Located in Boulder Colorado, Avery Brewing Company was founded in 1993, and has been growing ever since.  Starting off with only three, Avery now brews over twenty beers, almost all of which can be found at Binny's at various times during the year.  Avery brews all styles, ranging from Redpoint, a 5% ABV American Amber Ale, to The Beast, a 16.4% ABV Belgian Grand Cru style ale.  I have yet to have a bad experience with any of the Avery beers that I have tried, and I have even had the pleasure of having their IPA on tap at my house.

Warm weather is imminent, and along with it comes Avery's double IPA, The Maharaja.  This monster of a beer was released a few weeks ago, and like many savory beers in Avery's lineup, is only available for a limited time.  Maharaja is available from March to August, is 10.54% ABV, and registers 102 IBU's.

Maharaja smells of citrus fruit, to go along with a burnt grassy hop smell that came across as a little funky.  The Maharaja is a lot maltier than most double IPA's I have yet to encounter, to go along with an insane amount of hops.  The immense amount of malt and hops create a very thick, syrupy beer that is a ravishing deep copper color.  Due to it's high ABV, thickness, and syrupy nature, Maharaja has a very low drinkability.  I would recommend drinking a bomber with a friend or two; sucking down an entire one of these by yourself would be an arduous task.

Maharaja is definitely worth a shot if you are a hop lover.  The sheer amount of hops and bitterness in this beer is mind boggling.  The only downside of Maharaja was the funky, almost burnt hop aroma that this beer has, which was confirmed by the friend I was enjoying the bottle with.  If you can get around the uncanny nose, you will be in for a gratifying experience with Maharaja.