Great Divide Hades

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

Tap, Great Divide Taproom in Denver. Shiny gold, smallish white head. Briny salt and poolwater aroma, heather honey. Dill and mint, herbal hop finish. Light body, and rather sneaky at 7.3%. Pleasant glass.

Sampled at Johnny’s Sidebar. There is a lot about this beer that says Belgian. Yeast and candi sugar are two examples. It was also malty. Interestingly, there was an unexpected hop bitterness that offset some of that sweetness.

12oz bottle. Pours hazy golden in color with thin white head. Aroma sweet, grainy and yeasty. Taste grainy, bready and spicy with dry finish.

12oz bottle. Pours a hazy light golden with a small fine white froth. Strong aroma of distinctive Belgian yeast, fruity, lightly metallic, banana, bready, doughy. Flavor is upfront candied banana, quick tangy sweetness that quickly dries out, doughy, crackers, yeast, lightly fruity, some noticeable alcohol in the finish that is also fairly hoppy, spicy, peppery. Medium bodied, heavy water feel, larger sparse carbonation.

Golden with good, creamy white head / Light, floral nose of grain and honey / Medium body, malty and sweet, with some hop balance on the good, slightly bitter finish / Flavors of violets, honey, banana and orange peel / A touch cloying - a little more hops might help, but a very good beer nonetheless.

Bottled June 2007, Sampled April 2009
A solid pour into my 25cl tulip glass produces a three finger thick, slightly meringue like, off-white colored head that leaves some nice lacing on the sides of my glass. The beer is well carbonated with lots of bubbles rising up through the murky, orange-gold colored beer. When held up to the light the beer shows a white-gold color that is similar to a Wit because of the haziness. Fruity aromas of pear and green apple subtly perfume the aroma along with a spicy, almost pepper like character. The finish has some cracker-like grain notes to it that can be somewhat pronounced at times. There is perhaps a touch of herbal honey aromatics here as well. Not a bad aroma, I find that it is pretty nice too. Coming back to the aroma after drinking this for a bit, it can be quite aromatic; spicy, herbal and with a solid fruit backbone, it is really starting to grow on me a bit more than it did initially.

The first sip is lightly sweet tasting with a fruitiness that accentuates this. The beer finishes with a touch of a carbonic bite as well as some lingering, light, but biting bitter hop notes. There is a touch of metallic character here, some touches of white pepper, a definite ginger note and some lingering, turpene driven clove like flavors that lingers on the tongue. The fruit notes remind me most of pears, but there is also a touch of sweet green apple. The hop character is pretty subdued, but there is a touch of herbal hop character that goes along with the more apparent hop bitterness.

Quite a bit fruitier than Duvel, and it is also a fair bit sweeter too. It is quite a bit different than Duvel, but it similarly needs to be enjoyed with a dedicated full bottle and a bit of time as it starts to grown on you if you spend some contemplative time with the beer. But this is quite a bit better than the beers reputation had me thinking. This is definitely an enjoyable beer that is a bit too easy to drink given the beer’s strength.

Surprisingly clear with a very pale gold color. Light lace, small head. This beer smells far more closely to a cream ale than a Belgian. There are some "white" elements to it, but they are mild. Ah, the taste is closer to the real thing. Some citrus and a good amount of wheat flavor. The swallow features stronger wheat that dissipates rapidly in the aftertaste. The beer is highly carbonated with a low body texture.

Pours pale gold with a 1-2 finger (in a chalice) creamy white head that has good retention. Aroma is very grassy at first, some toasted grain, banana, apricot, nectarine, pear, a little banana, sourdought bread, yeasty white bread dough, a decent amount of spice and a little pepper. Flavor is bready yeast and grass up front, it takes a suprising amount of time for anything else to develop. When it does, banana, underripe raspberry, nectarine, straw, spicy hops, some citrus, a hint of basement funk and some dry citrus notes to finish. Palate is medium body with a lively but not too sharp carbonation. Not bad.