Great Divide Chocolate Oak Aged Yeti

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

Great Divide Brewing Company--Chocolate Oak Aged YETI Imperial Stout--Decadent--Lusciuos- Aged On Oak Chips With Cocoa Nibs And Spice Added--2009 22 oz. Bottle. 9.50% ABV--75 IBU’s. (3.75 / 5.0) Stout--Imperial--Lacy rich espresso head. Opaque dark obsidian black color. Chocolate Oak Fig Hop front. Rich mild creamy sweet big oak bourbon chocolate espresso body. Hot EtOH hop spice taste bud destroying bitter end. Dry unbalanced body. Over the top Imperial Stout. Too much. Sampled 8/8/2009. 2 @ $10.99 Each.

Who doesn’t love brownies? The most like pure cocao of the chocolate stouts I’ve tried. Oak-aged Yeti as Ovaltine. LIke this beer.

Bottle from Charles Liquor shared in hotel room after EBF
Aroma : Barrel, vanilla, some hops ans spices. Some chocolate but not much. A bit smokey.
Taste : Spocy, roasted malt, coffee, hops and chocolate. Finish dry , hoppy with roasted malt.

Bottle sampled at Oliver Twist, Stockholm. Pours out in an opaque black color with a dense brown head. Rich aroma of wood, peppery alcohol, dense black chocolate, mild vanilla and burnt sugar. Full-bodied with rich warming notes of wood, sticky dark chocolate, roasted nuts and vanilla. Full and chewy mouthfeel. Long bitter and warming finish of wood, black pepper, black chocolate, salty licorice, resin and black pepper. Quite extreme, flavorful and tasty but I still prefer the original version. Looking forward to sample the Espresso version, though.

Poured an opaque black color with a small creamy brown head. Aroma of dark chocolate and green pepper. The flavor was of both chocolate and vanilla. The chocolate stood out more on the finish. Light pepper spice finish on the back of the tongue. Medium to full bodied.

Black with a medium brown head slowly fading and leaving a ring of lace. Aroma of chocolate, dark malts, alcohol, wood and burnt match. Smooth body contains roasted malt, oak, chocolate and alcohol. While the body may be smooth, it finishes up a bit harsh with an alky burn with some chocolate mixed in. Semi acidic with mega warming. The lesser Yeti.

650 ml bottle shared with KW group. Another great share!! Pours pure black, with huge capuccino coloured head which leaves a tonne of lacing! Huge roasted malt, coffee aroma and taste, with a hint of chocolate. Fairly hoppy taste, with a hint of cayenne in finish! Dynomite!!

Sampled September 2009
A steady pour into my 25cl tulip glass produces a four-finger thick, darkly browned head that leaves lots of lacing on the sides of the glass as it slowly subsides. The beer is nice and dark, perhaps not perfectly black, but pretty close in its opaque darkness; it shows no differently when held up directly to the light. The aroma is a mix of spicy oak, roasted coffee, toasted whole grain and some lightly hot alcohol. The aroma seems a bit one dimensional as a lot of malt complexity is drowned out by the spicy, raw oakiness.

My first sip is lightly sweet, thick and chewy; the middle is nicely chocolate tasting, but the finish makes this disappear except for some bitter cocoa notes. The finish has a significant oak character that provides a spiciness, some lingering astringency, a peppery oak note that now that I think of it is actually a spiciness that is actually from the cayenne that I had forgotten about up until this point. The roast grain contributes a significant bitterness to the finish and there also seems to be a green hoppiness here despite the “hops being toned down”; this mixes with the raw oak character and the cayenne to provide a sharpness to the end of each sip. This is a thick and chewy beer that is not so rich as to be overly cloying; the body has a fullness to it, but the beer is still fairly drinkable (at least for an Imperial Stout). A touch of chalky roast malt character comes out as the beer warms up and a bitter espresso note becomes more noticeable as well.

Despite my complaints of one-dimensionality, I am actually enjoying this; especially as the beer warms the oak character is held much more in check and in balance with the other flavor components; the aroma never really gets all that interesting though. The spicy cayenne adds a nice touch to the finish that this spice-freak enjoys; even if it is somewhat subtle; it lingers on the palate and lips quite nicely though. The beer is actually quite nice and definitely enjoyable over all. The aggressiveness of the oak, hops and cayenne in the finish really helps to tame the big sticky malt character that would otherwise dominate this beer. Chocolate flavors, while noticeable, are not anything out of the ordinary here, and could even be attributed to malt character (even though this beer does have chocolate in it).