Great Divide Fresh Hop Pale Ale

Brewed by Great Divide Brewing Company
Style: American Pale Ale
Denver, Colorado USA

Bottled. Clear orange color, medium frothy head. Hoppy aroma, citrus, lemon, hint of caramel malt. Bitter taste. Decent stuff.

Bottled. Aroma has citric hops. Clear, amber-copper coloured beer with an off-white, medium head. The taste is bitter, has some caramel sweetness, citrus, some orangepeel. Crisp hops. Refreshing and dry finish with a lingering hop bitterness. Good stuff.

Bottle. Pours orange/yellow with a nice creamy off white head. Aroma is quite nice, mostly hops and a touch of orange zest. Taste is a bit more mellow than the aroma, starts with strong floral hops, a touch of caramel and malt in the middle, fininshes dry and bitter with a touch of spice. Fairly thick for a pale ale, a bit of syrup is left behind. Damn good.

This is really nice hoppy beer! with a nice alcohol percentage. I don’t like too much alc in my beer.You smell the fresh hops and I taste great. Now in botlle in the BeerTemple Amsterdam.

Cask. Very hoppy with a smooth finish. Fruity aroma and a very pleasant beer to enjoy. Experienced at the Grey Lodge Pub in Philadelphia.

Draft at redlight redlight. While this beer has an amazing aroma the flavor, while good, doesn’t quite achieve the same bang. The aroma is very bright and full of orange and other citrus with some spruce behind it. The flavor is smooth and tasty but muddled, typical hop/malt balance, not so complex.

A beer I heard about a lot, and it managed to live up to the expectations. Worried it might loose much of its character while travelling all the way to Europe, I carfeully opened a cooled (not chilled) bottle. Immediately the smell of freshly cut grass and hops ’hits’ you. It poured deliciously and the head was as firm as whipped egg white. The aroma is overwhelming and lasts surprisingly long - the tickle in the nose doesn’t subside easily. Copper blond, golden, and an extremely white head it looks like a sculpture. The foam nicely laces the glass and biting it is a treat in itself. The palate is not as overwhelming as I anticipated and actually that’s good. It drinks as easily as water (sorry) but reached parts of the sensory organs I previously never noticed. The aftertaste is incredibly smooth and fresh and lasts the perfect length. All in all the kind of beer that, given its reputation, may easily disappoint but it didn’t do that at all. It was a beer to open up new views on how beer can taste and I now fully understand the concept of brewing with wet (freshly harvested) hops. It made me buy a carton of 12 bombers - one of only 60 (!) available in Europe in 2009, as far as I know!

Light, golden amber color. Good one-finger white head. Good retention. Quite good lacing. Very citrus dominated hops profile. Big grapefruit and orange zest, here. Great grassy presence. Smells fresh and new. Pine and citrus bite dominate this one. Fresh, grassy flavor. Malt is hidden way down inside this one. Minimal sweetness on this one. Crisp and clean mouthfeel. More waterey than I prefer, though. Too hoppy for me to enjoy on a regular basis, but that’s just personal taste preference. It’s still an overall good hoppy brew.