Great Divide 15th Anniversary Wood Aged Double IPA

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

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.

Bomber from Leukens Liquors (Oldsmar, FL). Pours a generally clear dark amber to burnt copper color with a two finger creamy and foamy white-tan head. Aroma is sweet and funky with notes of floral hops, vanilla, oak, pine, light citrus, caramel, some hints of honey and spice. Flavor is sweet and floral with notes of dark chocolate, honey, caramel, vanilla, spice, weird notes of barrel funkiness. Generally medium body with vanilla and maltiness sweetness.

Location: 22 oz bottle from State Line (part of my wonderful haul from that place, what a store!), 8/18/09

Aroma: The wood/oak dominates over the floral hops, vanilla, caramel, and hints of citrus
Appearance: Clearish amber color, 2 fingers of creamy off-white head, lots of lacing on the glass
Flavor: Unlike the nose (which was very oak-dominated), I found the flavor to be pretty well balanced between the hops, oak, malts
Palate: Nice mouthfeel, medium to full body, smooth, some alcohol burn present as well, a bit on the sticky side
Overall Impression: First of all, what a great store State Line is, damn, if you ever drive 95 through the MD/DE border you have to stop at that place.
Ok, on to the beer. This stuff is pretty tasty. Enjoyable, complex, and fairly original. I’m not sure it classifies as a IIPA/DIPA (not the hop bomb I expect from the style), but what do I know? If you are looking for a big IPA, this might not be it, but it is a pretty darn tasty beer, interesting, and big on the oak chips/barreling that some people really, really enjoy.