Beer and Comics » Avery

Avery Brewing Co. Hog Heaven Barleywine

dpuffer — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 03:50:35 +0000


For some reason I was in the mood for a barleywine this evening.  I'd  never had the Avery Brewing Co.'s attempt at the barleywine and to be honest I had heard nothing about this particular beer.  I just knew that some of the Avery stuff I've had in the past was amazing (especially the maharaja DIPA; it's in my top 15 or so).  So I picked this up at The Anderson's for $8 on a whim.  
The Basics: 


Hog Heaven is a 9.2% barleywine listed at 100 IBUs.  The bottle reads that it's an "explosion of sweet malt" and brewed with Columbus dry hops. W00T!!
Appearance: 


Pours an amazing red/orange hue with a MASSIVE three finger sticky caramel head.  This head goes nowhere either.  I guess that would be a product of 2.5 pounds per barrel of columbus hops.  Leaves a nice looking off white lacing too. 
Nose: 


I hadn't even stuck my nose in it yet and the I could already smell it. Once I finally plunged my nose into the glass I got a blast of sweet malt with that great floral/citrus hops aroma typical of Avery.  
Mouth: 


Sweet, sweet, sweet deliciousness.  Typical barleywine flavor,  but with a little more fruit than i'm used to from a BW.  Just the slightest hint of alcohol in the mouth but it totally balances the sweet caramel malt.  Great balance in fact.  Feels a wee bit heavy in the mouth but it's still a great brew. Great finish that leaves your lips bitter and sweet at the same time.  
Drinkabiliy: 


Like I said it drinks a little on the heavy side.  Not a chance I could drink more than one of these in a sitting, but that's to be expected from a 22oz BW at 9.2%.  Not really a great session beer, but great to relax with on a monday night with nothing else to do.

Overall: 9/10

Avery Anniversary 16

Brian — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 01:07:19 +0000

When the wife is away, the blogger will… blog? Totally doesn’t rhyme, but is more or less accurate. Today, I decided to try something completely new to me, and I’ve had some interest in doing a vertical tasting of Avery brewing’s Anniversary saison series. Unfortunately, this beer may have dissuaded me from that pursuit.

I poured it, expecting exactly what I got, a clear effervescent belgian styled ale with very thick, but quickly dissipating head. The smell was that of a belgian golden ale. As it stands, all is well with this ale.

So we move on to the first sip. The mouthfeel is very light and effervescent. Very close to what I’d expect from a Saison, and very standard belgian.

The taste: I was expecting to be blown away by sourness here, assuming they would’ve taken the Saison sentiment literally. Well, it turns out, it’s very plain. It’s actually quite the golden ale. It’s very standard golden ale, with a lot of similarities to Duvel. With regard to Duvel however, this is much better. There are some interesting characteristics. There are some flavors that aren’t necessarily striking… more understated… Turns out, the aftertaste on this is actually very similar to sweet tarts.

So, why do I say this has turned me off of the Avery anniversary series? Well, I’d be interested to try them. It would be really fun, but my devout belief is that it wouldn’t be worth the money. This beer, for 8 bucks, is totally not worth it at all. If I bought this for 2 dollars, I’d be satisfied.

It’s all I can do to not fail this beer, but really… it’s not a great beer. It’s not worth the 8 dollar price tag for 22 oz. It’s a 5/10.

Then again… if it was free, it’d be much more appealing.

Caliber, and Avery Brewing’s The Reverend

Brian — Sun, 04 May 2008 00:59:43 +0000

Well dear friends,

It would seem Ian and I have been quite busy as of late. Ian what with his finals and graduating again and all that, and myself with a multitude of races (a half marathon, a 5 k, and a duathlon in the last week) and fund raising opportunities (I grew a mustache as a part of 826 Michigan‘s Mustache-A-Thon.) But alas, the time has come to bring good news unto the world.

This week, as I went to pick up two of the more important comics affecting the alternate comic book universes I stumbled upon a new comic called Caliber, from Radical Comics. I don’t think I would have been particularly awestruck by it had it not been retailing for exactly 1 dollar. And seriously, how can you not buy a comic for a dollar, especially one with such a beautifully painted cover. As such, I decided it was worth my hard earned dollar to buy it, read it, and communicate its value to the world. Honestly, it might be one of the best buys available in comics. This book was gorgeously drawn and painted, very similarly to the lone ranger. The story line is interesting and has left me wanting more. The worst thing about it, in my opinion, is it is limited to a series of 5 books. This book has some really solid potential! I’m really excited to see where Sam Sarkar takes this, because it is a really haunting view of the US’s western expansion in the early 1800s. I’ve always been appalled by the way the the forefathers, and to some extent the current government, of this country thought the world was merely theirs for the taking no matter whose blood was left on their hands. This could be a great look at the perilous situation between the Native Americans and the settlers, even if endowed with some fantastic elements. I seriously recommend picking this up if you can find it, if not for the fantastic art. Plus, as mentioned earlier, its only a buck.

In beer tasting news, tonight, I decided after a solid finish of 1:28:45 in my duathlon, I deserve a fine ale. As I searched the beer aisle at my local grocer, I came upon a beer I’ve always looked at and disregarded because the rest of their line-up is swill; Avery’s The Reverend Quadrupel. It’s so hard to buy beer from a brewery when you’ve had bad experiences with the other things they’ve done. I’ve always found Avery’s beers to be a bit of a let-down. If they didn’t let me down, they were outrageously expensive for the quality. This, however was different. Reasonably priced at 4.99 + tax and deposit for a 22 oz bottle, I figured I’d give it a go as it’s been some time since I’ve really assailed my palate in any negative way. To my delight, this was not an assault on my finely tuned palate. It is in fact a very pleasurable drinking experience. It has a nice, estery aroma, hints of banana and light citrus. It is very smooth, with a common tripel flavor, but it feels a little fuller in the mouth. A little sweeter maybe. It poured with little head, to which i was surprised, but it is filtered and didn’t appear to be heavily bottle conditioned. If you’re gonna have an Avery beer, I’d highly suggest this one. 7.5