Lagunitas Maximus

Brewed by Lagunitas Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Petaluma, California USA

Bottle. Poured orange with an orange tinted head. Aromas of caramel, pine, and floral. The flavor had floral malts and caramel. Medium body, medium bitterness, creamy texture. A nice DIPA.

(10/31/08) Draught sample at Blue Palms in Hollywood (thanks Brian for the free beer!). Clear deep golden color with a big white head. Aroma of grapefruit and some pine notes. Hoppy flavor with pine, some resin and a bit of citrus in a bitter finish. Medium-bodied.

Very floral malty smell. Taste is sweeter than most IPA’s, slightly bitter, good mouthfeel. Malts, hops and orange rind stand out for me.

Big hop aroma and big hop flavor. Grapefruit and lots of citrus, some, plants, and flowers. Full palate, well balanced and full of flavor.

Pours a deep red amber with a one finger off white head. Good amount of sticky lacings. Aroma is mainly sweet caramel malts, some floral hops. Taste is very sweet malts almost candy like with just a touch of hop bitterness. If I didn’t know better I would judge this an Impy Red or something else on the sweet side. The bottle date indicated it was over three months old. Maybe improper storage killed the hop flavors. I will see if I can find a fresher sample and if it is better I will edit my review. For now though it is not a beer I would recommend to a friend.

Pours a clear blood orange amber with a shallow off white yellow head. Aroma is of caramel, toffee, citrus and pine, a bit of grass, strawberry salt water taffey. Hop aromas are overpowered by the sweet fruitiness. Flavor is caramel, toasted grain, burnt sugar and some citrus and grassy hops, finishing off with spicy/grassy hops and burnt sugar. I had thought maybe I got a bad sixer of their IPA that I had earlier, I had commented that it may be a good beer as a double (thinking I had a bad pack and that it would taste worlds better than what I got fresh)....I was wrong. The Maximus looks fine but is really weak and disappointing, this tastes more like an extremely under hopped IPA or hoppy American Amber either way doesn’t fit the style and isn’t very good.

Lagunitas Maximus delivers a floral hop experience. The aroma boasts lively hops as does the taste in this orange-gold colored Imperial IPA. Low carbonation and round body. As a sip hits your palette you are greeted with fresh and crisp feeling that disperses into a hop festival. The bitterness lingers in the aftertaste. Somehow this beer maintains good character - it doesn’t have many other distinct flavors besides some maltiness, but at the same time, the bitter hoppiness isn’t overdone. A great beer.

625ml bottle
7.5% ABV
I tried this beer on October 14, 2008 at "The Beer Bistro" in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The beer poured a translucent orange-brown colur with a light tan head. The aroma was hops, malt, and some citrus tones. The mouthfeel was medium bodied with medium carbonation. The flavour was all hops as the grapefruity tones were very evident on the tongue