Great Divide Bee Sting Ale

Brewed by Great Divide Brewing Company
Style: Golden Ale/Blond Ale
Denver, Colorado USA

Aroma of honey. Yellow and highly carbonated. Flavor is mostly honey. I have never tasted so much honey in a beer. Some bitter hops. Light on the palate.

Hazy light orange body, medium-thick puffy off-white head. Sweet, biscuity aroma with a touch of honey and citrusy, grassy hops. The flavor starts off on a decent note, with grainy breads, a touch of honey, and grassy hops. However, that’s when the copper pennies take over and ruin the palate. I like this beer’s biscuity simplicity, but the honey detracts a bit from that element.

Golden color with a white fizzy head and a crystal clear body. Nose of over-sweetened honey and sugar, some light fluttering yeast notes... EEEEEECK first taste on the lips is light drinking a honey SODA, it’s like FRIGGIN SODA POP that tastes like HONEY! ugh.... no no no no way fellas. no way I believe this. Coats the mouth in an oily and sticky residue consisting of buttered popcorn, candy corn, antifreeze and butterscotch ice cream topping.

Seeing that this had gone to "retired" status but knowing that it was available in Texas still, I made a stop at Central Market in Dallas to pick up a bottle. It pours a hazy deep yellow with very little head. Swirling it in the class is somewhat satisfying as it has a oily quality that makes it a bit slow to drip down the sides of the glass and back into the swirling pool in the middle. Very generous honey aroma with a hit of something floral, and perhaps something clover (or is that just an illusion associated with the honey?) A bit dusty, too, however. Significant carbonation in the body pierces that palate but that fades rather quickly, leaving a body which isn’t as thick as you might think, and I daresay there is even a watery quality to the mouthfeel as you search for the honey notes that were promised by the aroma but slow to emerge. It doesn’t come out entirely sweet up-front, but it lingers and cloyingly reappears in the mid-palate. Overall I thought they did a nice job making the honey an aggressive element, and the aroma was promising, but overall it didn’t really appeal, as the palate and the flavor were both below average--watery, sweet, and tending to unappealing, non-honey flavors.

Bought a bottle of this at the Mesa Verde camp store - of course, I later remembered that I can get it in Ohio too, oh well. Sweet aroma. Body is mostly thin and fizzy but with a honey sweetness that creeps in along the center of the tongue. Slight hop bite at the finish. Not worth driving to Mesa Verde to purchase.

Clear copper with a medium white head. Caramel/honey nose. Taste is of caramel, honey along with floral hops and citrus notes. Moderately sweet with only a touch of bitterness. Medium body, smooth on the palate with subtle carbonation. Some lacing on the glass, little head retention. Overall, drinkable but not memorable.

Bottle. Purchased at the Tap House in Norfolk, VA. Orange gold body with a small white head. Nose is honeyish with light hops and creamy malts. The honey seems "subdued". Taste is honey, sweet malts, and light bitter hops. Body is medium-light with moderate sweetness. Finishes with more honey, sweetened malts and light candyish notes.

egh. not what i entirely wanted. it looks wonderful, though. it feels pretty good--very carbonated. the honey isn’t really sticking with me, though. it’s okay. should be more sweet, and i would expect a more complex palate because honey just seems to attract a stickiness i would not only want to taste, but also feel. meh--oh well! overall, decent. slightly citrus--tart--with not enough of a bee sting ;o)