Great Divide 15th Anniversary Wood Aged Double IPA

Brewed by Great Divide Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Denver, Colorado USA

(bottle). Cloudy, dark copper color. Medium off white head. Moderate oak and citrus hop aromas. Oak and hop flavors, which seemed a little unbalanced. Avg duration. Light bitter finish. Slick texture. Soft carbonation. Good lacing.

Beautiful rust colored pour with tight tan lacing that persists. Aroma of malt and grapefruit/apricot. Light palate, surprising for such a big beer, but not overwhelmed by the hop. Less malt than I expected. Can hardly tell it was wood aged. Mostly, though, while quite good, it isn’t as good as the majority of DIPAs I’ve had.

8 3 8 4 18 Soft vanilla bean, pine needles, fruit, resiny rock floral candy nose. Deep orangey amber with some faint red hues, medium soapy head, nice lacing. Vanilla bean soaked in resin sugar syrup, balanced by a massive, but slowly building bitterness. Lively, but not overwhelming carbonation, full body, finish is soft, fruity, and creamy. Alcohol is ridiculously deceptive, showing a late warmth that reminds one that this is a big beer. This is a very delicate, but massive beer. Presumably the extended aging on oak chips has mellowed some of the extreme characteristics of a Double IPA (which I like too). Excellent beer.

Bottle thanks to xnoxhatex. Pours a red tinted orange with a nice sticky tall off-white thick froth with great lacing. Aroma is of strong oak, vanilla and coconut macaroons, some slightly oxidized citric and piney hops 7.5. Flavor is a bit more oxidized, strong on the sweet oak, toasted coconut and vanilla, caramel, tangy peach, sugary sweetness, lots of chewy resin. Medium bodied with a lighter mouth-feel, abundance of very lively sharp but fluffy carbonation, some chewy stickiness but the carbonation really helps break it up. This is probably best as a draft only type release, doesn’t quite pull it off the way the ST does, still very tasty.

Pours a transparent amber orange with a creamy, stringy-lacing off-white head. Aroma of sweet toasty caramel malt and juicy pine resiny hop presence dripping fresh oak. Starts with good malty fullness and caramel sweetness well balanced with an assertive grapefruity bittering and flavor hop character along with toasted oak. Finishes bittersweet with lingering oaky notes. An enjoyable and unique double IPA.

On June 6th the Great Divide Brewing Company celebrated 15 years of business. To kick off the celebration they released their Wood Aged Double IPA, an intensified, oak aged version of their popular Denver Pale Ale. This pours a great copper color with a creamy white head. The pungent aromas of grapefruit from the hops and vanilla from the oak show a great intensity, however I felt the taste was a little lacking. At first taste the hops really show through, however as the beer warms the oak really starts to show with strong flavors of vanilla extract that make this double IPA almost sweet to the palate and takes away all the bitterness from the hops.

Had this on tap at the Dunedin House of Beer, this was a great well balanced Imp IPA. This is a dangerous beer, which gives little hint that it is a 10% IPA. Abslutely delicious!

Dark copper in the glass with a lasting tan head and plenty of lacing. Aromas are slightly sweet malt, hay, bourbon, pine and vanilla. Medium bitterness mellows into a toffee, Werthers candy-like butterscotch. Bittering finish. It’s a big beer, to be sure, although it has a lot more wood and vanilla than the DPA, and it’s better than that beer, too. Could use more heft.