Avery Samael’s Oak-Aged Ale

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

Serve in Snifter

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   add pic

This beer is oak aged Beast. The aroma is alcoholic, it will put a tingle in your nose, sweet, fruity(like dates, dried apricots, dried mangos) and woody. I didn’t pick up the vanilla flavors I was expecting in the flavor, it was all sweet. This bottle should age in to something fantastic, as it is now it is just too sweet.

Bottle poured dark copper amber with medium sized white head and heavy lacing. Aroma is yeasty, sweet malts, alcohol, spice. Flavor is WAY sweet! Too sweet! alcohol and black licorice, heavy cloying sweetness, roasty alcohol finish. Too sweet for me ...couldn’t fisish.

(bottle) Small beige head quickly dissipates, leaving the clear amber body. Aroma evokes scotch -- sweet, alcohol, vanilla, oak. Taste is syrup sweet, candi sugar, apple, raisin, vanilla, alcohol, melon, berry, caramel, oak. Alcohol leaves a mild burn in the finish. Full syrupy body that is almost devoid of carbonation. Too sweet for my taste, but I have to admit the description rings a bit true -- even as I find it too sweet, I find myself taking additional sips. It seems that Avery is attempting to join DFH and Sam Adams in the quest for high-ABV liqueur-ish beers. Even at only 12 ounces, it still seems that the sweetness and the ABV makes this a beer to share (even though I did not).

Yowza this stuff is not for the faint of heart. Pours a ruddy orange-red color with a medium thin beige head and thin lacing. Huge malt and caramel aroma. Rich and chewy body and insanely sweet. This is definitely a sipper. Malt, caramel, maple syrup flavors along with a sweet sherry taste. The finish is long and sweet and is really the only place I noticed any oak. $8 or so for a 12oz bottle and I am pretty sure I would never want more than one in a sitting. This stuff will put hair on your chest.

Man this one reminded me of how the Beast made the forehead feel awful heavy. Aromas of Alcohol, wood, sweet cheery and did I mention alcohol. Deep red body, tan head that went away by thime I got to the easy chair from the kitchen. Flavors were of ALCOHOL, licorice and got a caramel taste on the end. Dry aftertaste that leves a burnt wood aftertaste also. This is a beer that should be enjoyed at home unless you have a designated driver.

The beer decamps the 12-ounce brown bottle a reddish-brown with a modest semi-creamy light tan head that disappears rather quickly leaving a fine covering of lace upon the glass. Nose is sweet and sour, hints of Oak, caramel, malt, and of course, a bit of fusel alcohol, a pleasant sniff for sure, start is quite sweet, the malt profile pleasant, the top moderate in feel. Finish has a stern acidity with a nice hop spiciness, quite dry and slightly tart aftertaste and yes, a bit of alcohol bitterness, certainly a belly warmer, but at 14.5 percent alcohol, not as brutal as “The Beast”, and I am sure it will age gracefully.

UPDATED: AUG 15, 2005 Dig your heels in. Thin, filmy gray head and thick, viscous clear copper body with significant lethargic carbonation. Sweet and complex nose of maple syrup, brown sugar, fresh baked bread, assorted fruits, very earthy hops, and a note of bubble gum. First sip is a three-fingered shocker. Ultra-sweet flavor with distinct oaky notes. Prominent unrefined sugar and molasses qualities and some pleasant fruitiness. Hot, higher alcohols become increasingly apparent as it warms.. Astonishingly thick body with tons of unattenuated carbohydrates and proteins. Mouthfeel is like unset jello. In league with Thomas Hardy’s and J.W. Lees, but much thicker. Seems very under-attenuated, though the alcohol is obviously huge and hot. Samael’s has more carbs than a pound of spaghetti and could probably run a kerosene heater, but does pair well with a cigar.

Clear red-golden, no head. Aroma of alcohol, sweet apples very cider-like. Big alc taste, quite sweet with apples. Burning alcohol in the throat. Sweet finish.

12oz Bottle, Thick syrupy pour, crystal clear amber body, minimal white head. Really just a ring of fine particled bubbles at the outer edge. The aroma is loaded with freshly cut oak (I know the aroma from the massive tree that fell in Hurricane Isabel that I had to methodically cut up with my chain saw and haul to the curb. Bees sure find fresh sap quickly.) Behind the oak are gobs of apple pie, very sweet apple pie. The aroma is actually quite boring in the end. The flavor unbelivable sweet, I mean unholy dark prince sweet. Its like a poorly mixed soda, all syrup and no carbonated water. Hot alcohol throughout but the massive sweetness keeps it from becoming too hot. The body is syrupy and full but it leaves a very dry sugary afterfeel. My lips are sticky. I like Avery for the most part but this concotion is borderline awful. It tastes like I am licking oak sap. Too sweet. Did I mention how teeth achingly sweet it is? Listening to M83 - Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts.

Bottle poured clear copper-red with a small light amber head. Aromas of alcohol, vanilla, carmel, toffee, and molasses. Flavor was peppery, vanilla, toffee, and oaky bourbon. Lightly syrupy mouthfeel but still drinks easy. I cant wait to see how this one ages!