My love for beer was sparked at early age, but the appreciation of craft beer was most certainly cultivated during university studies. I lived in Utrecht and spent just enough hours and a few euros more than necessary in the infamous Kafé België. When current owner, and then bartender, Ewald opened his Maximus Brewery nearby in 2011, I lived a few thousand kilometers away. When I returned to my homeland at the end of 2013, Maximus had already claimed its fame and it didn’t take long for me to visit their brewery, with lovely tap room and beer garden. And I didn’t keep it to that one visit, either.
Over the years, Maximus has collected quite a few prizes for their beers. They have a praised core range of beers, including their laureated blonde: Pandora. They regularly bring out specials, which are obviously worth keeping an eye out for. I recently had the luck to sample their Space Cowboy, a delightful imperial stout. Unsurprisingly, I was more than content to find a box of Maximus beers (and merch!) at my door step, following the release of their newest special: Psycho Cyclops.
This one-eyed weirdo will psyche you! It is a well crafted example of the popular style New England IPA. That style promises a strongly hop-forward aroma, yet low bitterness, a silky soft mouthfeel and a hazy appearance. The Cyclops delivers. When pouring the 6.5% brew in your glass, a beautifully turbid, light orange beer is topped by a firm, stable and slightly irregularly shaped head. There’s no need to cover your glass and sniff deeply. The aromas burst out of the glass. Mango, lychee, hints of pineapple and a flush of citrus are overwhelming the also very present pine and resin. Indeed, strongly hop dominated. Although hops are the ingredient that is responsible for most of the bitterness in beer, NE IPAs promise all this hoppy goodness at very low bitterness. Again, Maximus delivers. The bitterness is very low indeed.
On the can, you can see that Maximus is very open about the ingredients they use. The haze, mouthfeel and fluffy head are mostly due to the wheat and oats additions. The aromas come from five (or four?) kinds of hop. Citra and Mosaic are classic hops for IPAs. American, with a variety of aromas and flavors and often used together. Further additions are from Citra cryo (the same hops, but treated a bit differently, so aroma active compounds are much more concentrated), El Dorado and Idaho 7. Aroma design with different hops is complex and it is often hard to impossible to assign any of the resulting aromas to a single variety in the recipe. “Together” happens to be the main motto of Maximus, and how the hops play together in this brew shows that they know a thing or two about collaboration between varieties.
How strongly such aromas can depend on the serving temperature and the way of serving shows well in this beer. With apologies to beer and brewer, I have also tried it at room temperature and directly from the can. Most of the tropical fruits were gone and the pine and resin start to strongly dominate. Not necessarily bad, but very different, and in my humble opinion a serious waste of the very pleasant mix of tropical fruit aromas. Extra thanks to Maximus for providing me with two fitting glasses, to make sure I can indulge in mango, lychee, citrus and pineapple in all their glory.
In the box were also some bottles. The labels of the core range beers are a lot more mellow, perhaps even sleek in their design than those of the specials. Interestingly, both are made by the same designer: Leffe Goldstein.
Little Fred is a beer to honor the employees of Maximus that have a distance to the labor market. The 3.5% abv session Blond is a little bit dry, has a nice bitter kick, and aromas of lemon, pear and some yellow grapefruit. It pours almost clear, and another fluffy head make the looks in your glass as attractive as the thirst quencher in your mouth.
In case you feel slightly more adventurous, Violante may be a more suitable choice. The nose is dominated by spicy, perhaps even slightly funky aromas that remind of hay, lime, pink pepper and perhaps even some kardemom. It’s brilliantly clear, bright yellow and has fine white foam. Maximus used the Orval yeast strain for this spicy blond, resulting in a pretty dry beverage and 5.5% abv. To me, that makes Violante a much more quaffable brew than most typical Belgian blondes.
These beers, two glasses, a bottle opener, as well as a personal note from a brewery employee that I happen to know: much better than this is hard to imagine, even for beer mail. So: thanks to Maximus, and especially Kai, for delivering this wonderful package. I sure hope the future of Maximus is as bright as their past. Keep it going, Together! If, in the mean time, you can’t wait to try Maximus’ products as well, go have a look at their website and webshop. Better still: pay them a visit!
Tasting Craft Beer 
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