Avery Fourteen

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

The 22 ounce bottle poured a clear deep garnet colored beverage with an ample rocky tan head that lasted well and left great lacing on the glass. The aroma was packed full of great things to smell like dark, dried fruits, rock candy, floral hops, molasses and aged leather. It has a nice full body with soft carbonation and a smooth creamy texture. The flavor starts out sweet and stays that way through the long finish. There is a slightly harsh alcohol warming in the throat toward the end but I suspect that this would mellow right out if you cellared it for a year or two.

Pours an opaque, near black with ruby edges and a rocky beige head that dimples as it fades, leaving great lacing. The nose is very hoppy, with peppery, zesty citric hops, pine resin and rye malt, with a nougat-like, nutty malt backbone. The flavour is similar, with zesty orange-flavoured hops, fragrant phenolic hops, dried pitted fruits, pine, sweet caramel malts and nutty nougat-like notes. The finish is insanely dry, more so than many piney IPA’s. A creamy medium body complements the id-palate flavours, but the finish is overly dry and zesty, exhibiting hop bitterness over hop flavour. This is a nice American strong ale, and a really intense one at that.

Murky brown/black with off-white head. Fruity, roasted scents come off the brew, featuring dark currant, raisin, fig aromas combined with roasted malty touches of burnt mocha and muted spice scents, licorice. Fairly well hopped for such a dark brew, and the taste mirrors the aromas, while emphasizing the roasted drying, coffee-like aspects. The alcohol is detectable and presents a warming of the thoat as it is imbibed. Different, but worth trying

DØE Valby 09. Pours dark redbrown with a light beige head. Aroma is vineous, dark caramel, light hop. Flavour is vineous, heavy hop, citrus and grapefruit, and some dried fruit.

pours almost black with a large tan head. Aroma is huge on malt, caramel, with some definite sweetness, perhaps dark fruit. Flavor is very good- malts and alcohol dominate, with some notes of caramel, bitter chocolate, and cane sugar. Mouthfeel is a little light which detracts a bit from its overall score, but still a fine ASA.

This basically like a double IIPA with some nice pine notes and some chocolate to smooth it out. Slightly bitter but has a smooth velvety mouth feel and a sticky finish. Nice.

Hard to peg this, no doubt. A bit too much sweet molasses for me. Yet this is fantastically complex. Is it suped up brown ale or porter or Beligan ale? Who cares? It just rocks.

This starts with a strong hoppy nose, with just a hint of vanilla sweetness hiding in the background. It pours black, with red highlights visible when held up to the light. It has a thin tan head that fades quickly, but leaves good lacing on the glass. The flavor is interesting... it has a strong dark fruit flavor, balanced with bitter hops, which fade into a sweet fruit finish. An interesting beer, which will most likely age into a fairly complicated barleywine flavor... I’ll let you know after I open some that have aged...