Avery Samaels Oak-Aged Ale

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

Clear orange. Short-lived creamy light brown head. Cask wood, pear, caramel and lemon juice on the nose. Initially sweet, bitterness and alcohol is quickly felt and lasts all the way to the finish. A full bodied drink, it’s softly carbonated and syrupy. Vintage 2006 (Bottle, courtesy of tarjei 12.12.2009)

A: Nice dark chestnut red in color with a two finger head and lot of floaties. S: Lots of Oak, and Booze, some nice maltiness to smooth it out a bit. T: Holy Smokes this is a huge beer. Very sweet with tons of oakiness. There is a nice malty flavor with a nice balance of hops. This is smooth like Bourbon with a nice alcohol burn. In fact if you take away the sweetness you would think you were drinking Bourbon, strong Bourbon did I mention the booze. The ABV (15%) in this one is front and center. M: Medium light carbonation.

Vanilla, oak, and barley blend to smell like a fresh brownie. Ruby/amber hue with thin tan head. Vanilla, maple, caramel, oak, walnut tones are abundant with a nice warming alcohol finish. Dangerously good. Notes: Bottle was about 3 yrs old

Batch 2, bottle, nearly 4 years old. Pours slightly hazy brown-red. Sort of flat. Slightly oxidized nose, lots of brown sugar, caramel, vanilla, and some oak. Boozy as hell and cloyingly sweet. I’ve tried sipping this for about an hour, but I’m pretty sure I’m gonna pour this out.

Deep copper colored pour with a fizzy, 2-finger, off-white head. Heavy boozy dark fruit aroma with a healthy note of vanilla and sherry. There’s some bourbon and oak, but it blends in with the malt and alcohol so it doesn’t stand out quite as much as many other bourbon barrel beers. As the head fades i get a little leather, licorice, tobacco and anise. The flavor is extremely rich and a little cloying. Heavy caramel and dark fruit tones dominate the flavor at first sip. Again the bourbon character doesn’t really come out. The barrel aging lends much more vanilla, charred oak, and alcohol than bourbon character. There;s some more spice and tobacco notes in the flavor but not quite as much as in the nose. This is a nice winter warmer but the heavy sweetness and alcohol knock it down a few points from being a really great beer.

Pours a nice coppery/caramel color. Thick, creamy, 4-finger head that dpops down to a nice thin layer just covering the liquid in a solid fashion. Nice lacing on the glass. The only negative is that there is already quite a good amount of sediment. Smells of sweet malty goodness, just begging to be tasted. Caramel, raisins and a touch of alcohol, not unlike a fine port. Big sweet malts engulf the mouth. Very port-like in it’s taste. The alcohol is not quite as prominent as I expected, which is nice. Light caramel taste on the back-end with a hint of cinnamon(?) or perhaps that’s just the oak chips coming through. Feels very smooth in the mouth with only a slight touch of alcohol burn. This breaks up the sweetness, so it works to it’s own advantage. Overall this is quite nice, but one that is a bit too sweet for me to consume much at one time. A definite sipper.

Pours a rich, clear amber/orange from the 12oz. bottle (bottled in April 2009, batch 5): Syrupy sweet bombs of vanilla, maple, brown sugar, honey, raisins, and caramel. No noticable hops, extremely malty. Alcoholic presence for sure, but that’s to be expected for 16% abv. My stomach’s so warm. I wish Avery didn’t up the sweetness so much in attempt to "hide" the alcohol. Give me more of the burn. Drinkability: Alcoholic and sweet. Sipper. Rebuy: Eh.. #163 on 26102009, DG.

Bottle... Poured amber with a thin, tan head that dissipated quickly. Very boozy, with rich malt and oak flavors. The alcohol heat was very high, but there was a lasting sweetness that balanced it out in the end.