this brew was far more organized and pleasing than I thought it would be. Its still excessively sweet, but it is enjoyable and would probably only get better with age. If you love vanilla and oak, you have to try this beer.

May 2006, batch 2. Wow. Vanilla and oak are very strong, but they don’t come close to countering the alcohol burn. Alcohol even present in aroma, which is pretty rare. Cherry is also present in the aroma. Tasting this is more like tasting a brandy or bourbon. Mouthfeel is very syrupy. Pour on this is clear amber, lighter than most BW’s, with a small white head. A tastey brew. I hate that I’m drinking the only one I picked up. I think this one will be much better in a few years. Not at all what I was expecting.

2007 12 oz bottle in snifter. Surprisingly thin mouthfeel and body for such a monster of a beer. Just way too hot - an alcohol bomb. give it a year or ten. It would be nice to see how the alcohol mellows and if all the flavors of oak, vanilla, port, cherry, etc come to life. Not an enjoyable one.

Darker amber pour without much head, looks like a nice barleywine. SMoked and fruity scents come off the top, but there it is:the sour oaky funky smell, with vanilla and cherry too.Fairly flowery on both taste and smell and the vanilla/oak flavor is powerful. The presence of alcohol is noted most strongly in the finish and warmth in the throat. I guess the smell and taste of this brew remind me of a musty cabin room from summercamps of my youth