Great Divide Hades

0,66 l bottle - shared with Asgeir and Sølve. Clear golden color, fine white head. Aroma has fine floral hops and fruit. Flavor is a fine mixture of belgian style ale and american hops. The hops are in front, then there is yeast, malt and spices. Sweet and dry finish.

Funny. All the beers I drink that use Hell, Demons and the Netherworld as a thematic motif tend to be brutally dark beers. Hades Ale? Not so much. It’s colored like white grape juice, with a diminutive head that’s quick to retreat. Same with the aroma - white grape juice, apple juice, soapy cleanliness, wheat, and a little grapefruit. From here the flavor gets a little more intensely bitter and a little more sweet, with an additional touch of kettle corn, caramel, a squeeze of mango, and a good, healthy dose of alcohol. The flavors are on the weaker side, but still a nice medley - like a low grade Duvel.

I’ve written before and will likely write again that Amrican brewers just don’t, with rare exception, do the Belgian styles well. Yes, I’m a snob. Hades is a good beer, but it is more fizzy than malty and more watery than rich. It does succeed, though, in being yeasty and spicy, with light citrus and coriander and grassy notes.

Bottle and served in my NB Worthy glass: Clean first pour, golden with a small frothy head and spotty lace. The aroma has notes of spicy and grassy esters, a hint of honey, Special B and biscuity malt, apple and tangerine, clove and white pepper esters. Smells like a Belgium Ale for sure.

The taste start with a combination of herbal bitters and sweet bready malts, a hint of fruity flavors as well. The finish has a nice bitterness and spicy bite. There is a medicinal note as well. Tastes a bit like a young Duvel IMO. The mouth feel is aggressive and sprite, refreshing except for the warming alcohol noted towards the finish.

Add me to the list of recent raters who are surprised my the low average score of this beer, perhaps it has been improved or aging has helped, I dunno? As you can tell, Mikey Likey this a lot.

Honey, cinnamon, and lemony nose. Yellow-gold with a pearly haze, Medium head, decent lacing. Mild sweetness, surprising amount of bitterness, maybe a little too bitter? Tight effervescence, has a bright quality to it, finish is mellow with a satisfying alcohol burn. Interesting beer, much hoppier than expected, but after getting past that it is a pretty good beer.

Golden color with a medium white head. Aroma is sugary with some honey and citrus poking through. Flavor has some sweet sugar/honey malt, belgian yeast, candy, and citrus but also brings a raw graininess that does not benefit the beer. Its a tough one to drink much of and not one of GD’s better efforts.

Better than Hercules but lags far behind Titan IPA & Yeti Imperial Stout. I’m not a big fan of the spices.

Bottle. Body-very light yellow lager/pilsner looking with a foamy pearly white thick head. Nose-Belgian, light clove, medium phenols, light white spice. Taste-sawdust, unsweet berry, sharp, very light soap, white pepper, white grapes, medium to high CO2, alcohol bun, light orange pith, very distinctive Belgian yeast flavors, straw, clay/earth, medicinal on the backend, soft. Not bad. A good example of a “light” Belgian beer. A good choice of Belgian ingredients.