Avery The Maharaja Imperial India Pale Ale

Brewed by Avery Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Boulder, Colorado USA

Batch8/5-08.Tasted 6/08. Amber to copper body with off white head. Aroma of very spicy hops. (Tons of it.) Taste..Malt, fruit, grapefruit. Medium chew. Nice mild burn for 10.2% abv. Lemon. There is so much malt and hops..that malt hits you then hops, then malt again then hops. The varieties take turns I guess. Quite good. Will buy again for sure.

This draft had a strong citrus aroma! It is a full flavored Double IPA that is very lively on the palate notably citrus and lemon. There is a lot of complexity with a number of flavors The finish is dry and bitter with just a hint of caramel.

draft. pours hazy orange amber, nice lacy head. citrus hops and malt aroma. thick and exceptionally smooth. moderate bitter and high alcohol is cushioned by fantastic malty palate and well balanced lemon and floral hop flavors. they hit the iipa spot on. tasty.

The Avery Maharaja, a member of the dictator line (note to self: Wikipedia Majaraja to find out why he was surly), and a beer that promises to dictate the confines of my mouth. Is it a hop bomb, or merely a very hoppy ale? Either way, I’m probably in over my head, what with my infantile sensitivity to hops. I am given an immediate warning with the pour - a deep dying flame orange color, chatoyant and clear. The head is strong, almost martial, gleaming white like the bark of the Aspen tree. I close in for a smell and catch rye bread, toasted sesame seeds, molasses, fresh celery,yams, a good alcohol pinch, dark honey, toast, fresh bread and a generall rasping scrape that can only be the hops at play. What a rich sensation! Both savory and robust, with a distinguished "twang" of grapefruit bitterness. The palate has been mostly dismissed in this beer, weighty enough to support the bevy of flavors, but asked to stay out of the way, making way for the above mentioned flavors with an added dose of pine. That, and the alcohol makes another very brutal stand, focusing its energy into a eye lash curling aftertaste. I fully understand why this is in the dictator camp - I’m left weary and overworked, strained by its marching columns of flavors, but it is a nice change of pace from simple hop beers.

Sooo good. What an IIPA. Shared with Mondy after our trip to Premier Gourmet last week. Basically just one of the best IIPAs I’ve ever had. the end.

Bottle; Beer Wench’s IPA vs. Belgian tasting at Surly Girl; paired with Stilton cheese; the IIPA complemented well with the strong cheese; wiped out the palate for the following Stoudt’s APA

great great great double ipa. may be slightly over carbonated, but the taste is perfectly outstanding.

650 ml; Batch 7, bottled Feb. 2008. Slight haze on this copper beer with a two-finger, lasting head. Earthy, honey-and-molasses-drizzled grapefruit, with some tea leaf sprinkled in for the nose bouquet. Initial taste is more of the same, with some added toasted nut, turning to a big grapefruit-resin finish. More grapefruit in this one than any beer I can remember, it’s also rough on the edges and really not very complex; but the alcohol is a phantom and the earthy-fruity flavors strike me very well in this one. Near-medium body somehow borders on both smoothness and roughness at times, and is very hop-dry.