Avery The Maharaja Imperial India Pale Ale

Taster at The Mondial de la biere 08 in Montreal.The color is amber with a beige head. The aroma and taste is of hops. The taste is also of citrus fruits and again more hops, the finish is the bitter taste of a good double I.P.A.

Okay, after waiting awhile to try this one, I finally got my chance and the batch tasted terrible! Must have been the bottom of the barrel or just a bad bottle; but I had to give it another chance. Honestly, I was expecting a mighty powerful hop-bomb and what I got was a bit more pleasant and less assaulting than what I was expecting...which was somewhat of a disappointment, I suppose. Smell was floral and hoppy, but muted. Mouthfeel was really nice, smooth, clean, and balanced...not nearly as heavy or sweet as I had imagined. Some fruity flavours in here as well: raisin, plum, peach, apricot. The hops were certainly felt, but not overpowering the mix. Again with the finish; bitter, but not overly so. I was hoping for a hop-fest here so I felt a little cheated, but then again, I was pleased with the balance of this beer. By the way, I think this was batch 38. Something tells me that original batches of this might have been more insane.

Bottled Feb 2008. Pours thick, with a small to medium head, delicate lacing, deep golden-orange and cloudy. Intense smell of pine, grass, grapefruit, and lavender. This is by far the best-smelling IPA I’ve ever had. Fairly thick bodied, somewhat dry and astringent. Wonderfully strong pine flavor, with hints of lemon and apricot. Subtle malt finish, not very sweet. The dry hoppy aftertaste goes on and on.

A very citrusy IIPA. in my top 10 ipa list for sure, yet not quite as good as stone or dogfish 90

Bottle. Pours copper with a white head. Heavy pine and citrus aroma. It really has some good balance, because it doesn’t seem like a 10.5% beer. Good malt backing to support the hops. Lots of citrus. Good stuff.

On tap-pours a medium copper color w/a moderate white head. Pine Hop aroma. Has a nice bitter hop bite up front, aggressive, but not so strong it knocks you over. Has some citrus & pine as well. Hard to believe this is a 10+% beer, actually pretty smooth to drink. Reminded me of a Dogfish 90 minute. Long, full finish.

Pours dark copper like a Marzen; huge creamy beige head. Aggressive citrus and herbal hop bouquet overlying a dark toffee malt aroma. The tongue is dominated by the hop bitterness as it mostly occults the amber malts which do manage to produce a hint of apricot sweetness. I like hops but this is a bit unbalanced as the bitterness isn’t backed by much hop flavor. Medium body with a slick mouthfeel, long pleasant finish. This, to me, is more like an overly hopped Amber or Red than an Imperial IPA.

Draft @ Monster B’s. Clear orange body with a thin taupe head. Much more than your typical imerpial IPA, the hops are there but there is a strong orange undertone and despite the high ABV, the alcohol flavor is subtle. Highly recommend.