Avery Samaels Oak-Aged Ale

Deep copper color with a thin, creamy buff head. Amazing aroma: sweet wildflower honey intermingled with grapey dessert wine-like nectar and some toasty oak. Oak again in th flavor as coconut and vanilla with other tropical fruit flavors as well. All of this above a lot of stron sweetness with light toffee, caramel, turbinado flavors underneath that. Light bitterness throughout with a prominient, yet uncannily well balanced alcohol character (14.5%!--would not have guessed it). Quite nimble and light-bodied considering the flavor intensity and complexity levels present here. Overall, highly unique and quite a surprise.

Not really sure how this falls into the barley wine style.... seems very much an English style strong ale. Anyway, 12 oz bottle. Pours a dark brown with a thin tan head. Just a little lacing on the glass. The aroma has hints of oak, vanilla, sweet fruits. The first taste is pretty sweet, but then a swell of alcohol comes through. Whoa, this is pretty complex. The flavor is full of vanilla, oak, dark fruits, and the sweetness of sugar. The finish is pretty sweet to start, but the beer gets better as it warms up. Excellent beer, whatever style this is supposed to be.

Very sweet...jolly rancher...became more and more delicious as it warmed up...cranberry, vanilla...certainly like a port wine...little too sweet to be a top notch barleywine though...bottle...redlight redlight...orlando

Bottle. I’ve always found Avery to be hit and miss. This beer is kind of in the middle. I think the alcohol is well hidden. The flavor is decent; accentuating fruity peach flavors and vanilla attack the palate. There is little to no hops here and because of this lack of balance, the beer comes off as slightly cloying. It’s easier for me to put this down than the beast for sure, but I think the heavy sweetness would make tough for me to handle multiples of this beer (probably a good thing with the strength here).

Samaels pours out a red-tinted brown with a medium head. The aroma is of caramel malt and it is sugary and alcohol laden. The taste is bunches of alcohol and mollasses thrown on top of some more sugar. I probably need to lay one of these down for a few years and give it another shot, but for now it is just too overpowering for me.

Bottle. 2005 Bottling. Rich, alcholic, vinous, wood aged aroma. Caramel notes in the nose, sweet. Murky, honey colored, reddish amber body with a small, slightly off-white head that erodes to a mere ring, which later becomes no ring. Initial mouthfeel is sweet, sweet alcohol. Rich, powerful and caramelly. They had to dump in loads of sugar when they made this brew. You almost have to compare this to a port, yet this is sweeter and less vinous. As an after dinner dessert beverage, I prefer port. As a barleywine, it is too sweet without enough backbone. For sugarheads, it doesn’t get much better.

[Bottle - Johns Market] A great flavor Oak Aged beer. Loved the warm feeling this beer gave off. A strong after tatse and a dry finish. This is a great beer.

Bottle. Thanks to YourDarkLord for bringing this out for me to sample. Pours translucent copper with a faint off white head. Sweet syrupy aroma, along with some vanilla and strong liquer. Flavor of caramel, dark fruits, alcohol, and a hint of vanilla. Not a lot of oakey wood traits in my sample, perhaps a little light on the hops also. Slighty stickiness on the finish, with a hint of solvent like alcohol bite. Interesting beer. Not sure I would buy again.