Avery The Maharaja Imperial India Pale Ale

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

Pour is light amber with a thin white head...pine and soap in the nose with some hints of butter...nice malt hop balance with some sweet citrus something going on...very nice and well balanced...nice to see a beer from Avery that doesn’t taste over the top...

thx to santa pours a clear dark golden color, with a thin white head the flavor is piney/hoppy, with a very dry finish

7/18/2009: Avery Maharaja has been and always will be a great Imperial Pale Ale. There is no denying the wonderfully balanced caramel maltiness and bright, citrusy and pine/resin hoppiness of this beer. It has a generous level of bitterness and its high level of alcohol is completely invisible in the flavor. It has a thicker body than initially expected, but it still slides down vey easily and dangerously fast. Maharaja is another great IIPA that would easily be sessionable albeit for the 10%+ ABV!

Draught sample(s) at the 14th Annual Indiana Microbrewers Festival in Indianapolis, Indiana. Rating #1163 for this beer.

Bottled. Hazy orange appearance. Nose is very hoppy with notes of citrus. Warming at first sip, and then drying and the second. Quite fullbodied and powerfull. A nice complex beer.

Bottle of the 10.54% version. A murky orange brown color with an off-white head. An intensely strong hop aroma that seems to overwhelm almost all others, but I could also find some pine, citrus, grapefruit and honey. Robust, full bodied, and with a liquid hop consistency. A sweet caramel finish. I love big hoppy beers, so this one goes down well, but I will admit that it lacks complexity.

Lightly hazed coppery crimson hue, under an adequate layer of beigish foam. Nose reeks of hops. Piney and citric, yeah, ripe and luscious, a refreshingly lively aroma, very raw, like steeping ones senses in the freshest form of hops. Taste: thick with hoppiness, again, rich and full of flavor, not the least bit timid....hops and bitterness hang on the palate, dig in deep, stay a spell... this is a menacing monster of an IPA, and I want to make it my friend! A challenging ale, but exactly the challenge we hopheads require...each sip releases a succor which enacts a sublime kind of pleasure... (that means I liked it! ;^)... Full-bodied, intensely flavored, long, bitter, fruity finish... The Maharaja is a mighty ruler and commands the palate in full, it’s reign lasts long beyond the length of the 22 ounce bottle...if you love the homulus lupus, he has you in his sway, no questions asked...damned good stuff. Ranks among the best IIPAs I’ve had, somewhere in there, anyway...blessedly hoppy, leaving hop trails all along the palate...goodness, they’re coming out of my burps, now, too...may I say? a very nice drink, for those of us on the hoppy side...oh, yeah!!!

Medium orange, very nice head. Big old resin and grapefruit aroma. Flavor was surprisingly balanced, biscuit and caramel married with grapefruit, pineapple, pine hop notes. Sticky mouthfeel, good stuff, reminded me a bit of the Legend IIPA. Nice.

Sampled with SoCal RB guys...thanks to whomever who brought this..fruity citrusy grapefruit aroma. Not much else detected. Ok. Transparent golden color with nice small white head. Hoppy piney/sourish weird musty taste. Mildly astringent. Kind of weird. Not digging this.