Avery Salvation Golden Ale
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“Salvation is discovering your passion, purpose, meaning in life. We brew, what about you?”
– from the Avery Salvation label
Avery Brewing Co. has been one of the great treats of this year of beer; not even halfway through the challenge, they have emerged as one of my favorite American craft breweries.
Back in March, I enjoyed the collaboration between Avery and Russian River Brewing called “Collaboration Not Litigation Ale“. Both Avery and Russian River had beers named “Salvation”, so they decided to blend the best parts of each beer into a new creation — Collaboration Not Litigation Ale.
Having enjoyed the hybrid, I’ve been looking forward to trying the original components — and today’s beer is Avery Salvation.
Avery Salvation is a “Belgian-Style Golden Ale”, and it sports one of the most ornate labels you’ll find on a bottle of beer.
The 22 oz bottle is covered with religious scenes you’d expect to find in ancient cathedrals — ornamented alters, saints with halos, onlooking busts of the pious — but the ultimate touch is that Salvation’s label features with faux-gold leaf that glows as it catches the light. The label seems to even outshine the golden foil wrapped around the neck, covering the bottle cap.
In addition to the text I quoted earlier about “salvation” lying in discovering one’s passion, the label includes a kind of beer benediction, reading:
“Seek and ye shall find! Salvation is a divinely drinkable golden treasure, full of fruity aroma and hoppy complexity with a soft, light palate. Brewed with pure Rocky Mountain water, imported Belgian malted barley, Belgian candy sugar, Styrian Goldings hops, and authentic Belgian yeast.”
I expected a hazy golden beer, but Salvation poured remarkably clear, with a pale orange color that faded to yellow in places and crowned my tulip glass with a narrow white head. The aroma was quite delightful and yeasty, banana and orange with a hint of applesauce — all woven through with alcohol.
The first sip started bitter, and banana and fruit waxed forth sweetly to balance the bitter. Its sweetness continued to grow through the swallow, creating a high, sweet, sugary finish decidedly marked by the presence of alcohol. As I drank, the flavors became more complex — there was a light, peppery spice at mid-tongue that lingered into the finish, and an almost oily caramel essence permeated each sip. Alcohol wielded a strong influence over every element, peaking over the waves of flavor like a circling shark fin.
I really enjoyed Avery Salvation — quite a bit more than the very good Collaboration Not Litigation hybrid, but not quite as much as the beer drinkers who joined me for the “Drink Along“. The warming alcohol was the point of contention — but I liked the strong, nasal clearing aroma and its impact on the taste. I found the alcohol accented the fruity, Belgian yeast pleasantly.
Salvation is 9% ABV, and the Avery website acknowledges the beer was designed to attract fans of stronger beer — but the fruit and spice flavors are the focal point:
“Salvation has luscious apricot and peach aromas delicately interwoven with spicy suggestions of nutmeg and cinnamon. This heavenly soft, champagne-like elixer is cellarable for 3 years.”
Three years? Who could wait that long?! It’s already going to be hard enough waiting until next year before I can drink another. So let me drink vicariously through you — share your thoughts on this beer in the comments.
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2 Comments
May 25th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
Avery Salvation was a truly eye opening beer for me. It remains one of my favorite Avery beers that have come out so far. It was a natural after trying this beer to want to try the Collaboration Not Litigation beer. Both are wonderful brews, but for me the Salvation stands out all by itself and helped to put Avery Brewing firmly on the craft beer map in the USA (and the world). Will definitely seek this beer out again.
April 19th, 2010 at 10:17 am
[...] with one of Cilurzo’s. Worse, both beers were Belgian ales — Avery’s Salvation is a Belgian golden ale and Russian River’s Salvation is a Belgian strong [...]