Avery Samaels Oak-Aged Ale

<!-- i -->Bottled in 2005<!-- /i -->, 12oz. Pours a hazy copper with a ring of off-white head. Smells very sweet. Maple syrup, brown sugar--almost as sweet as JW Lee’s offerings, but this has some pine resiny hops added. Vanilla and oak are fairly strong, as is the alcohol presence. Vinous and raisiny. Alcohol is overpowering. I don’t think they needed to make it this strong for all of the complexities of the beer to meld. This beer is quite carmelly as well in taste, otherwise pretty much how it smells, though the oak and vanilla are a bit muted. Thick, syrupy mouthfeel and little carbonation. I have one more of these in my closet, so maybe with at least another year of cellaring, it may mellow a bit.

This is a frikkin monster. Way too strong in the alcohol department and that immediately knocks points off, making the beer immediately unbalanced. Aroma is very sweet, appealing notes of vanilla and cookie dough. Flavor is really rich, layered and textured, but almost too big for its britches and very young and hot. Lots of brown sugar, and other dark fruits. Good to try once as a sipper.

Beer is a clear, medium-amber color with a small, frothy, white, mostly diminishing head. Aroma is sweet, edgy and complex. This has to be served room temperature, for sure. Aroma is malty with light notes of toasted grain, heavy notes of caramel, browning sugar, light cookie; Hoppy with moderate notes of herb and resin/pine; Yeasty with a light note of dough; Miscellaneous notes of heavy (almost hot) spicy alcohol, cognac, raisin/date/prune, moderate tropical fruit, green apple, oak and vanilla. The flavor is heavily sweet, lightly acidic and lightly bitter with a long, hot, moderately-to-heavily sweet, lightly bitter, lightly acidic finish. Just enough hop dryness in the finish to tidy up the heavy sweetness. The body is full, the texture is syrupy and the carbonation is soft.

Bottle. Pours a fairly light amber color. Fairly thick & syrupy. Can smell the alcohol...along with a lot of malt and some fruits. Alcohol is very present is taste. Very sweet and very malty. A good bit of heat in this. Hints of the oak. Definitely a sipper.

Pours a clear red color with a large frothy white head. Good lacing throughout. Extremely malty aroma hints of cherry and loads of alcohol. Everything starts going downhill with the flavor. The sticky sweetness of this beer along with the burning alcohol completely overpower anything the oak adds. You have a sweet to the point of sour and sickening thickness. This one could obviously use a few years of age and perhaps it still won’t be any good.

Clear brownish red pour. NO head or lacing. Very sweet aromas with lots of brown sugar. Rich and tooth meltingly sweet. Tons of residual sugar. Loads of carmel flavors. Finishes quite hot and dry from alcohol burn. Lacks finesse of say, a big Dogfish head beer like Raison D’Extra

12 oz bottle. Bottled May 2006, batch 2. Clear orange color with foamy white head. Looks a bit like orange cough medicine. Smells of dried fruits, alcohol and oak...not necessarily in that order. Slick, oily, sweet, and oaky. The sweetness is only up front. Warm alcohol hits you as soon as it touches your lips and you can feel it go all the way to your stomach. Strong oak flavor lingers.

Aroma is apple, cinnamon, alcohol, rubbing alcohol. Body is amber/brown with no head. Taste is very sweet with alcohol, caramel, toffee, oatmeal. Aroma isn’t much, but the taste is very good. Body is nice silky and syrupy.