Great Divide Titan IPA

[Bottle] Pours an orange/amber color with a small and dense head. Potent aroma of pine and citrus hops. The taste is quite dry and moderately hoppy. Mostly pine and grapefruit notes. An even malt base adds to the body a bit. A dry and earthy finish. Low carbonation and oily mouthfeel. Overall, it’s quite drinkable with decent balance.

Really good beer with a really rich and well balanced taste. I was expecting a little more overpowering hop presence, but this definitely didn’t disappoint. Very impressive.

35.5cl bottle at Patricks. Best before 2009-10-06. It poured a slightly hazy golden colour with a suprisingly small white foamy head that settled down fast in the glass. The aroma is hoppy and fruity. Notes of grapes and tropical fruits and citrus. The flavour is dry and bitter with notes of hops, citrus, malts, spices and assorted tropical fruits. Some alcohol as well. It has a long, lingering aftertaste.

355ml bottle. Pours a clear, bright and bubbly golden amber with a half-finger white head. The head soon reduces to a fine layer of scattered carbonation with a very loose and irregular lacing. Grapefruit and an upfront woody, pine note. It has some toffee malt sweetness, but it’s almost totally eclipsed by this dominant oily hop overtone. Grapefruit hops, lemon, orange peel flavours before progressing to a delicate bready, toasty malt undertone. The finish is medium in length, the body’s medium also with average carbonation.

Grapefruit nose, with pine needle hints. Cloudy golden with suspended solid particles, some lacing. Grapefruit flesh and peel flavor predominant with allspice accents. There is a pininess that is there but is overpowered by the more citrusy hop varieties. Classic american style IPA, almost archetypal.

Poured from bottle into Nonic Imperial Pint. Burnt yellow-gold, 1/4 inch head, decent lacing. Aroma of pine and some sweetness. Citrus (orange and grapefruit) upfront, pine at the end, bitter throughout. Sweet malts for balance, but not as much depth with the malts as I would like. Medium body and medium carbonation. Fairly easy drinking IPA despite (or perhaps due to) persistent bitterness. To me, this is an ideal example of an IPA; it fits the style perfectly. On the other hand, my favorite IPAs usually have something truly unique about them, this doesn’t. It is simply a very well made IPA - not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Titan is an appropriate name, as this beer is strong and solid. Had some from the tap at Rattle n Hum. Big - yet not too big - hop character on all fronts. I really enjoyed this beer.

Copper on appearance with a short lived off white head. Decent hop aroma with a floral, citrus scent. Medium mouthfeel that leaves plenty of bitterness. A slight hot/alcohol sensation on finish that was unexpected.