All hail the king

Maharaja in Sanskrit means "great king." Take a sip of Avery Brewing's Maharaja Imperial India Pale Ale, and you'll see that the name is apt.

With all due respect to Budweiser -- which isn't much -- Maharaja is a true king of beers. Despite its "Imperial" name, Maharaja is a double IPA. It tastes similar to Ninkasi's Tricerahops but bigger and better in about every way.

The hoppy aroma is rich. It boasts a ridiculously bitter hoppy bite up front. There certainly is a lot of maltiness on the backend, but it blends nicely with the hops. The alcohol content is huge -- 10+ percent.

The only problem: The Maharaja has a short reign. It's a seasonal brew, available March through August.

So get it while you can. This beer just may be the best that Boulder-based Avery produces. It's certainly one of the best double IPAs this side of the West Coast.


The details:
Name: Maharaja Imperial India Pale Ale
Brewer: Avery Brewing
Beer Advocate rank: NR
Style: Double IPA
Alcohol: 10.27 percent
Cost: $8 for a 500 ml bottle
My Grade: A
Skinny: This beer reigns supreme in every way -- its name, its rich flavor, its high alcohol content. If you're a double IPA fan, it's a must drink. You won't abdicate this beer anytime soon.

One for the ages

Here's a three-horned approach you should take if you ever visit Eugene, Ore.:

1. Run Pre's Trail. (It's a flat but often rainy 4 miles.)

2. Visit the Pizza Research Institute. (The pie with baked spicy tofu, roasted garlic and black olives is wicked good.)

3. Drink lots of Tricerahops from Ninkasi Brewing Co., preferably at its very modern, very hip tasting room.

With a name like Tricerahops, the beer has to be big. And it is. The double IPA gores you right away with a ridiculous scent of hops. Then you get that piny bite with the first sip. It finished with considerable malt -- maybe just a bit too much for me.

But make no mistake, this beer should never go extinct. It's one of my favorite double IPAs out there.

Ninkasi is a super-cool brewery, as well. It's young -- founded in 2006. But it's one of the fastest up-and-comers in the brewing world. The brewery is named after the Sumerian Goddess of fermentation. The brewery's Web site tells the rest of the story.


The details:
Name: Tricerahops
Brewer: Ninkasi Brewing Co.
Beer Advocate rank: NR
Style: Double IPA
Alcohol: 8.8 percent
Cost: $5 for a 500 ml bottle
My Grade: A
Skinny: It's a dinosaur-big beer with a really piny bite followed by some really strong malt. The only reason it doesn't get an A+ is because the hop bite and malt finish don't match up as well as, say, Pliny the Elder.

Older is better

So I turned 30 today. It's really not that big of a deal to me. Birthdays never really are. The best part is that you get to do things you enjoy. So today, I ran three miles on a desolate Nebraska gravel road. I played football with my dad, son and niece. I held my adorable daughter a whole lot.

And, of course, I drank a beer I love.

Today, it was Pliny the Elder. And, man, do I love that beer. And since I'm officially an old man, it made sense.

It's a beer brewed by Russian River, which I've already written a ton about. It's super hoppy. Not as bitter as its son, Pliny the Younger, but still very piny and crisp. My friend Dustin said that bite gives it an almost apple-like flavor.

Elder also has some serious history. Russian River brewer Vinnie Cilurzo brewed the first double IPA at San Diego's Blind Pig brewery in 1994. The style has taken off since, and Pliny the Elder is very similar to that original.

I drank Elder on tap at a bunch of spots in the west -- Seattle, Portland and -- most importantly -- Russian River's brewery in Santa Rosa, Calif. Visiting that temple of beer was really cool -- plus I meet some cool people and ate some good food.

But back to the birthday. I bought five bottles of Elder at Seattle's Bottleworks. I knew I'd be drinking one on my birthday. Is Elder better than Younger? When it comes to beer, I'm not so sure. It's a close argument. But in life, yeah, I hope as I age things will only get better.


The details:
Name: Pliny the Elder
Brewer: Russian River Brewing Co.
Beer Advocate rank: 6
Style: Double IPA
Alcohol: 8 percent
Cost: $5 for a 500 ml bottle; or $8 for a pint in an LA bar
My Grade: A+
Skinny: It may not be as sexy as Pliny the Younger, but it's still a damn good beer with a lot of important history. And it's a great beer to drink on your birthday. It's a big gift to yourself.

A beer and a boy

My son's name is Rye. People always ask where we came up with the name.

JD Salinger's "A Catcher in the Rye" is the usual first guess. Don McLean's "American Pie" is another quick reference. (You know, "The good ol' boys were drinking whiskey and rye.")

The real reason: My then-pregnant, then-wife and I were driving from Nebraska to Colorado, trying to think of a boy's name. We were listening to Modest Mouse's "Black Cadillacs," which includes the lyric, "And it's true we named our children after towns that we've never been to."

That made me think that we should consider towns for our coming son's name. We thought about London, Bristol and a few others we'd visited while studying abroad. Eventually, we opened the Colorado map. We noticed a town in south-central Colorado called Rye. It stuck. And it's true we've never been there.

That's a long intro into a beer review. But Hop Rod Rye from Bear Republic Brewing Co. had me the second I noticed its name on Beer Advocate's top 100 list. It's not easy to find. I scored a four-pack at Seattle's Bottleworks, which is an incredible beer store.

Hop Rod Rye is a hoppy India Pale Ale, but it gets its last name because it's brewed with 18 percent rye malt. The rye makes it an interesting drink. There's another taste layer going on. While the IPA is pretty hoppy, it boasts considerable maltiness on the back-end. I assume the rye has something to do with it.

And it's safe to assume that my son had something to do with me enjoying the beer so much.


Postscript: Here's a picture of the boy wearing a shirt that I picked up at Bear Republic on my roadie.














The details:
Name: Hop Rod Rye
Brewer: Bear Republic Brewing Co.
Beer Advocate rank: 63
Style: American IPA
Alcohol: 8 percent
Cost: $7.99 for a four-pack
My Grade: B+
Skinny: A complex beer with big hops upfront with an interesting malt finish, thanks at least in part to the rye.

Chasing No. 1

So I'm on a road trip of the West. There are many reasons for it: Seeing friends, hiking, experiencing new places, mending from my failed marriage.

But another quest has developed out of the trip: Trying to drink as many of the top 100 beers in the world, according to Beer Advocate.

I bagged a big one last night: Pliny the Younger by Russian River Brewing Co. For the past week, Pliny the Younger has been in a battle for the top spot on Beer Advocate's list with an obscure Belgian beer. So, naturally, I had to taste it.

When I got to Seattle about a month ago, I began calling area distributors to see when they'd get it. Turns out the greater Seattle area only got 13 small kegs for all their customers. I tracked down a bar -- Naked City Brewery -- that was tapping Pliny the Younger on Fat Tuesday. I got up there an hour early and fought for a seat at the bar. They tapped the keg at 5 p.m. sharp and ran out of the beer at 5:06. Luckily, I got glass.

So how'd it taste? Like sucking on a hop cone. For someone who likes hoppy beers a whole lot, that was pretty sweet. Pliny the Younger is a triple India Pale Ale and it's a descendant of the double IPA Pliny the Elder. The Elder has a nice hop bite, but is highly drinkable. The Younger is a whole different animal -- every taste is heightened, exaggerated. It's very piny up front and very sweet on the back end -- almost like a very hoppy barley wine.

It was good, for sure. Having a successful hunt for it made it all the better.

Post script: A day later I went to another Seattle bar I heard was cool, Uber. I was the only person in there around 4 p.m. on a Wednesday, and I was talking with the bartender. I asked about Pliny the Younger. He said they'd be tapping theirs later, on the downlow. I ordered a Colorado beer I like -- Avery's The Beast, a very big beer -- and drank it. When I finished it, the bartender grabbed the glass and filled it up. He slid it to me and winked.

As I brought the glass to my mouth, a sharp pine aroma hit my nose. I smiled at the bartender. He'd tapped Pliny the Younger on the downlow for sure. He'd tapped it right in front of me and silently poured me one. It was even better the second time.

So I had the No. 1 beer in the world on back-to-back days. Not too shabby.


The details:
Name: Pliny the Younger
Brewer: Russian River Brewing Co.
Beer Advocate rank: 1
Style: Triple IPA
Alcohol: 11 percent
Cost: $5.50 for a 12-ounce glass
My Grade: A+
Skinny: It's considered the best for a reason. The piny aroma and the incredible hoppy bite makes the biggest first impression I can remember from a beer. The back end is incredibly rich, making this one ridiculously indulgent beer.