For tonight's review, I'm returning to a brewery I haven't sampled in a while: Avery. They seem to have made a decent name for themselves, but I've been underwhelmed with their beer compared to their competitors, such as North Coast, Stone, and Great Divide -- the larger US microbreweries with national distribution. A new brew from them caught my eye, though, and a unique style: a so-called Imperial Oktoberfest that they've dubbed The Kaiser. I generally like Oktoberfest beers, and I'm a big fan of almost any ueber-beer, so I decided to give this one a shot. I paid $7.59 for a 22 oz bottle of beer that packs an unexpectedly precise 9.37% ABV.
The beer pours a clear amber with a decent head. It dissipates almost completely saving a ring of carbonation right at the glass, though.
The smell of this beer is unique and interesting. I smell a strong malt mingled with apple cider. The flavor is quite good. It's sweeter than I expected from the smell. The first thing that hits me is that strong amber malt. Second is the fresh apple cider, and third is alcohol, followed by a light herbal hopping in the finish. It all works out to be an excellent combination. This is my favorite brew from Avery that I've tried, and it's certainly something that sets them apart. With most of their other beers, there are comparably priced options from other breweries that I've enjoyed quite a bit more. With this, I only have standard-strength Oktoberfests to measure this against, and I like this better than any of them (I think I overrated Ayinger's Oktoberfest by about 1 full heart). I'm awarding this beer [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img][img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img][img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img][img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]. With the apple cider character, this could be a good beer to drink all winter, so I hope it isn't about to vanish.