Avery Fourteen

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

Bottle: Ruby amber in color with a two-finger tan head...sweet caramel, figs, raisins and dark malts rule the nose, no hop notes were present as I kinda expected. Very english barleywine-ish. Viscous, sticky body...again, sweet dark malts, bread dough and earthy esters are present in the flavor. This was quite good.

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!

Deep brown in color with a tinge of red. Scents of plum, dark carmel, orange zest and citric hops. The palate shows the hops toward the finish. Nice density in the midpalate which showed nice richness leading toward the dry finish.

Bomber thanks to Steven. Pours a dark brown with a nice light brown head. The aroma is mostly sweet caramel and fruits. The initial judgment was that this beer is much like a good Belgian Strong Ale; dark fruit, sweet candy, some alcohol and nutty aspects. But, this beer really can change, and it show a strong bitter hops at times. Wow! I really liked this one. Perfectly balanced and so complex.

Pours a dark ruby with a large tan head. Lots of grapefruit and pine in the nose, with a good bit of malts as well. Taste is similar with pepper thrown in along with a bit of burnt cherry and fish sauce. Not too thin, but not chewy. Very balanced with a nice long finish. Reminds me of sitting in front of a fire in the fall, with winter well on its way.

2007 bottle from Eagle River Liquor in Fulton, IL. Pours a slightly hazy dark chocolate brown with and absoutely huge rocky tan head that lasts forever and just looks beautiful. Aroma is of lots of dark fruit, toffee, caramel, fresh taffy, a decent amount of floral and citrus hops and a hint of alcohol. Flavor is caramel, toffee, roast, lots and lots of candied dates, overripe banana, a little raisin, molasses, burnt sugar, and some pine and citrus hops. FInish is dried fruit, a belgian like yeastiness, and some nice citrus, bitter and maybe some herbal hops. Body is medium, rather slick and very clean, this brew hides 9.5% really well. I would love to compare this to a fresh bottle, I bet this is better.

Shared at Butters Big Blowout, which Barrios picked for his 400th rating. Very dark brown pour with red highlights and solid dark tan head with good lacing. Nose is rummy, bourbon, i’d almost think this is oak aged, hints of ginger. Complex melding of molassis, milk chocolate, oak, vanilla. Medium full body with a creamy texture. Terrific job of hiding the alcohol.

Butters cellar reduction tasting. Big chocolate, molasses, vanilla, malty nose. Wow... right off the bat. Very complex. Has this been barrel aged? Smells and tastes like it. Very savory longing beer. Awesome brew.