Does Avery Mis-Categorize Hog Heaven?
Written: Feb 04 '08
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Product Rating:
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Pros: tasty and hoppy as a Double IPA or Imperial IPA
Cons: too hoppy for the style
The Bottom Line: Avery's Hog Heaven barley wine is hopped like an Imperial IPA than a barley wine: it's tasty as all get-out, but not representative of the style.
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| scmrak's Full Review: Avery Hog Heaven 22oz. |
A friend tells me she considers herself a "cheap date" because it takes just one beer to get her pleasantly tipsy. "Tipsy," huh? That's a cute word…Well, she's clearly talking about your average American lager, such as Bud Lght, with its paltry 4.2% alcohol by volume (ABV) – a bottle of barley wine would most likely take her beyond "tipsy" to "fall-oversy." No kidding. Just take a look at Avery Hog Heaven, whose 9.2% ABV is actually fairly low for the style. Me, I took a long look at Hog Heaven just the other night, and here’s what I found:
Tasting Notes:
Benchmark: Barley wines (or, as US brewers must label them, barley-wine style ales) are renowned for their bigness. This dense beer typically finds a strong, sweet malty flavor balanced out by a good hit of hops. In color, the style ranges from medium amber to deep brown; the style ranges from 8% to 12% ABV (at least 8% is required) and a bitterness within the range of 50 to 100 International Bitterness Units (IBU). The "wine" part of the name arises from the high alcohol content, which rivals that of fruit wines – many British companies added this powerful brew to their line to round out their offerings and compete with vintners.
The Pour: Hog Heaven pours up an attractive dark, ruby-tinged amber, with striking clarity. The head is relatively short – less than a finger-width – with a pronounced meniscus. The head persists well, maintaining lace all the way to the bottom of the glass.
The Nose: Hops aroma forms a cloud around the glass that's near-impenetrable (which one might expect from the beer's 104 IBUs); but after you get used to the hop aroma there's a sweet background of honey- to caramel-scented malt.
In the Mouth: Hog Heaven sits well on the tongue, a full-bodied and malty flavor; but the bitterness whacks you upside the head like a mean Bobby with a hopped-up nightstick. It's mildly carbonated and decidedly alcoholic, but the sweetness typical of barley wines is overpowered by the hops.
The Finish: It's powerfully bitter, though some flavor of caramel and malt make it through the wall of hops. There's an alcohol rush on the rear of the tongue and in the back of the throat.
Thoughts: We've been tasting some high-alcohol beers of late, including imperial stouts, porters, and barley wine. This one is, by far, the hoppiest of the bunch (the others have fallen within the range of 60-75 IBUs for the most part). About the only hoppier beer I can remember having tasted in recent years is a double IPA (it might have been Lagunitas Maximus, but I don't remember). I was expecting a complex beer that's well-balanced between malt and hops, but the hops turned out to be overpowering.
I'm of the impression that Avery overhopped what could have been a complex and tasty barley wine, creating instead an Imperial or Double IPA. As I read it, barley wines are supposed to be at least a little sweet; this one's not. While the color and the alcohol content are within the standard range of the style, the bitterness is beyond the pale.
This is definitely not a beer for the faint of heart – but if hops are your thing, go for it. If so, though, I'd suggest that you might want to sip this one slowly and don't plan on driving afterwards.
Recommended:
No
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