Avery Fourteen

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

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.

22oz bottle courtesy of ckeegan04 poured into a tulip. Pours a dark, opaque brown with a big creamy tan head that shows excellent retention and leaves some gorgeous lacing down the sides of the glass. The aroma surprisingly still features a good bit of citrus hops up front but they’ve definitely given way to the hefty dark toasted malt backbone. Lots of dark fruit, chocolate and a bit of roasted coffee. The taste is even sweeter with a lot of caramelized brown sugar pairing up with the dark chocolate malts to form a hefty backbone. The hops are not as prevalent as in the aroma though there’s some orange zest up front before the sweet roasty malts kick in. The finish is slightly dry with more than a hint of booze and a slightly chalky toasted character through the aftertaste. The body is fairly full with strong carbonation and sticky with molasses clinging to the tongue alongside the roasty bitterness. This is a very good beer and one of the better efforts from Avery as far as I’m concerned. Very flavorful with tons of different things going on but coming together fairly well in the end.

Hmmm. This tastes incredibly familiar to me, much like The Reverend actually--which I didn’t like either. Aroma of spices, smoke, malt and black olives. Deep brown body with a medium head. Full palate with high carbonation. Lots of burnt malt tastes, with yeast dry spices and smoke. Bad aftertaste, too acrid for me.

Poured a dark mahogany with a fizzy/frothy light tan head. Aroma of sweet grapes, orange juice, and a touch of bitter pine and grapefruit rind. Taste is quite dry with notes of dark fruits and orange rind with perhaps a bit of toffee, quickly getting overwhelmed by alcohol. Finishes dry and a tad metallic without a lot of hops in the background. Decently complex and pretty tasty, though the astringency of the alcohol could have been more controlled. This would have been better with 1-2% less ABV.

Sampled at the Arizona Craft Brewers Guild 2008 Strong Beer Fest, on February 17, at the Mesa Amphitheatre.

Dark pour, nice head and lots of lacing. Aroma of malt balls and dark fruit leapt from the bottle, before the pour, from a foot away. The flavor was rich and complex. Chocolate, coffee, raisins, molasses all present to give this beer the richness of a fine dessert. A little heavy on the raisin/fig, which I’m not overly fond of. Enjoyable, nonetheless.

Pours with a deep brown colored body and a rich khaki long lasting head. Laces the glass from start to finish. The aroma is an intrepid depth of heavily roasted malts and a fearless dose of American hops… a very complex aroma; chocolate, brown sugar, toffee, raisins, dates, tangerine, pineapple, grapefruit… a very difficult brew to pick apart. The mouthfeel is creamy and chewy… finishes dry and especially satisfying. Maybe I’d rather sit back and enjoy this beer rather than pick it apart.

22 oz. bottle on 7/22/2008.

Aroma - Figs, dates, raisins, burnt caramel <P> Appearance - Deep clear ruby/mahogany, durable creamy beige head and thick sheeting lace that really adheres to the glass.

Flavor - Rich amlt sweetness with some roasted, earthy flavors. Spicy bitterness comes on strong, bringing a long, dry finish.

Palate - Full body, fairly soft carbonation, rich full mouthfeel.

Overall - Quite satisfying in all regards, actually one of Avery’s better efforts.