Samael's Ale
Avery Brewing Company

12 oz. bottle poured into a snifter. Bottled March 2010, Batch 6, 15.82% alcohol.

Appearance - Reddish brown with a temporary khaki head. Big bubbles that burst and disappear as soon as the beer settles. The thinnest of collars remains. I pulled back the pour as soon as I saw the chunks coming. At 15.82% alcohol, I didn't really need that last ounce anyway.

Smell - Woo that's oaky. Really nice character to the oak. Lots of vanilla. Lots of brown sugar and booze. Simply, but I'm liking it.

Taste - The oak character translates very nicely into the flavor. The vanilla flavors are amplified. It takes center stage for a moment. Then it becomes a little more monotone. Slightly fruity, slightly bitter, caramel. Nothing terribly exciting here. Could use a bit of depth. Booze and oak take over in the finish.

Mouthfeel - Pretty damn boozy, but at least it isn't overly sweet. I might reassess the sweetness halfway through the glass, but for now, it's not overpowering.

Overall - The nose was quite appealing and some of those flavors held through, but this beer might just be too big for its own good.

12oz bottle from 2005.

Pours flat chestnut brown with zero head or lacing.
Boozy raisins, caramelized brown sugar in the nose.
Medium bodied with a slick, tacky mouthfeel.
Sweet malt with toffee, rum-soaked raisins, brown sugar on the palate.
Finishes boozy and sweet.

 

Not my style. Typically, wouldn’t review, but this is something I likely won’t buy again (not because it’s bad, because there have been decent-ish brews not worth anyone’s time) so I feel obligated to review. Note: this beer is NINE years old. Yes. Written on the bottle, 2016. I’m an accountant. This is 9 years. Also - yes, this beer is like drinking 4 Yuenglings. I’m happily inebriated. May have drank a Founders KBS right before this as well.

Look - you pretentious beer snobs will love this. Poured into a wine glass (yes, I’m a mid-30s member of the laptop class, but I’d rather spend my beer allowance on beer than a pretty glass), this brew looks amazing. I LOVE BA AIS (figure it out) but they are much darker and not nearly as pretty. This was a MURKY dark(ish) amber color with a small head, that mostly dissipated, leaving a thin head and a LOT of lacing. Tip your pinkies, boys.

Smell - sour ale. Only way to describe it. Try some Okie-made Prairie Artisan Ales beers. These are the ones that come in a can. Not their American Imperial Stouts, the Goat. There. I said it.

Taste - a Hefeweizen or Dopple-bock, but with much more booziness. Very sweet, hint of banana and other fruits. The alcohol is a bit intense. I don’t hate the booziness, but at nearly 17%, it definitely has more classic earmarks of a weak liquor. Without the cover-up or thickness/richness a BA AIS provides.

Feel - eh…after gaining a liking for stouts, I prefer them thicker, but not overly so. This is thin and boozy. Better carbonation than my preferred style though.

Overall - not bad. Just not my thing.

Amber color, thin head. The aroma of caramel malt, oak, and spices. Sweet caramel, wood , bourbon, and fruits in taste. Some alcohol in the finish and aftertaste. A strange feeling of the excess of something. I don't know certainly what bothers me. Maybe it's sweetness.

12oz bottle poured into a snifter
2015 Vintage

Pours brown in color with a one-finger off-white head that reduces to a ring. Smells of caramel, toffee, brown sugar, raisin, fig, booze and light oak. Taste is malty caramel and brown sugar, followed by dark fruit notes of raisin and figs. The finish gives light oak, vanilla & a hint of cherry. Medium body with moderate carbonation, foamy mouthfeel turns slightly creamy into a warming finish

 

 

 

 

 

A: Poured into a snifter to a deep orange beer which is topped by a dense and slightly rocky finger of off white head which fades quickly to a collar around the edge of the glass with minimal lacing
S: Smells of caramel and dark fruits with a touch of raisins along with a hint of oak
T: Taste is caramel and dark fruits up front with some woody oak notes. There's a little vanilla and a touch of spice along with some faded hops. On the finish there's more caramel, dark fruits, spice, and wood.
M: This beer is full bodied and slightly syrupy on the palate. Carbonation is surprisingly effervescent and slightly prickly while the ABV gives this one a drying finish.
O: Overall this is a pretty nice beer that has held up well to time since it was bottled in 2016. Really nice complexity and flavors and the alcohol is fairly well hidden.

Got a bottle from May 2015, batch 11.

Pours a turbid reddish brown with a small head and some lacing.

Smells of malt and dark fruit. Tastes of really sweet malt, cherries and plums with a warm boozy finish.

Medium body with light carbonation. Lush syrupy mouth feel.

This 5+ year old bottle is like sipping very strong port wine!

Too bad the brew is retired!

 

Serving: 12 oz bottle ("March 2016, Batch No. 12, 31.25 P, 16.3%") poured into a 9 oz Libbey Embassy snifter.

Appearance: Hazy copper with a brief, fizzy head of off white bubbles.

Smell: Malt-forward aroma of toffee and burnt sugar, candied fruit, vanilla and a hint of boozy barrel.

Taste: Malt focused flavor continues from the nose with rich sweet caramel, dark dried fruit, vanilla, and hints of oak and earthy hops.

Mouthfeel: Medium to fully body, boozy warmth and slightly viscous, and gently carbonated.

Overall: A big, potent malt bomb.

 

 

Another one I have no idea how I haven't reviewed, batch 5, 2009. Pulled from the cellar, excited for this one.
No sound when I pop the cap, limited rust, very small head flashes away in almost an instant, legs basically just coat the glass, dark mahogany brown color

Nose brings loads of big sweet candy malt, caramel, toffee, etc, a bit of vanilla oak notes, a bit of papery oxidation with some earthy dirt like characters, some dark fruits with a bit of raisin, date, a little chocolate, and some cedar like spicy oaky character, a bit nutty as well

Taste brings loads of sweet malts and sweeteners again, big caramel heavy with molasses, candy syrup, toffee, etc, more big dark fruit with raisin, date, candied fig, more molasses and earthy sugars, some oxidation but not too much bringing a little papery note but more on the winey port wine character, a bit of a BBQ sauce but not a ton, touch of oak and cedar spice notes, getting a little like prune and Glogg, some warming tingly alcohol but doesn't feel like almost 17%, mild sticky finish but semi sweet, earthy dark fruits and mild paper oxidation lingering

Mouth is fuller bod, syrupy, almost no carb, some warming tingly alcohol

Overall interesting for sure, really nice aged barleywine, wish it had more carbonation and oak characters, but aged quite well otherwise.