Great Divide Yeti Imperial Stout

Brewed by Great Divide Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Denver, Colorado USA

Poured opaque black with a nice looking dark tan head and nice lacing on the glass as well. Aroma of burnt malts, chocolate, dark fruits, HOPS, and a little bit of alcohol. More roasted and burnt malts in the flavor, chocolate, java and espresso in the flavor. Dark fruits and hops balance the malts. Alcohol becomes pronounced as this hits room temperature. Very nice... why did it take me so long to discover this brewery?

Pours a deathly black color with a suprisingly thick, tan head. The aroma is slightly malty, but oddly laced with hops. Taste is a fairly rich mix of malt, caramel, coffee and roasted goodness, but again the hops are kind of throwing me off. It was alright, but too thin and not enough character to be an uber-Impy.

Bottle. Black colour with a light brown head.Sweet roasted coffee and malt and hop in the aroma. Flavour is Sweet roasted coffee and malt with hints of hop. Bitter coffee finish.

2003 bottle. Pours the most dark, oily yet lusterous black. Opaque. Moderate amount of deep burnt beige-brown head. Smells heavenly, oily, roasty, syruppy hops, dark chocolate. Opens up very smooth, even, moderately acidic, low carbonation. Full body, less so than say Speedway and even Stone, but still up there. Reminds me of Arcadia Imperial, slightly, not as much coffee, but lots of bittering hops against a pleasantly syruppy roasted malt. Flavors meld very well together, great balance. I can’t honestly find a bad thing to say about this beer. I like the relatively less alcohol too. Not the most complex example, but again, still up there. Could be more exciting on the mouth, flavors are solid but redundant.

First rating
Bottle at Ølbaren in Copenhagen, Denmark. Shared with Marsiblursi. Black color, brown sweet chocolate scent. Full palate. Sweet burnt taste. Initial sweetness, turning to bitter dry cocoa and cold old coffee.
8/3/7/4/15=3.7

Second rating
(Bigg bottle purchased at Ölbutikken, Copenhagen)
Pitch black color, brown head. Sweet roasted scent. Also caramel and chocolate. Roasted and acidic taste. Coffee aftertaste, dry. Full mouthfeel. Medium high bitterness.
8/5/8/4/16=4.1 - Rerate (Bottled, thanks to ekstedt!) On November 14, 2008. Black color, dark brown head. Roasted, sweet, chocolate, alcohol, grainy scent. Sweet, roasted, dry, lingering cocoa, bitter, coffee taste. Full smooth mouthfeel, high bitterness. Even though this was a blind tasting, I could spot this as a Yeti. Nice! 8/4/8/5/17=4.2

355ml bottle (Cracked Kettle, Amsterdam)
Black, brief tan head. Sweet, almost-chocolatey roasted malt aroma; some touch of hops just breaks through. Smooth palate, gentle carbonation. Quite a punch of burntness, quite charcoaly, and almost astringently bitter. The hops balance that interestingly with an almost sherbetty and bitter orange-zest zing. Becomes a bit sludgier and slimier in the mouth as it warms, makes me wonder if I’ll need a spoon by the time I get to the bottom. Rather lacking in subtlety, but it obviously wasn’t designed for subtlety (I don’t honestly think most of the Colorado brewers can do subtle, even if they tried). Finish is burnt, piney, and a touch metallic. And sticky. Pretty OK sipper, but not one I’d want any volume of. Alcohol quite bold, but surrounded by malts and hops it doesn’t jump out as being excessively boozy, just very big. Oak age it for the win.

(22oz bottle) Pours a thin, reddish-brown head and an opaque body. Very oily lacings on the glass. Nose of slightly sour milk with undertones of roasted coffee, caramel malt and cocoa. Nice velvet texture with a strong alcohol feel. Flavours of bitter chocolate, ground coffee, burnt malt and pure vanilla. And a subtle a challenger hops finish. Very good. Many thanks to Raindog for the opportunity to try this fine Colorado brew!

Bottle, many thanks to Ian (Harrisoni) for this beer, cheers mate This beer pour pretty much shark eye black it actually looks quite menacing, with a huge brown head of foam. Quite stunningly hoppy, liqorice, milk chocolate lashings of cream, roasted malt, how much can they pack into this thing eh? This also rates very highly on the hop back burp ’o’ meter thats when you realise just how many hops thay pack in, its wonderful cheers Ian for your generosity.