Avery Brewing Company: Maharaja Imperial IPA

First Impressions: The Maharaja Imperial IPA from Avery Brewing Company struck my eye in the store. Avery is in Boulder Colorado and the front of the label said something to the effect of "Bottled from 11th barrel of 2009." I had never heard of Avery and it looked good, and I'll never turn down an Imperial IPA, so I had to try it.
The Maharaja is the second from the left.

Smell: The Maharaja has an overwhelming hoppy smell. Imagine adding an ounce of cascade hops to the wort during the boil and then sticking your face over that for the smell. Thats exactly what the Maharaja smells like. Very strong aroma.

Taste: Once you get past the extra hoppy smell, get ready for more hops! This is like licking hops. This beer made me believe that there is such a thing as too many hops. I enjoyed sipping it, but it was just peeling away at my teeth. The hops did well to hide the high alcohol content of this. The bottle said 10.69%.

I'm a big fan of hops, but even I thought they went a bit overboard with this one. Since it peels away your enamel so much, you need about 6/10 golden grills to drink it.





That looks weird.