Origin: USA
Type: Barleywine
Color: Reddish brown
Recommended serving temperature: 9ºC/48ºF
Brewery: Avery Brewing Co.
Today, with autumn drawing closer and closer, I feel it is appropriate to write about something darker, more complex and stronger than usual. Something for after dinner, to keep you company on progressively colder nights. Something which you can enjoy... but also fear, for, after all, the night is dark and full of terrors.
In this context, I don't think there's a much better way to look to your sins than having a Samael's Oak Aged Ale.
This beer is a an orange brown barley wine with really strong reddish tones. It has a pretty limited amount of creamy colored foam which, despite its low amount, stays for a relatively long amount of time.
Its smell, as is the case with vintage wine, is extreme at the beginning. Immediately on opening the bottle it smells like oaked hard liquor, but it soon airs out and more subtle aromas start to appear.
The main smell I get from it is a sweet one, with a heavy mixture of dark fruits, maybe even matured, like prunes and plums, and some caramel and vanilla. It really drives you to think of dessert to go with it. Adding to that, there is also a slight herby ting that gives the whole thing a resemblance to very soft honey on occasion.
There is also however something nutty about it as time goes by, balancing the sweet smells with the oak and the alcohol and making the smell almost irresistible.
Once you take a swig of it though, the certain balance that you may believe there is in the smell goes out the window.
This beer tastes incredibly malty sweet as it enters your mouth, displaying an intense old matured fruit taste, immediately complemented by the vanilla and caramel felt in the smell.
It is only after a few moments in your mouth that the oak lets itself be felt, together with a faint bitterness that does not linger and is quickly replaced by a soft alcoholic burn. The alcohol taste is hardly unexpected, when you consider the 16.9%ABV that this beer has. If anything, it is surprising that it is not really more noticeable and up front in the taste.
The reason for this is the sweetness that envelops the whole experience, which again here makes the alcohol taste very subdued and even manages to fully wash it away to leave you with just an oaky sweet end. This is finally coupled by a soft nutty like aftertaste, which leaves your mouth calm, peaceful and I dare say almost content.
Your mouth will be even more content if you follow the brewer's suggestions and pair it with a hefty dessert made with caramelized sugar. One thing's for sure though, no matter how happy your mouth is at the end, your head will still be hazy.
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