Avery The Maharaja Imperial India Pale Ale

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

Appearance: Pours a hazy, caramel-colored body with a bubbly white head. Smell: Pungent, heavily hopped aroma with sweet-smelling notes of ripe apricots, grapefruit, and pine oils. The fragrant hop scent overlays some hints of freshly made dough and candy sugar. Taste: Initial biscuity, toffee maltiness drops off into a tangy, sweetened citrus flavor. Grapefruit, mainly. Maybe some oranges, too. Finishes with a middling, restrained bitterness and a touch of alcohol. Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied, although its especially oily, and syrupy on the palate. Drinkability: This beer does a fitting job of balancing both the bitter and sweet elements to make for a fair Double IPA. *4/19/08: Feb. ’07 bottle. For me, a toned down citrus character and a dialed up peppery lemongrass character, both in aroma and taste.

Bottle shared with and courtesy of Jerc. Dark orange, small white head - frothy, yet slick. Strong malt, some hops and alcohol in aroma. Strong strong malt taste with lots of alcohol and only some hops. Formidable. Really sweet and strong. Full body. Good, just a touch disappointing though in that it didn’t blow me away.

Bottle: Aroma loaded with citrus hops and pine. Pours a transparent amber with a big creamy white head with excellent retention. Very nice lacing. Very malty with lots of sugar and caramel up front. Decent hop finish, but this may be a tad too much on the malty side. Very smooth and creamy mouthfeel. No alcohol presence in the flavor what so ever. It’s been a while since I’ve had Avery 11, but I think that might be just a touch better. Looking forward to trying them side-by-side. Either way, a very nice IIPA.

Batch 4. Bottled on June 2006. The beer pours to a deep amber body with a lasting ultra creamy bone colored head and awesome lacing. The aroma is still vibrant with grapefruit and some nice specialty grain. Perhaps it is simply the quality of the malted barley used. The flavor is fully grained with flaked barley and some creamy grapefruit hops. The palate is chewy, hidden alcohol, creamy. Light bitterness. I’d like to try a fresher sample, but this was decent.

From bottle. Has a pretty strong hoppy aroma to it, with light apricot nectar and some orange blossom. Good sweetness with some brown sugar and sticky caramel. Dark golden-amber clear, with slight haze, topped with a thin off-white foamy lacing head. Medium heavy watery body, with medium carbonation. Alcohol warming and a bit of carbonic burn. Starts moderately sweet, lasting caramel and fresh apricot nectar. Alcohol and some sticky brown sugar. Quite a hit of fresh grassy hops, juicy with nice bitterness. Has a great balance between malty sweet character and the 102 IBUs of all those juicy hops. Very nice DIPA. Just a bit of oxidation.

Aromas of citrus and forest variety. Amber body with a thin tan head. Flavor all I can say here is, this is a hop fest with the alcohol kick to it. Cool and crisp on the palate. Had a sample at a beer fest but wanted to have a full glass to see if it was as good as I origionaly thought. It’s good.

An excellent beer. I love IPAs. This has a ton of alcohol, though not in the taste, and lots of hops throughout. A great floral aroma, it’s a little too grainy; still, an excellent brew.

Powerful fresh hop nose, amber color, rocky foamy head. Sweet doughy malt, some molasses and passion fruit. Huge, broad hop flavor that deposits a drying bitter in the sides of the mouth. A Big Beer, but with an odd balance. Enjoyed this one.