Avery Brewing Company Hog Heaven Dry-Hopped Barleywine Style Ale

Hello beer lovers and welcome to another edition of the NorCal Beer Blog's brew review.

Tonight’s featured beer is Avery Brewing Company Hog Heaven Dry-Hopped Barleywine Style Ale. 

From the Avery Brewing Company website: “This dangerously drinkable garnet beauty is a hop lover’s delight. The intense dry-hop nose and the alcohol content are perfectly balanced for a caramel candy-like malt backbone. This is a serious beer for serious beer aficionados. Hog Heaven is the first installment of “The Holy Trinity of Ales” series.”

Let’s get started!

Appearance: Pours a deep amber color with a large tan head and thick lacing.

Aroma: Huge hop nose – pine and citrus with grapefruit looming large. Caramel and biscuit malt character and dark fruits peek through the hop dominance.

Taste: As with the aroma hops dominate this with pine, lemons and grapefruit, but balanced well with caramel, roasted and biscuit malts.  Dark fruit and brown sugar are in the mix.

Overall: Avery Brewing Company’s Hog Heaven Dry-Hopped Barleywine Style Ale is excellent. The sweetness of the malt and hop bitterness really make this an enjoyable beverage and one that I would definitely purchase again and again.  At 9.2% ABV this might not be something you can put down a few bombers of, but you’ll want to.  Oh you’ll want to.

Cheers!

Mark Harvey