Avery Fourteen

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

22oz bottle. A good looking dark brew with a nice head. The aroma is lightly sweet with malt. The flavor is very enjoyable with a unique combination of caramel and chocolate malt, pine hops, spice and a solid body. Very unique and most enjoyable brew. I’ll get another bottle and drink this again!

22 oz. bottle. Bottled in 2007. A near-opaque brownish pour with a finger-thick mocha head that leaves rings of lace. A sweet and malty aroma that features lots of brown sugar, ripe apples, pears, some caramel and molasses. Full-bodied. Roasty and quite sweet upfront. Raisins, molasses and red apples are all present. Finishes with some tingly, drying hoppiness. Alcohol is noticeable, but not over the top.

Bottle@BlindTastingSession. Strong aroma, very sweet and fruity with some laurel. Ruby color, beige firm head, good lace. Very sweet, very bitter, especially towards the finish, licorice wood, roasted malts, hint of chocolate, black currant. Full and I don’t think I could finish more than 1 bottle. But the flavors and especially the aroma are great.

Bottle. Dark brown pour with creamy head. Malt, sweet, chocolate aroma. Lots of flavors in this one. Molasses with some hop bitterness, dark fruit, chocolate and a lingering smoke. Interesting brew.

Huge beige head, rather fine bubbled and irregular, leaving some lacerings over deep dark beer with a ruby shine. Dark malts, alcohol and fusels, USA hops, cardboard, caramel and something perfumey-soapy. Generally speaking delicate and discreet nose. Bitterish, both hoppy & roasted, and a spicy flavour, reminding me of cumin; melanoidins. There’s quite some toffee & caramel, even molasses, but the hopgift quickly smothers it all. Good balance for an impressive brew. Very slick and well-bodied, alcoholwarming; Better balanced, discreter than most Avery brews I discovered, and for a rather massive ale, at that. Thanks, David A!

On draft @ the Brew Kettle 5/25/06 and also rated separately in a 22 oz bottle 6/24/07: Burnt sienna brown w/ a lasting, thick, beige, creamy, foam head. Also laces very nicely. Chocolate and toasted malts in the bottle version, caramel seems to make itself more prevalent in the draft version. Clove seemed to be slightly present in the draft version, but absent from the botled version, both were moderately fruity w/ some raisiny esters in the draft version. The bottled version seemed to have more hop aromas of piney, floral, herbal, and resiny. The bottled version seemed to have some black licorice notes that I did not pick up the first time I had it a month ago, although the draft version had some brown sugary notes in the aroma. The flavor between both versions seems a bit different. The bottled version seemed to be more hop dominant with piney and herbal hop flavors up front, whereas the draft version seemed to be malt dominant. Both have chocolate and bready malt flavors, but the balance seems to be a bit better in the bottled version. I thought the draft version was slighly under attenuated and a touch more fruity. Both versions had an herbal hop finish with a roasty malt undertone. The draft version seemed to finish medium sweet, while the bottled version was pretty well balanced. Both had a nice, creamy, smooth mouthfeel w/ well hidden alcohol. Low med. CO2, and fuller medium body. I liked both versions, and not that they were 2 completely different beers, but there were enough of them. I don’t check my notes often enough and should have realized that I had already rated it, but what the heck, the scores were almost identical, actually 1 number off... Interesting! I quite like this beer on both accounts.

Dark Brown with Red Hues..and Dark Sandy head. Very Fruity and Floral Nose with Subtle Sweet Syrupy Malts Behind Them. Wonderfully Zesty Nose. Medium to Heavy Bodied....Creamy Dry Mouthfeel. Very Sweet and Thick Malts...Sweet, Lightly Syruped..Molasses, Subtle Roast and Dark Breaded Flavor. The Same Fruity Flavor that Encapsulated the Nose Pop Up on the Tongue and Slowly Transition to a Floral and Fruity Hopped Ending. Sweet and Dry Aftertaste. A Wonderful Strong Dark Ale. Very Smooth for Almost 10% as Well. A Good One to Keep Stock of for the Colder Months of Winter.

Dark brown body, no, more like mahogany with a tint of crimson coming in....clear at foot, ...fluffy, cocoa-toned head. Aroma: SWEET-ness!...chocolate, spice, mollases, nuts, brown sugar, lovely, and utterly malt-alicious...now to taste ’er! More of the same, now dancing on the tongue...sweet, plump, chocolate chip’n’raisin-y goodness, caramel chewiness, blasts of black pepper, lush molasses, dark rum & anise Long lasting finish, full bodied, and very special...happy 14th, guys!