Great Divide Chocolate Oak Aged Yeti

Brewed by Great Divide Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Denver, Colorado USA

Sampled on 12/4/2009. Bottle from WeeHeavySD opened at PP Strong Ale Festival. This Imperial Stout pours an eclipse black color from a 22 oz bottle. Small to medium sized white foamy head. The aroma is chocolate, coffee and vanilla. A medium to full bodied Imperial Stout. The malts are chocolate and coffee, hints of oak and wood. Hops are earthy and mild. Good balance. Nice chocolate flavors throughout. There is a touch of pepper at the finish. Not as roasty as most Imperial Stouts, but the chocolate and the slightly pepper bite make up for it. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly bitter with a touch of pepper.

Bottle from SL. Totally different than expected. Pour was pitch black in color, nice brownish to tan colored head, subsides to a thin covering with good continuous to splotchy style lacing. The aroma was strong chocolate, vanilla, some oak, fusels, and something off in the grass-spice arena. The flavor was chocolate, bitterness (thought it was hops, maybe the chocolate nibs as labelled), spicey peppery finish, long lingering cayenne in the after after taste with a tad bit of burn. An intriguing way to heat things up, but I think I prefer a straight up hop approach.... unless you make an impy stout with too strong chocolate syrup messing things up and the hops dying, where you salvage the alco-bomb with a hot pepper afterthought. Not saying that’s what they did here, just sayin’. I kinda liked this.

Bottle from WeeHeavySD opened at PP Strong Ale Festival. Thick tan lasting head. Black color. Mellow, chocolatey. Leans dry. No roastiness. Very good.

22oz bomber. Pours deep ebony with a thin dark tan head of big-bubbled foam that leaves spots of lace on the glass. The aroma is complex - and a little musty with subtle notes of red wine, less subtle notes of espresso, and chocolate with a soft grassy earthiness. There is also a touch of alcohol in the aroma. The flavor has a great maltiness up front with chewy chocolate and coffee malt -- very nice start. The thick, tangy, viscous malt continues, leading to a mid-palate full of fruity esters, complex malts, and chocolate. There is a thick, tangy, viscous malt with a mesmerizing residual sweetness throughout. The finish is dry and chocolatey with wineline fruity complexity and booziness. The mouthfeel is effervescent but also smooth with a creamy thickness and a medium-full body. Overall, not as chocolatey as expected (or as chocolatey as I had hoped), but still a fantastic beer.

Reviewed 9/20/2009 (Bottled on Jun 15 2009): Pours an extremely dark brown colored body with an average tan color body, lasting. Bitter hoppy aroma, some sweet chocolateliness too. Something else inthe aroma, maybe the cayenne. Some cocoa. Really strong aroma. Cocoa taste, a little dry. Dry peppery cayenne finish. Creamy mouthfeel. Spiciness in the mouth. Dry, dusty mouthfeel.

22 ounce bottle, bottled on July 16, 2009. Served in a snifter, the beer pours dark brown/black with about an inch frothy brown head. Head retention is good, lacing is excellent. It smells like roasted malt, dark and milk chocolate, oak and vanilla. The taste is similar to the aroma, with the addition of a burnt/charred malt and smoky flavor. There’s also some hot spice in the finish that gets a bit stronger the longer I drink the beer, I assume that’s from the cayenne. Mouthfeel/body is medium/full, it’s rich and creamy with moderate carbonation. Drinkability is good, it’s easy to drink but I don’t think I could drink any more than a bomber of this at a time. I think this is a pretty good overall brew, I liked it a lot.

Pretty deep pour with huge nose of sweet chocolate truffles. Choco nibs are perfect ingredient for this, which is ideally twisted by the pepper spices. Very interesting beer, tasty, subtle and mesmerizing.

Old note: Bottle form Sam’s Sweet, oak and chocolate. Not as strong as I’d of thought. Blackish brown color, good head, spotty lace. Bitter sweet flavor. Thick body, creamy mouthfeel, bitter dry finish. Well, I thought it came across as too much oak, seemed to mute other flavors on aroma, chocolate was stronger on flavor. didn’t come together for me