Review: Samael’s Oak Aged Ale

Beer reviews — By DJ Spiess on November 9, 2007 at 2:49 pm

Oak aged beers are starting to be popular. Several brewpubs are starting to offer this specialty. We saw that Avery (the makers of The Beast) offered one, so we had to try it. The beer features the fallen angel, Samael, on the label. Samael is known as the accuser, seducer, and destroyer. In some lore, he is the true Satan. This is one devilish beer.

Avery's Samael is quite the seducer

Samael is not a small beer. This beer comes in at 14.9% ABV, which is much higher than most oaked ales – much higher than most beers in fact. We were expecting alcoholic jet fuel.

Samael has a very malty smell. There are some hop aromas, but you really have to sniff for it. If you homebrew or have ever been to a brewery when they were making beer, you know what this beer smells like. It has that wonderful aroma of malt boiling in the kettle.

The color is a very pretty amber. When you look closely at the beer, it looks like a snow globe. There are light flakes floating down to the bottom, while carbonation bubbles float up. It is very hypnotic to watch.

Samael is quite the yummy dessert!

Our first taste took us by surprise. The beer is very thick and smooth. Joan described it as “a yummy dessert where you can’t get to the next bite quick enough”. We could taste the oak, but just a little. This beer has very strong caramel flavors, almost like a caramel turtle dessert. The beer is very well balanced. The malt flavor is strong, however, it is perfectly countered by the light hops, alcohol, and oak. Even the aftertaste is tasty. This will be a very popular beer over the winter holidays at fermentarium.

We give the beer 10 fallen angels out of 10!