Avery Fourteen

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

bottle. near black pour with huge frothy head that lasts throughout. nice lacing. powerful aroma. spice, yeast, dry hops prominant, dark fruits, candy, some sugar, oak. very rich and complex aroma. Hopped out. At first I thought it threw off the balance a bit but at the end I don’t know. Very rich malts, mild chocolates and dry fruits. some spice and oak. A little dank. A nice alcohol warming. Unlike anything else. You find yourself analyzing every sip. A definite treat.

Wow. This is what it’s all about. at 9.46 ABV this one is has all the gravity and thick malt sweetness of a barleywine. What really separates it is the use of dark malts. It has a rich creamy chocolate taste, which compliments the strong malty and hoppy overtones. Could be considered the first true dark barleywine. Absolutely recommended for strong beer afficionados. Superb stuff.

Bottled. Beer is very dark brown, nearly opaque. Head is large, off-white, frothy, slowly diminishing, mostly lasting. Tall arches of lacing on the snifter.<P> First impression on the nose: Agressive roast, pungent hop, funky/surly net. Malty with heavy notes of roasted/burnt grain, moderate coffee, light caramel and cookie; Hoppy with very heavy notes of resin (so heavy that it’s tip-toeing toward rubbery), moderate notes of grapefruit/lemon zest, light note of brewed tea; Yeasty with a light doughy note; Trace of cola, cinnamon, light-to-moderate alcohol.<P> The flavor is moderately-to-heavily sweet, moderately-to-heavily bitter, with a long, moderately bitter, lightly sweet, moderately warm finish.<P> The body is full, the texture is velvety and the carbonation is lively.

dark ruby leading to brown in color with thick tan-ish head. aroma is molasses and carmel with plenty of pine and citrus hops. some biscuit malt, roasted malt, carmel malt, candi sugar, coffee (light roast), milk duds, and maple molasses flavors with a full body. interesting that with all that it maintains its hoppiness.

22oz bottle: Pours to a deep brown body with a huge dark tan/mocha colored head that lasts and leaves nice lacing around the glass. When held to the light the body appears clear and a very deep garnet color. The aroma shows some sweet malts, some caramel, plums, prunes, and some fresh hops that show some grassy bitterness as well as hints of spicy floral hops. There’s also a slight sharp and astringent aroma that comes through, though I’m not even sure that "astringent" works to describe a scent. Taste is strange and makes me wonder if there’s a problem with the bottle and/or age, but looking at others ratings, what I’m tasting seems to match up. The first sip gives a very earthy hop, dirt, and an astringent cocoa malt flavor. After the first sip my palate gets past the bitterness and more aromas and flavors of chocolate come out. Flavors of wet moss, light wet spruce, the molasses is there but it’s nowhere near as sweet as molasses - I’d describe the flavor as more of a bitter dried chocolate/oak/bourbon. The alcohol definitely comes through on this one and at times I wonder if they used oak chips soaked in bourbon to brew this one. There’s also plenty of bitterness from the dry-hopping here which is quite noticeable on the palate but there’s only a mild strawberry flavor coming through from the hops. Finishes with an slight alcohol burn and some lingering hop bitterness. Medium bodied, medium-lively carbonation. At first sip I would describe this one as "bad" but after a few sips my palate adjusts and is better able to take the onslaught of bitterness. The best way I can describe this one is 2 parts amber ale, 1 part dry stout, 3 parts double-super-imperial-dry-hopped ipa. Interesting.

Dark and cloudy brownish color with thick initial head that turns into a thinner tan head. Belgian nose with orange cream and sweet malt...very nice. Creamy full bodied mouth feel. Spicy sweet malts...and a bit of an alcohol kick up front. Molasses, spicy herbs, medium dark fruits...and plenty of hops...more on the finish than anywhere else. Peppery finish as well. Very tasty.

Bomber.

What a bizarre beer! Pours like cola but darker, red highlights, reddish-tan head. The aroma is apples and grapefruit hops, some yeasty spice as in a dubbel. Nothing in the aroma prepared me for the overbearing sweetness refined-sugar sweetness on the front end of the flavor, and though the powerfully hoppy finish was foreshadowed a bit more, it too comes on harder than expected. Add a third pinch of alcohol burn, and you’ve pretty much got the dominant attack from the flavors. A strange style, and perhaps one that is not often brewed for good reason. But there’s a lot of complexity under that, and these are both enticing and interesting. Ample dates, some interesting spices, syrupy mouthfeel.

I can’t say that this one is a favorite, but I have to give Avery credit for trying something interesting with their fourteenth anniversary brew. That’s what one should do, after all, with a special edition beer.

Thanks gunhaver for the share. Pours cola brown with an off-white head. Nose is brown sugar, raisins, malt, vanilla, dark malt, and some chocolate. Flavor is dark chocolate, caramel, and wicked amounts of some dark fruits. Complex beer that had aged quite nicely.