Avery Brewing Company Ale to the Chief!

Ale to the Chief!

 

Avery Brewing Company in Boulder, Colorado, United States 🇺🇸

  IPA - Imperial / Double Rotating Out of Production
Score
7.24
ABV: 8.1% IBU: 70 Ticks: 66
Originally brewed to celebrate Inauguration Day, January 20, 2009, Avery Brewing Company elected to give their beer Ale to the Chief a third term to commemorate the 2016 election. Rather than categorizing the beer as Imperial, Avery created a new beer style to honor our country’s democracy, calling the beer a Presidential Pale Ale. A brew worthy of the Oval Office!

​”​We the Brewers of Avery Brewing Company, in order to form a more perfect ale, require leadership that can liberate us from quagmires in foreign lands; embrace environmentally sound energy alternatives; continue healing our healthcare system; and unite the parties around this bipartisan brew. We hereby pledge to provide him or her with an ample amount of our Presidential Pale Ale whilst they achieve the aforementioned goals!​ ​Hail to the Chief!​”​

All-American pale ales are typically brewed with a bipartisan blend of malt and hops, both of which Avery increased before dry-hopping with a quintessential American hop, Cascade. Though this hop varietal hails from Washington the state, it was nominated to lead this beer due to its floral and citrusy persona. The malts share the power, with Caramel-120 malt adding contributing caramel flavor and color, Honey Malt for honey-like sweetness, and Dark Munich Malt bringing biscuity notes to the table.

This 8.1% alc/vol beer will be sworn into the Avery draft list on Monday, July 18, 2016.

Released in 2009 and 2016.
 

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6
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6

Draft. An orangey amber. Pretty hopped, not sure why they won’t admit this is an IPA

Tried from Draft on 20 May 2025 at 00:58


6.6
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5

22oz bottle picked up at Cowboy Joe's
Pours cloudy dark golden with a medium sized off-white head, good lacing. Aroma of spruce, resin and caramel. Flavor of grapefruit, caramel and pine resin, citrus
Ok

Tried from Bottle on 27 Jan 2018 at 04:24


7.6
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5

Aroma is malt bubble gum fruit. Flavor is Piney cleaning solution malt, hops bittersweet. Good body. Strange finish. Weird beard. Not my favorite beer but not bad though.

Tried on 09 Oct 2016 at 21:26


6.4
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5

Some roast and some light citrus. Hazy amber pour with ok head and lacing. Light bitter finish. Easy drinking. Tap at Churchkey.

Tried from Draft on 07 Sep 2016 at 17:48


7.5
Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7

22 oz bottle poured, wearing the signature avery foil. 2009 bottle with pale ale on the bottle, so i had my doubts. Impressed for sure. Hop presence up front, but less than fresh. Orange fruit finish. Held up pretty will I’d say.

Tried from Bottle on 06 Dec 2015 at 02:55


5.4
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 4.5

Bottle, back in the day (don’t remember exact vintage, but it was fresh).
Filtered amber-auburn body has a beige head atop, fairly large and slowly receding to cover.
Pine, dry citrus, iced tea and unfermented sugars in the nose all show your typical aggressive, lacking-of-elegance Avery strong ale from back in the day. Clean, though resinous and full of sourish, strongly toasted grain notes. Very fruity, as well.
Hard textured crystal malts, bitter, dry grapefruit and pine with sweetness balancing, I suppose, though it’s a mix of unfermented sugar and sweet-sour toasted malt notes that don’t exactly soften the blow of the punchy, aggressive hops. More iced tea on the end, clean yeast and fruitiness with a ton of lingering orange rind and some definite booze. Don’t actually know if Avery has cleaned up their act in the past 5-7 years, as a steady stream of beers like this turned me very off to this brewery.

Tried from Bottle on 29 Aug 2015 at 11:44


7
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

Bottled (backlog). Amber colour, small creamy off-white head that leaves some lace. Aroma is citrus, mild tropical fruits as well as some grass and sweet maltiness. Flavour is floral, fruity, caramelly and a bit toffeeish with some earthy notes.

Tried from Bottle on 09 Oct 2014 at 12:11


7.2
Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8

Rosehip and light orange peel. Clear copper, thin head. Rosehip and whole orange flavor, very slight fusel alcohol notes. Leafy finish. Well balanced medium body. Easily drinkable DIPA.

Tried on 04 Dec 2012 at 08:34


7.8
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

Draught at the brewery, on October 15, 20122012 version at 8.1% ABV and 42 IBU.Clear amber to copper color, white head. Sweet, hoppy, herbal, tiny hints of mint, green hops, citrus taste. Dry, herbal, hoppy aftertaste. Smooth mouthfeel, high bitterness. Sweet, hoppy, citrus, herbal, green hops scent.

Tried on 17 Oct 2012 at 13:02


7.6
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5

Hazy amber, off-white head. Aroma of american hops, caramalts, flowers, ...: very well balanced with a nice complexity. Harshly bitter, heavily sweet flavour: nicely balanced with an ok complexity. Very nice.

Tried from Can on 14 Nov 2011 at 11:26