Great Divide Hades

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

rbesg07, grand tasting, bottled. clear golden, modest head, plenty of alcohol in the aroma, as well as some buttered bread. plenty of metallic bitterness, lacking a bit in character

Pale straw body with some haze. The head is bright white. The aroma is sweet with pears, cinnamon and some Super Glue. The taste is more of that glue character with some cinnamon spice. The finish is old sweat socks and aluminum. There is also an odd note of wax. While, the start of each drink begins promising with some pears, it fades to those other off flavors very quickly. Strangely made, I am not sure what Great Divide hoped to accomplish with this one. A sweet Belgian ale with some spicing, maybe a super pumped Belgian Wit? I am not sure as it is mostly a confusing mess with hints of sweetness and funk. It’s like you mixed a bad Belgian Golden style ale with a poorly made wit. It’s not terrible, but it seems like they didn’t know what they wanted.

Warm, spicy aroma. Pale golden color with a decent white head. Thinnish body with almost creamy carbonation. Very smooth. There is a complex spicy flavor, with a bit of earthiness. More sweet than dry. The finish is spicy, lightly sweet, and hop bitter. Crisp, yes. Clean, ? It’s very, very delicious.

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.

Bottle RBESG 07 ... Pale Yellow ... light fruity hop ... very fruity hop nice balancde but over fizzy.

Bottle. High and fluffy white lasting head. Clear yellow body. Fruity barley malt aroma. Not especially complex but good. Pleasant smooth and well rounded fruity barley malt flavor without much bitterness, actually it is pretty sweet. Low carbonation. Short sweet and fruity aftertaste. Alcohol, though, is well hidden.

Tap @ GD. Poured a clear bright yellow color with a white head. The aroma was malty with a fair amount of Belgian yeast character. The flavor was yeasty with a sweet malt start but a very dry bitter finish. To dry for me. Medium bodied.

Picked up 22-oz bomber from Cellar’s Wine & Spirits in St Paul, MN. Pours a clear golden blonde brew with a thin and fast dissolving white head that leaves behind a fine film and some spotty lacing around the white ring. Aroma of typical Belgian banana ester yeast, some multi-grain malt lemon zest, and a touch of apple. Taste is medium bodied, light carbonation with some white pepper, grassy hops and a touch of multi-grain malt. Finish has a good balance of dry and semi-sweet character with a slight grassy hop aftertaste. I did not pick a lot of alcohol presence in this beer.