Great Divide Yeti Imperial Stout

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

65 cl bottle. No yeast at the bottom. Pitch black colour with a nice brown head. Lovely aroma of sweet chocolate and coffee. Very soft roasted flavour with notes of coffee, dark chocolate and a noteable hoppy finish. Very nice endeed.

The aroma is caramel, coffee, chocolate, vanilla, and molasses. The appearance is black with a large brown head. The flavor is astringently bitter with all the elements from the aroma in the taste. It is well roasted without being burnt. The palate is nice and thick. The hops make there presence known in the finish. This one has a lot going for it in the aroma and appearance categories. But in the taste department I have had better.

(Draught at Plan B, Copenhagen, 25 July 2008) Black colour with creamy, brown head. Roasted nose with strong black coffee, espresso, pine needles and citrussy hops. Roasted, malty taste with notes of sweet espresso, pine needles, and serious doses of citrussy/piney hops in a long, bitter finish. Almost full bodied, really bitter and with balanced sweetness. Absolutely superb!

(Yeti -- 22 oz bottle: Chevy Chase Wine & Spirits in Washington, DC) (Maverick -- 22 oz bottle: Obtained in trade with jeffin7, thanks Jeff!) So what we have here is a side-by-side comparison of an aged 2003 Maverick Imperial Stout, and a new bottle the same beer, which has been renamed to Yeti Imperial Stout. Not surprisingly, the visuals are nearly identical, both pouring a jet black color, topped by half an inch of light brown head that fades down to a partial film within 5 minutes or so, with the Yeti showing slightly better retention in the long run. The moderately aromatic nose on the Yeti is fairly earthy, easily dominating the modest, roasty aroma, but with the Maverick, good heavens, the intense nose is strongly earthy, more deeply pungent than mulch or soy sauce or anything else I can think of. Flavorwise, the two beers are fairly close. Both are pretty intensely flavorful, very roasty, earthy, sweet, and bitter. Yeti shows more quite a bit more hops in the finish and therefore seems a bit fresher. Maverick is more intensely dark and earthy, every bit as bitter as Yeti, but with subdued hops contribution. And with the body, the Maverick is a bit more viscous, sitting somewhat heavier on the palate. I guess all this is no surprise, sort of what we’d expect with the aging of an Imperial Stout. In essence, as the beer has aged, the hops profile has diminished, and the flavor has become more deeply earthy and strong. I think I prefer the Yeti slightly, as it just seems fresher tasting and cleaner on the palate, but each are really great in their own way. Buy a case, drink some now, cellar the rest.

Bottle: Black pour with a big brown head. Roasty malt aroma, slightly boozy with licorice suggestions, chocolate, and mocha. Has a great creamy mouth feel. Tons of malt in the body that have a great roasty flavor, not that sticky sweet kind. Tons of roasted coffee, dark chocolate, licorice, tobacco and a good hop character as well. This is a great and balanced Imperial Stout.

Release 2003<P> The beer after disemboguing the 22 ounce brown bottle sets in the glass a pitch-black with a moderate and creamy chocolate brown head, the lace formed is a thick and glutinous blanket to conceal the glass from view. “Ah That Smell”, that only a big bad boy Imperial Stout gives you, heavy aroma of coffee, burnt grains, bitter-sweet chocolate, all supported by a pleasant sweetness, also a nice bit of hop floral spiciness to seal off this treat to both the ocular and olfactory senses, start is sweet, thick with malted grain, the top is rich and full bodied,. Finish is dynamic in its hop spiciness, the acidity moderate and the rich chocolate and coffee flavors continue to the very dry and alcohol bitter end, the 9.5 percent ABV, leaves a warm trail right along to the bottom of the tummy. What a majestic beer, quite reminiscent of “Dark Lord”, and my thanks and gratitude go to Argo0 for this bottle.

Dark malt-hoppy aroma with whiffs of chocolate and some fruit. Very drinkable but not very complicated. I like the throwback label -- reminds me of a bad Johnny Quest cartoon from my childhood in the 60’s. A good balance between bitter cocoa, sweetness, roast and hops. Pours like pothole patch. Strong but very drinkable. The main flaw is some greenish nut/grassy thing going on but it’s minor. A sturdy effort. Medium-heavy body.

Big thanks to my secret santa for providing this, as I probably wouldn’t have gotten it otherwise... you know, one of those beers that’s so common and cheap that you never end up buying it because you always know it’ll be there, even though it’s awesome. Anyway, I’ve sat on this one for about 6 months, letting this hops mellow from the fresh oak-aged yeti I had which I knew to be really strong. Mellowed they have, and this has turned into one hell of a beer. Aroma is rich chocolate at first, with nice hop undertones, lychee, caramel, soy sauce. Pour is just as beautiful as its barrel brother, dark black with a great, dark brown head. Flavor is rich, roasty, chocolate and caramel, yet still balanced, offering still some good hop bitterness in the finish along with more sweet caramel. Without a doubt one of the best ISs out there, especially of the higher production variety.