Great Divide Chocolate Oak Aged Yeti

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

Complex aroma of oak, spruce, chocolate, raisins, and brown sugar. Black pour with a medium creamy brown head, abundant lacing. Full bodied, alcohol evident. Flavors of prunes, raisins, and charred oak, black cherries up front. Dates and dark chocolate at midpalate. Vaporous and warm peppery plum finish. Fantastically complex, dynamic transitions, and reasonably good balance. Fruitier than expected. Not exactly what I look for in a beer, but it is making me rethink that. Eye opening and distinctive.

Drinking from a 650ml bottled secured from the Foodery and defintiely a unique taste. Apearnace, mouthfeel and smell all good but the drinkbility and taste are awesome. Had Oak Aged Yeit two days ago off tap and this bottle of Choclate Oak Aged is so much better. So much less sweet and and lighter than reagular oak aged and the cayenne heat at the end of each taste just puts it over the top. Enjoy!

Bottle. Pours a magnificent thick dark brown with a dense two finger head and aromas that are far more fruit dominated than I remember from the other Yetis. Lots of plum and a little pineapple have me a bit confused. There is a bit of vanilla and chocolate, too and I’d swear that I got hit with a little red pepper... but then it never came back for a second sucker punch. Flavor is simply magnificent. It has a nice and creamy chocolate stoutiness that then transitions to a spicy heat on the finish that is darn near perfect. I’m gonna need more bottles of this.

What the two gentlemen above me said. This is what I wish Southern Tier’s Choklat had tasted like...drier than that fine brew, and more drinkable...the heat is very mild, but definitely livens things up, and helps dry out the residual sweetness. The balance is perfect, and so is the body...not too thick, but just creamy enough to carry all that flavor. The finish is extremely long, and terrific.

Appearance: Pours black with a brown head Aromas: Dark chocolate and a little roasted coffee. Flavor: Dark chocolate and a little milk chocolate with the cayanne pepper. Palate: Full bodied mouthfeel with the cayanne pepper building on the finish.

I’m a little surprised that this isn’t getting higher ratings. Drinking this at room temp (70 F) from a 22oz, maybe that’s the difference. Flavors are unique and dominate but blend well. Very complex. Soft chocolate up front, with dominating oak throughout. Subtle warming from the cayenne on the finish. I really could go on and on. This is a very complex beer with lots to chat about. Highly recommend it in a snifter @ room temp.

22 oz bottle, bottled on 7/16/09. Pours a dark black-brown with a creamy dark brown head that diminishes to a thin film that laces the glass.

The aroma is sweet lactic chocolate, with some cayenne and black licorice and roast.

The flavor is sweet lactic chocolate with a lot of roast, some licorice and a tarry cayenne pepper bitter finish. The cayenne pepper adds a note of red hots that is interesting and gives a little burn in the finish. The mouthfeel is medium bodied and a little watery.

Overall, an excellent beer. I like what the chocolate and cayenne adds to an already fine stout. I like this a lot better than the oak aged yeti. A little better in the nose and mouthfeel and this could be a perfect beer.

Bottled on 07-09. Similar pour as the others with an opaque black body and a dark tan, mostly full, mostly lasting, pillowy, frothy head which a leaves significant frothy head throughout and a frothy lace all over. Wow, the nose is much different than the others with less oak presence as well as less hop presence; notes of dark chocolate, dry cocoa, brown sugar, light molasses, burnt caramel, certainly some hot peppers, light vanilla, light scorched oak, and hops which are almost floral but still cedar-like. Flavor is similar but certainly different from the others; creamy chocolate malt and dark chocolate is prominent, some dry cocoa, spicy pepper is more than notable, burnt caramel, molasses, some dark fruits are now there (maybe date?, almost plum-like), light cedar, and some light vanilla and dry oak notes. Palate is good but not quite great with a full body, light warmth (seemingly more due to the cayenne), soft to lively carbonation, velvety, but not round or chewy and seemingly warmer than it is. Finishes very long with more scorched oak than the flavor started with, light cedar notes, but mostly chocolate, cayenne, and plum lingering. I do not know where to begin. Very different with less oak and hop notes than the other oaked Yeti’s and more malt complexities. I cannot say that I this was better than the others but just different. The cayenne was a little more dominant than I would have liked, and that is coming from a person who loves spicy foods; it takes a little away from the malts. All in all, another great addition to the pack of Yeti but not quite the level of the original oaked Yeti. GD restores my faith in them as a very good brewery after their poor performance in Belgian-type beers recently. You gotta love the Yeti.