Here is how Avery describes their beer:

No. 3 in our Barrel-Aged Series will release on January 15th 2010 at the Avery Tap Room Be present at the release to make sure you get some bottles of this incredible and indelibly unique brew: Imperial Oatmeal Stout aged in Gosling’s Rum barrels. Huge. Chewy. Endlessly deep. Smooth beyond belief with plentiful amounts of subtle flavors that work their way out as you sip. This beer is so good that you can quaff a pint or sip and savor a few ounces with equal ease.

ABV: 10.08%

Bottled: Jan 15, 2010

Bottle: 12oz

Appearance:

This is a jet-black beer, held up to the light, there is no color showing on around the edge of the glass.  Didn’t pour with much of a head, but what was there was a tan/cappuccino foam color.  The lack of head and head retention can be common in high ABV beers and I’ve also noticed in a lot of barrel aged beer.

Aroma:

What I was expecting was exactly what I found in this beer.  Right up front lots of boozy Rum and oak , followed by vanilla and hints of fig.  The rum and oak are strong aromas in this beer, so you don’t get much aroma from the base beer, such as chocolate or roasted malt..

Taste:

Wow!  this is an intense beer.  I’m not sure I’ve had a beer before that reacts with my mouth like this one.  I literally felt my entire mouth go numb like it was anesthetized. Lots of fruit right up front, like drunken figs, alcohol, and rum are prevalent throughout the beer.  Tastes like a bigger beer then it is, but I’ve seen that happen with beer sitting in these spirit barrels; soaking up the flavors of the spirit, adding depth to the beer.   The beer actually finished very smooth and a bit creamy, even though there is tons of alcohol and rum in the flavor.  I’m going attribute that to the base oatmeal stout that helped round out the beer.  With each sip I take, different flavors are being revealed to me.  One sip it’s boozy figs, another it is rum, another it is oak, still another is vanilla, this keeps going and going.  Surprisingly there is also a good bit of bitterness on the back end that lingered for a while.

Calories: At 10% abv, due to teh sweetness, I would error on the high side of my Calorie Chart and estimate 310-325 calories per 12 oz. 

Glassware: Tulip or Goblet

Overall Impression:

Not for the faint of heart or constitutionally challenged.  Take your time with this beer, have a cigar with it.  It needs to be enjoyed over time.  Let the beer evolve as it warms up.  If you can find it try it.  If you can find two, dink one and save the other.  I think this beer will get better over the next year or so.

Avery Black Tot is a post from: Simply Beer

Joining me on this podcast was Kevin Malavarca from the Liquor Outlet in Boonton NJ, John Hoyos from Hunterdon Distribution, and Jim Galligan from the Beer and Whiskey Brootherhood. The only prerequisite I have for the Beer Brawl™ is a love of beer.  You don’t need to know anything about the beers we are drinking only a willingness to try them and voice an opinion.

As usual we have a podcast of The Beer Brawl™ ready for download:

Listen to the Podcast (38:56, It’s 7 beers!)

or download it from iTunes

On Tap:

• Left Hand Sawtooth
  
• Victory Lager
  
• Victory Prima Pils
  
• Avery Redpoint Ale
• Anchor Steam
• Troegs Pale Ale
• Stone Levitation

Download the podcast and listen to all the details about how these Wild Beers stacked up against each other. But if you don’t have time to listen, here are some Tasting notes:

Left Hand Sawtooth (Kevin)

This first beer of the night was a 4.7% abv ESB. The Sawtooth had a nice caramel malt aroma with some decent hops.  A Fairly decently balanced beer we thought, buttery and bready but left us a bit flat on the finish.  We all enjoyed this beer, very representative for the style.

Victory Lager (Kevin)

This beer clocks in at 5.2% abv.  The appearance of this beer left something to be desired, looked like mountain dew.  Although, it smelled and tasted like German Hellas lager, good and crisp, slight noble hop influence. This would be a great beer for all those Bud, Miller, Coors drinks you might have over.

Victory Prima Pils (Peter)

One of the most popular of the night, the Prima Pils weighed it at 5.3%abv.  It was significantly more hoppy then a traditional pils, but it was very smooth and crisp with a bitter hop finish. A delicious Pilsner that you must try.

Avery Redpoint Ale (John)

Another favorite of the night, coming in just under the wire at 5.5% was Avery’s big malt bomb of a session beer.  Beer also had a pretty significant hop profile balancing out the malt nicely. While it looked and smelled like a full bodied beer it was fairly light and easy to drink.

Anchor Steam (Jim)

This California Common comes in at 4.7% abv.  Unfortunately for Anchor Steam, it was probably the least favorite of the bunch.  Very fruity nose, sweet with a fairly dry finish.  Lacked a lot in flavor compared to the previous beers.  But, by no means was it a bad beer; it was very drinkable.

Troegs Pale Ale (Jim)

The consensus best beer of the night.  Great aroma on this 5.4% abv English pale ale.  Well balanced hoppy, malty, biscuit beer.  It had a great finish.  This beers, aroma, flavor, and mouth feel was the complete package out of all the beers in this challenge.

Stone Levitation (Peter)

A very big nose, like a bold IPA, but with a very light mouth feel.  Kevin described this beer as “Baby Bastard”.  It was like the baby/light version of Arrogant Bastard.  The one issue we had was the end dropped out on the beer.

I’m working on future Beer Brawls™, we have a High Octane, Dogfish Head, and Porter Beer Brawls™ coming up. We’d also love to hear your suggestions!

Beer Brawl™ 30 – Session Beer Challenge is a post from: Simply Beer

Maharaja is derived from the sanskrit words mahat, – “great” and rajan – “king”. Much like its namesake, this imperial IPA is regal, intense and mighty. With hops and malts as his servants, he rules both with a heavy hand. The Maharaja flaunts his authority over a deranged amount of hops: tangy, vibrant and pungent along with an insane amount of malted barley – fashioning a dark amber hue and exquisite malt essence.

Appearance:

The Maharaja poured a hazy orangish brown color with some red highlights tucked in.  Fairly small head on this beer with just a tiny bit of lacing. I generally expect a big head on my IPA’s to unlock the potential of the aroma.  I’m not sure if my glass is dirty or the high alcohol has knocked down the head.  I’ll drink this first glass and determine the head on the second glass. (I love 22oz bottles).  The head on second glass was much better, mush have been my glass…

Aroma:

For all you hop heads, bottling disclosure.  This bottle was bottled in June of 2009 (batch 10).  So this beer is 7 months old.  On the nose, a pretty big caramel malt, lots of orange and mango along with a bit of pine.  Actually pretty decent for a 7 month old beer.

Taste:

Avery Maharaj

This beer actually tastes like it smells like it tastes, big sweet caramel malty, which lead into a citrus flavor of ripe pineapple and grapefruit.  The big citrus middle mouthfeel leads into a big long lasting bitterness.  The two big differences from the DuganA, the pineapple and some significant alcohol backbone.

Calories: 10.9% abv and with an Original Gravity of 1.090, this beer would have about 300 cal per 12 oz.

Glassware: Tulip or Narrow Goblet

Overall Impression:

A big IPA for sure, no holds bar.  Tons of malt, tons of hops, and lots of alcohol.  A good IPA that packs a big punch!

Avery The Maharaja Imperial IPA is a post from: Simply Beer

Avery describes this beer:

Lupulin Rapture Incarnate! As fervent  devotees of hops, we found ourselves on a quest to create a transcendental IPA capable of quenching our voracious lupulin desires. Our mantra became “unity of bitterness, hop flavor and aroma.” Enlightened, duganA IPA was born: A brutally bitter, dank, piney and resinous ale designed for those seeking a divine hop experience.

Appearance:

The beer poured out a crystal clear amber color with gold/orange highlights.  The head was fairly billowy for a couple of minutes before receding back into the beer.  Initially not much in the way of head retention,  a second pour out of the 22oz bottle lead to significantly more head retention.  I must have not have done a good job cleaning the glass.

Aroma:

Avery DuganA DIPA

At 93 Ibu’s listed on the bottle at 8.5% abv,  I’m expecting a big nose.  Thankfully, I was not let down.  The beer has a very deep piney, citrus aroma with hints of brown sugar.  it is a very pleasing aroma to me.  While I dig some IPA’s that have the floral bubble gum citrus flavors, I love the deep piney smell more like in this beer.

Taste:

Although, the problem I usually have with the deep piney aroma I love, is the beers are usually to bitter for my palate.  Now, the bottle of Avery DuganA describes this as a “Brutaly bitter” beer. Well folks, it is just that!  It was a very bitter bitter.  There is a ton of caramel malt up that blasted by a citrus hop burst then a earthy lingering bitterness.  While a bitter beer, unlike a lot of others I’ve had, that bitterness didn’t compound on it’s self, but left you with a seriously hoppy beer.

Glassware: Tulip or narrow goblet

Calories:with an Original Gravity of 1.076 it would have fermented down to about 1.012 to achieve 8.5%abv, resulting in about 260 calories per 12 oz.

Overall Impression:

It was as the bottle describes, intensely bitter, dank, piney resinous ale.  If that is what you are looking for in a DIPA, then you have found your beer.  I felt the bitterness was intense, but didn’t cross the over that overbearing line (but not by much).  Also the aroma, was amazing, intense and piney… loved it!  Good beer, go out and try some if you can get it.

Avery duganA Double IPA is a post from: Simply Beer

Appearance:

A chestnut brown ale, tons of carbonation supporting a thin dense head.  Lots of lacing with this beer.

Aroma:

I’m starting to get a sense of why this is called The Beast, strong malty nose consisting of Honey, pineapple, molasses, and black licorice. Oh yeah, almost forgot alcohol, very strong alcohol presence. The aroma on this beer is almost intimidating.

Taste:

With that aroma, I’m expecting a huge beer, not just ABV, but big mouth feel and flavor.  This beer does not disappoint!  Big flavors, sweet raisins and dates right up front, melding into a black licorice, finishing with a malty chocolate taste.  But just when you thought it was done, the dates come back an linger on you palette.  Besides the fruit, the alcohol is very present in this beer, a constant heat, which was pretty heavy handed in this beer.

Overall Impression:

The name of this beer fits the beer, it’s a BEAST!  Complex and flavorful.  I thought the flavors blended together well.  A sipping beer at 14.9%abv, but after half a glass the beer became overwhelming and difficult to drink, extremely sweet.

Glassware: Tulip, Goblet

Calories: Avery was nice enough to list the Original Gravity of 1.148, which would put the Final Gravity around 1.038 for an abv of 14.9% giving you about 515 calories per 12oz.

Simply Beer Rating: 84 (if you only have a half glass or tasting, 89)

Avery The Beast Grand Cru is a post from: Simply Beer

With me on this podcast was Mark Jackson and Teri Gatto from New Jersey News Room.  The only prerequisite I have for these Beer Brawls is a love of beer.  You don’t need to know anything about the beers we are drinking only a willingness to try them and voice an opinion.

As usual we have a podcast of The Beer Brawl:

Download Podcast

or download from iTunes

On Tap:

• 21st Amendment Hell or High Watermelon
• Dogfish Head Sah’Tea
• Old Danish Braggot
• Avery Collaboration not Litigation
• Ommegang Ommegeddon Funkhouse Ale

Mark(left) & Peter (Right) finishing off the beers after the recording was done

Under the umbrella of Unique and Unusual, the Hell or High Watermelon is the first beer I’ve seen that uses watermelon.  While watermelon isn’t a strong flavor, 21st Amendment uses enough to give the beer a bit of flavor, while still retaining some of the Wheat characteristics.  I did enjoy this beer, it wasn’t as well received by Mark or Teri.

The Dogfish Head Sah’tea is unusual in two ways, no hops and the method used to boil the wort (see video).  Using white-hot river rocks they boil the wort with the rocks not a flame. There’s a ‘ton’ of spices used in this beer instead of hops, like cardamon, cinnamon, cloves, and black tea.  Overall we all loved the flavor of this beer and the craftsmanship that went into it.

Mark Discussing his views on the Ommegedon

A braggot is not a common drink in the US; it is a blend of mead (honey Wine) and beer.  This produces a very fragrant and strong drink.  The Old Danish braggot was an interesting diversion from our typical Beer Brawl path.

The Avery Collaboration not Litigation has a great story behind it, creating a great Belgian Dark Strong Ale by the brewers at Russian River and Avery.

The final Beer, the Ommegang Ommegeddon Funkhouse ale, a farmhouse style ale with Brettanomyces Yeast added to it to give it a funky and interesting flavor.  A definite must try beer.

Download the podcast and listen to all the details about these craft brews stacked up against each other.

Next Podcast will be recorded from Andy’s Corner Bar in Bogata NJ, where we’ll be sampling what ever he has on tap.

Beer Brawl 18 – Unique & Interesting Beer is a post from: Simply Beer

With me on this podcast was Mark Jackson and Stephen Kennedy.  The only prerequisite I have for these Beer Brawls is a love of beer.  You don’t need to know anything about the beers we are drinking only a willingness to try them and voice an opinion.

As usual we have a podcast of The Beer Brawl:

Download Podcast

or download from iTunes

On Tap

• Elysian Perseus Porter
• Avery New World Porter
• Rogue Mocha Porter
• Stone Smoked Porter
• Flying Dog Gonzo Imperial Porter

This is one of my favorite styles of beer, so to say I was excited and had some high hopes for these beers is an understatement.  We quickly went through these beers with only one disappointment.  The others were all pretty good, with the Flying Dog brewery winning its second Beer Brawl with the Gonzo Imperial Porter.

Download the podcast and listen to all the details about these craft brews stacked up against each other.

Next week, Simply Beer Cellar clean out, Interesting and Unusual Beers.

Beer Brawl 17 – American Porter is a post from: Simply Beer