Avery Hog Heaven

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

On tap at City Beer Store in SF. Orangey dark brown, quite hazy. Aroma is almost all grapefruit up front, lots of DIPA--a little lemon and grass in the back as well as nutty malt. Nutty taste comes through in the taste with a piney, wooden, almost faux-fruity finish. I wouldn’t think of this as a barleywine.

2007 Ed. Bottled. Reddish amber body, slightly cloudy, small head mutates into a ring and leaves no lace. The aroma is an amazing wallop of citrus-hops with grapefruit, pine, peach, and some fruity-alcohol notes that are hiding out behind some caramel for a deep and rich profile. Body is medium-full with lots of nice carbonation and a very light, rather dry, finish. Pretty unique. I taste pine, grapefruit rind, peachesque, dark fruits (grapes, raisins, prunes), a roasty, fruity-hop finish, sugar. The alcohol is rather well hidden in flavor, but this is a bit warming. Not really what I expect from a barley-wine, but it’s in the neighborhood. Some of the rich, dark malts are there as it warms up, and I’m sure, as it ages. I’ll buy a couple of bottles and try it again next year and the year after. :o Lotsa hops. Well done, but not outstanding in any way.

Bomber boured into RR Damnation tulip. Nice looking beer- hazy dark marmalade colour with surprising amount of head. Nose is super sweet- frankly scared me a little. I was hoping this wasn’t sickley sweet. Taste- it is sweet, but not too bad. Sweet doughy malt, with piney woody hop overtones. There’s a little earthy tobacoo as well. Finishes dry. Creamy mouthfeel, really creamy. Slides right down. The big IBU’s really play well in this beer. Its worthy competition to its instate rival GD Old Ruffian. Close, but no cigar. Nice barleywine all and all.

bomber. it pours with a deep ruby/amber hue, shimmering and elegant lacing. liquid hop aroma. ruination + malts in the aroma. pine, spruce, bitter aroma, yet ever-so-pleasant. also, caramelized peaches. flavor is still hopped out if its mind. dig the ibu’s. the hops are sweetened by the malts. also, thick, toffee syrup malts compounded by thick, ripe, darker fruits.

Why not start it off with this beer? Heavy on the hop side, as it should be, easy to drink, lingers in the mouth with a bitter grass flavor that tells you to drink more. I like the "nose" with its sickly sweet hop kicking at the front door. The head struggles to linger on top of the redheaded step child body which tells you this beer will have a little character if nothing else..... my first rating, just for you xnoxhatex; now, stop throwing my barware on my landlords deck.

Robust head bursting with huge, fresh centennial hop scent. Pine, citrus, and more pine. Hophead delight. Huge bitterness (100 IBU) perfectly counterbalanced by caramel toffee sweetness. Sweet and malty but not cloying. Warming alcohol finish followed closely by great hop bitterness. Barleywine meets IIPA. Perfection in a bottle.

Deep ruby orange, thin but lasting head. Aroma is toffee and citrusy and tangerine hops. Flavor is richly caramel-infused and deeply imbued with more citric hops, some evergreen and peaches. Quite hoppy, yet sweet finish. Plentiful hops and caramel malt pretty much sum this up. Good thing I like how they work in this case.

Bottled. Aroma has piney/grapefruit hops, some caramel malt, sugar/toffee and a little port/winey. Hazy, copper-brown coloured with a thin, off-white head. Taste is sweet, with some hopbitterness, sugar, sweet fruity malts and some winey notes. Actually nice brew. Bit weird due to the unexpected IPA/hoppy character of this barleywine.