In size alone, the bottle is menicing – listed at 1 pint & 6 fluid ounces (American or English Pint? Good question, I have no idea.) it is plenty for two servings. And, as worded on the bottle

Maharaja is derived from the sanskrit words mahat, – “great” and rajan – “king”. Much like its namesake, this imperial IPA is regal, intense and mighty. With hops and malts as his servants, he rules both with a heavy hand. The Maharaja flaunts his authority over a deranged amount of hops: tangy, vibrant and pungent along with an insane amount of malted barley – fashioning a dark amber hue and exquisite malt essence. This newest Avery Dictator completes the “Dictator Series” joining the likes of The Kaiser & The Czar. Be aware that The Maharaja is a limited release only available for the summer. Welcome to his kingdom!

As listed on the bottle, the alcohol content is over 10%. The pour was very good, beer itself was a dark amber color. Then it was time to take a sip.

Sweet Jebus they hopped this thing up. I think (after checking other people’s reviews online) that I may be one of the few out there that think this beer is simply too heavy handed. Something should be said about having hops accentuate certain flavors, but in my pour, it simply killed all other tastes. The finish was pretty harsh and led me to actually avoid another sip until I had a chance to take a bite of pizza or a sip of water. I wish I could tell you about the other tastes in this beer that partnered with the bitterness of the hops but it washed over everything.

If you’re in the mood for a strong armed, punch to the gut, incredibly intense pale ale, then you’ll probably love this. However, if you’re looking for an even sip with complex tastes look elsewhere. I will next time (3.5 of 10).

Basically, Samuel Adams (The Boston Beer Company) is looking to see which beer will be added to the “Brewmaster’s Collection” you probably have seen at your local grocery store. Last year, it was the Blackberry Witbier (which, had I voted in that, I probably would have considered whatever option B was). This year the choice is between a Pilsner and an IPA style beer.

We received a taste of each, and first tried the Pilsner – according to our representative, it was first brewer by brewmaster Jim Koch himself for his daughter’s wedding. Very smooth to drink, a little sweetness to it, but not overwhelming, and a very clean finish that definitely led me to want another sip.

Next up came the Samuel Adams Ale, which although an IPA, was an amber color, with a much more aggressive IPA style bite to it. Like most IPAs, it left that lingering hops taste after the finish (am I the only one that sometimes feels like that aftertaste is almost a “spicy” one?). A very good beer to be sure, however we could only vote for one…

And out table of 8 went, unanimiously I believe, for the Pilsner. From the sound of our representative, I think the Pilsner has been laying waste to the Ale competition since they started this event.

Overall, the evening went very well, my sister won a Samuel Adams T-Shirt in a raffle (the XL size of the shirt means pajamas, I suppose) and I had a few other brews on draft, including a Leffe Blonde Belgium style Pale Ale (Thumbs up) and Founder’s Red’s Rye Ale (Thumbs down).

But, on my vacation, I did manage to sample a couple beers and I’ll be posting very frequent updates here over the next few days, so more to come!

Also, I’ve never heard of Saison-style before, a quick Wikipedia search gave me:

Saison (French, “season”) is the name originally given to refreshing, low-alcohol pale ales brewed seasonally in farmhouses in Wallonia, the French-speaking region of Belgium, to refresh farm workers during harvest season. Modern-day saisons are also brewed in other countries, particularly USA, and are generally bottle conditioned, with an average range of 5 to 8% abv, though saisons at the more traditional 3.5% strength can still be found.

Although saison has been described as an endangered style, there has been a rise in interest in this style in recent years, with Saison Dupont being named “the Best Beer in the World” by the magazine Men’s Journal in July 2005.

Historically saisons did not share identifiable characteristics to pin them down as a style, but were rather a group of refreshing summer ales. Each farm brewer would make his own distinctive version. Modern saisons brewed in the USA tend to copy the yeast used by Brasserie Dupont, which ferments better at blood warm temperatures (85 to 95 Fahrenheit) than the standard 65 to 75 Fahrenheit fermenting temperature used by other Belgian saison brewers.

So, definitions and confessions aside, let me simply say that I loved this beer – beautiful brown draft pour, with the perfect slight head to top it off. The beer itself, upon tasting, was pretty complex. Definitly a lot going on and the spice flavors and ale tastes combined nicely. The big payoff came on the finish, where it was unexpectedly dry and delicious. I almost felt as if the taste evaporated off my tongue, encouraging me to have another sip. Remember I’m drinking this at a place where the Beer Club gives points for trying different beers… I wound up ordering nothing but the Sierra Nevada Brown Saison for the rest of the evening. If your local pub is serving it, give it a try. If you’re in Charlotte, check it out at the Pizza Peel in Cotswold.

Rate: 9.5 of 10 - One of the best, if not the best, Brown I’ve ever had.

Bear Republic Racer 5 India Pale Ale

Was served this one up as they were out of Bear Republic’s Hop Rod Rye. 7% Alcohol by volume, brewer information is HERE. I’ll admit right out that I’m not a huge IPA fan, but this one was interesting in the fact that it wasn’t nearly as hoppy as I expect IPAs to be and in that I was a bit disappointed.  In fact, this beer seemed to try to straddle the worlds of a wheat beer and an IPA. Ended up pleasing neither side of my spectrum, but it was at least smooth to drink. 6 of 10.

Triangle Belgian Golden Ale

After the IPA, I wanted to move toward my one of my favorites – a Belgian style Ale – lo and behind, Triangle Brewing Company based out of Durham, NC makes a Belgian Golden Ale. Their website is HERE. Sadly, they don’t have any pictures of this brew and I neglected to take a picture with my phone, but the cell phone in a dark bar area wouldn’t do the color justice anyhow.  This beer, however, was delicious! I’m not saying that you can skip beers that are actually from Belgium, but Triangle has done an excellent job here. You would probably compare this to Duvel and it would fall short of that mark, the depth of taste just isn’t there – it’s just not as full bodied, but overall, and for the price, cheers to the N.C. Brewery on making a Belgian Golden Ale effort. 7.5 out of 10, and I look forward to future batches of this beer to see if you can match other Belgian Golden Ales.

Chimay Cinq Cents

Before my review – you note the picture above? Chimay in a Chimay glass. This was the same issue I had with my Duval serving a few nights ago. Certain beers require certain glasses so they pour correctly and when I was looking for an image to use, my google image search also showed up a picture from a site called www.mustlovebeer.com. I CALL SHINANIGANS, since they showed the beer poured into a regular pint glass. Bad form sir, I’m not sure if you do love beer.

At any rate, Emily has this beer, I had a sip. For me, like pretty much everything Chimay makes, it was deliciously complex, a good bite to start and a smooth overall finish. It’s an 8% alcohol content. And now, Emily’s comments!

“It was honey-ed with a, I don’t know what is was, no, it was, I don’t know how to describe it. That’s your job, you’re the writer!”

So, I’ll just say that it was very good, I recommend it and Emily rates it a “Two-Thumbs Up!” on her thumb scale.

I’ll keep up with beer postings, since I do enjoy trying different and delicious beers!