Great Divide Espresso Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout

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

Pours black with a thick brown head. The aroma pours out of this one--huge coffee aroma, one of the strongest I’ve had to date. The mouthfeel is great, with perfect carbonation. Flavor is straight out coffee with just a hint of alcohol burn in the finish. Great brew.

500 mL into snifter. Pours pitch black with a one finger ultra dark brown head. Spotty lacing. Aroma of espresso, vanilla, maple syrup, molasses, grapefruit hops. Taste at first is coffee ice cream with espresso and charred oak with a cardboardy dryness at the end. But as this warms it is almost like a double IPA very similar to the Hercules Double IPA actually. Great grapefruit hops balancing shows through with a dry, bitter finish. Very interesting.

Keg (Kaisla, Helsinki)
Black, tiny head. Rich roasty aroma, some coffee. Decent carbonation, smooth palate. Way too much coffee in the taste. I could mix any shit lager with coffee and get this taste. Vanilla’s absolutely enormous too. Some may be good, but more is not better. Cocoa powder, cocoa powder... Does cover the alcohol well though. Hedonistically - I had to give the overall an OK score, you’ll notice. ;-)

Sampled at Beerhawk’s Beer Gods in the Boro, aka 1000 Bottles of Beer on the Wall, By God Beer God Gathering, BG1K Tasting. Black pour with small ring of light brown head. Light coffee bean nose with a weird sweetness. Oakey, coffee, woody, some alcohol burn. Lots of coffee nuances. Would be good if allowed to cellar a bit. But I think I still prefer the original yeti over these oak aged versions. rerated with a small bit of age on it. Better.

Thanks to Turd for the sample of this oily, perky treat. Gorgeously gloopy pour, with a thinnish cafe au lait head. Huge coffee nose is soooo appealing. (Those mooks in the Carolina Crew know that I automatically rate anything with coffee just a bit higher.) A very rich flavor and silky mouthfeel too. To me, I’d score this just a bit higher if the oaking wasn’t lost just a tad. But it’s still a wonderful impy, with coffee that complements rather than overpowers. BAM.

Bottle from Champanes, pour is very black with a dark chocolate shake bubbled head, I find the Great Divide Impys to have great presentations, aroma of dark strong coffee, dark roasted malt, chocolate and milk chocolate, some dark malt and brown sugar sweetness, some oak influence in the background, faint scents of burnt malt in the background, flavor of strong coffee (maybe some burnt coffee?), dark roasted malt, some dark malt and dark brown sugar sweetness, I would prefer a little more sweetness in this ale to counter the bitterness but that is me, there is a good dose of roasted malt bitterness and/or astringency or the combination of both the malt bitterness and burnt coffee, anyway, this had a lot of bitterness on the tongue and got old buy the end of the bottle, the oak was was more evident on the nose than the palate, if you dig a bitter and strong coffee Impy Stout, you will like this ale, I prefer the regular Yeti over the Espresso variety.

Bottle shared by the turd. Thanks, Sam! Deep beautiful black pour with one-finger rich brown head. Looks lovely. Strong vanilla nose from the oak. Sweet coffee notes instead of bitter espresso on the nose, but the taste is more pleasantly bitter. Roasty and not overly harsh on the palate. Not bad at all, but a bit too much vanilla for me.

Thanks turdferguson for sharing. Pours an inky black (and I fucking loved it) with a one finger chestnut tan head. The nose shows smooth coffee, some bitter chocolate, roast, warm alc, sharp oak. The flavor is rich, chocolaty, coffee, nice and tannic, buttery oaky flavor, roasty, warm alc. Palate is spot on, nice and velvety mouthfeel with a tannic roasty finish. Tasty