Avery Hog Heaven

Brewed by Avery Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Boulder, Colorado USA

Bottle. Pours a lacing light tan head with an amber body. Smells big of hops with some cereal and sweet fruity notes. Tastes of caramel and peach. Finish is smooth, silky, mellow, little bitter, and sticky.

Style and Glass: BWSA, Snifter ABV, Volume & Calories: 9.2% in 22 fl oz. estimated at 400 C Purchased at: Canal’s Lawrenceville, NJ for $7.19 Aroma: Very nice. Aromatic. Grapes, hay, olive oil. Spices. Flowery. A very inviting scent. Foretells of a certain kind of wallop. Visuals: Beautiful packaging, as with most Avery brews. The reddish slightly hazy body seems angry, ruby, bloody. It is fairly brilliant to start, but gets hazier with pour. Thick off white head and lace are staying, sticky, and wonderful. Taste: Beautifully balanced. The alcohol is well hidden, but there is clearly a lingering burn, mixed with a sweet tea moment. Delicious, bitter, and satisfying, but most surprising of all, it can be tasted. Restrained, and wonderfully so. Nice hop bitterness throughout, but the malt is forefront. On a longer sip, fruits emerge. Cherry, grape, melon, sweetness, but not overly so. Warm, spicy, and simply delightful. Palate: A long lasting flavor of tea, hops, licorice, grapefruit, and cherry. A wonderful warming sensation throughout, clearly due to the ABV, but the usual burn on the palate is missing. That’s killer. Overall: Near the top of my list for Barelywines. I prefer a bit more of a cloying flavor in a BWSA, whereas this is much dryer. I’ll search this out again though. I’d love to pair it with a medium rare steak, some al dente green vegetables with a spicy sauce, or a spicy potato masala dosa. originally posted at: <a href="http://beercritic.wordpress.com/2009/01

Dark pour, alcohol is not hidden, taste is a bit oily, large orange present in appearance and taste.

2006 bottle obtained from trade. Pours out a murky brownish/reddish color with a small lacing off white head. Aroma is of some sweet fruits, caramel and some earthiness, hops seem to all but faded in the aroma. Taste is complex and well balanced, the 9.2 abv is nowhere to be found. Tastes of caramel malts, slight tropical fruit notes, some toffee and a little bitterness on the finish, but not much. Rather well done.

Avery 10/10/08 at brewery tasting room. Double dry hopped Uberschwein. (Dry hopped cask of Hop Heaven Barleywine) Grassy floral hop nose. Cloudy amber orange. Hops settled to bottom of cup. Orange medium head. Big orange citrus hop flavor over carmelized malts. Dry moderately bitter finish. Excellent.

Nice caramel and pineapple nose and big malt presence. Medium rusty color. Not much head or lace. Soft mellow hops with a sharp hoppy finish. All the flavors described come through for a well balanced very drinkable beer. For me something is missing. Hard to believe it’s 9.2 abv.

this seems closer to an imperial IPA than barley wine. hoppy malty citrus grapefruit. long bitter finish.

Pours a brownish-amber color with a medium off-white head that recedes thinly, and leaves some streams of lacing. Aroma is intense hops - grapefruit, pineapple, some apricot - alongside some caramel malts. Taste is some piney hoppiness that isn’t very bitter. Smooth moutfeel with a slight malt backbone. Not as malty as some other Barley Wines, but also not as bitter as a Bigfoot. Top notch and very approachable Barley Wine!