Avery Fourteen

Formerly brewed at Avery Brewing Company
Style: American Strong Ale
Boulder, Colorado USA

Bomber. The low ratings suprised me quite a bit with this one, I thought it was pretty tasty. The aroma is a little too subtle, but still quite nice. Flavor was very rich and sticky - ranging from chocolate to dried fruits to caramel to smoke to citrus to molasses to....... etc. With some warmth, the palate turned out to be even more enjoyable for me. Can you say an IPA/stout meets a Belgian quad meets an American Strong ale? - quite unique. Nice frothy head - loved the appearance, too. Not for the weak hearted as the alcohol did show through just a bit. Good job Avery, cheers on the your 14th!

Pours brown with a tan head. Hoppy initial aroma with some spice flavor. Flavor is hops, some spice, and alcohol. Complex enough to be intersting, but unbalanced.

Black pour, light tan head, moderate head with good lacing and retention. Aroma has an initially pronounced hoppy nose very similar to Alpha King, but also has lots of the usual dark malt notes: coffee, roast, chocolate, caramel, hint of darker fruit. Medium to light bodied, watery texture. Alcohol is in the flavor and finish, takes away from the flavor. Too hot and too light for everything it’s trying to display. Still enjoyable.

Bottle. Sweet resinous hops on the nose. Dark dry roasted malt. A tad soapy. Dried fruits. Coffee. Alcohol. Pours dark, oily brown with deep amber highlights. Very sticky lacing all the way down the glass. Big flavor profile: lots of hops and malt. Fairly dry. molasses. Floral hops turn piny as it warms. Big, rich and slightly oily on the palate. A very big and complex beer, but perhaps a tad unbalanced. Less alcohol presence and more integrated flavors and this bad boy would score in the mid 4’s.

Bottle. Hoppy nose with lots of caramel, malty with fruit and alcohol. Near-opaque ruby pour with a thick, creamy, lovely tan head. Yeast and alcohol with dark malt, bitterness, and light curacao notes. Brown sugar and alcohol, lightly acidic, faint chocolate with malted milk balls, touch of sticky imperial stout coffee bean and vanilla. Body is medium but enjoyable, surely not watery, and the aftertaste a vanilla/beany, lightly boozy fruit fest and citrus splash which dries out with time. Again, needs to tone down or better integrate the alcohol, but a fun little go.

Poured into a Unibroue snifter. Dark brown with light tan head. Pours with a 3 inch thick head, quickly disappears. Head returns with quick agitation. Smell is strong of raisins, nutty Taste is great. raisins, nutty, sweet, malty backbone very limited carbonation with esters following but not overpowering. Very surprising brew. Enjoyed it!!

woody malty aroma. nice head and lacing. chocolate and figs. hoppy on the finish

The label ain’t kidding when it said it was a very dark ale! Some glimmer or ruby when held to the light, otherwise one dark muther. Good head and lacing. Nose is dark fruit and woody hops. Taste- wow- very complex. Its tought to sort out all that’s going on there. The hops are present more in the back end- definitely quite hoppy from an aftertaste. The rich malts are in the drivers seat here. Tons of dark fruits, leather, some choclate tones. quite spicy, but not boozy. Very enjoyable. I wish I had a second bottle to contemplate all that’s going on with this brew. Avery has made an adventurous tasty offering. happy 14th!