Avery Brewing Co, The Kaiser

Before I begin the review. I drank this beer on Sunday while I was writing my review for the Three Floyds brewery. Instead of making two different posts Sunday, I figured I'd wait a couple days before writing this post. If this post seems to lack the detail of my other two posts it's because this beer wasn't fresh in my mouth. However, it was memorable enough that I was able to write what is, in my opinion, a decent review even though it has been 3 days since I actually drank the beer. So please take that into account before you read.


I know we are a week into November so it may be a bit strange for me to be reviewing an Oktoberfest beer but I really couldn't pass this one up. What attracted me to this beer initially was simply the packaging/label. I thought the idea of a Dictator Series of beers was pretty cool and when I read this beer was an imperial Oktoberfest I was sold. I drank my fair share of Oktoberfest brews over the past couple of months, and while all of them contributed something different to my palette, I must say I didn't have anything quite like this beer.

This beer hits you with a variety of scents from the first whiff. There is definitely a hint of alcohol in the bouquet, but there is also some sweetness, caramel, Noble hops, and German malt in there as well.

This beer pours a nice clear orange/copper color, with an off white head on top. The head is pretty prominent at first but it waivers as the beer sits and remains pretty thin throughout the tasting.. This beer leaves a good amount of lacing on the glass as you drink.

What really impressed about this beer was the taste. Here it really separated itself from the other Oktoberfest beers I drank this season. On the first sip, my taste buds were overwhelmed with the sweetness from the malts, and the sweet alcohol taste from candied sugar. There wasn't a whole lot of bitterness in this beer, but the scent of the hops translates into the taste of the beer nicely. This beer has a pretty high alcohol content (10%ABV) but I felt like the sweetness from the malt masked this pretty well. You could definitely tell that the alcohol content was higher than a normal Oktoberfest beer but it wasn't unpleasant at all. It gave me a nice warming feeling as I continued to drink.

The beer had a medium body. There wasn't a whole lot of carbonation, and as I approached the end of the sip the carbonation wasn't very prominent. It had sort of a creamy texture to it.

This beer leaves a sweet after taste in your mouth. It was a little bit dry, but pleasant all the same. The sweetness from the German malts really stood out in this beer, and the after taste continues to showcase them.

I really enjoyed this beer because it was a different take on a pretty traditional style of beer. Before this beer I had never had an imperial Oktoberfest before. I will definitely be on the look out for more next season. I don't know if you will be able to find this beer around much as we get farther and farther from October, but I would definitely put this on your watch list for next year.




Tomorrow I head to the Shoreline Restaurant and Brewery in Michigan City, Indiana. Kind of a last minute trip. Hopefully I have some solid beers and food to report on. Until then, CHEERS!