Avery Samael’s Oak-Aged Ale

4.2/5

AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 9/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 17/20

12 ounce bottle into snifter, April 2007, batch 3. Pours hazy red-brown color with a 1.5 finger light tan head with good retention with some slight lacing on the glass. Huge aromas of molasses, caramel, oak, vanilla, rum, and dark fruits, with some alcohol. Taste is also enormous, with vanilla, molasses, caramel, rum, and oak. The amount of flavor in this startled me at first sip, just huge on flavor. As you continue consuming this the overall feel and flavors smooth out a ton, and this is actually quite drinkable, but this is absolutely a sipper on all counts. Not much bitterness going on here, but there is a huge amount of lingering sweet flavors on the finish that sit around for a bit. Practically no alcohol noticed other than a slight warming after the finish. Medium carbonation and huge full body. Overall, this is an extremely smooth barley wine for its alcohol content(15%) and is the strongest Barley Wine I have had, and is loaded with flavor and very well balanced. Excellent.

A great brew that is loaded with flavor. I just have The Beast left to try and I will have tried all of the Avery high gravity beers.