Great Divide Barrel Aged Yeti

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

Serve in Snifter

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Pours a dark viscous black with a bubbly tan head. The nose has lots of wood, notes of dark chocolate, light hints of smoke meat, and some sweet malts. The flavor has lots of wood again, a litte boozy and hot, notes of malt and ashy chocolate with lots of sugar. More heat in the finish with a mdium to full body, syrupy and light carbonation. Singular and overly sweet with a bit too much heat.

(bottle generously shared by Rusty. Bottle 472/1104). Pours black and oily. Aromas as cocoa, wood and booze. Taste is sweet and its still a little hot. Some band-aid in there as well. Thin bodied. I preferred this to the BA barleywine. I’m really glad to have tried both the Yeti and Old Ruffian at the same event. Thanks Rusty!

Bottle 93. Pours dark, motor oil brown, completely opaque in the glass, medium brown head, very fine clinging lacing. Aromas of dark chocolate, vanilla, espresso, leather, whiskey, and grass. Full body, hot and rich, low carbonation. Thick sweet flavor, a hint of citrus, then a medium bitterness that gets a little stronger in the lasting finish. Complex, deep, big and strong; perfect for sipping on a long cold December night.

750 ml bottle courtesy of drewbeerme. Thanks for bringing me a couple back, Drew! Pours a rich opaque black thick pour, thick, with a big VERY dark brown head, ominous with a good layer after some die down, good solid lacing. One of the darkest heads I’ve seen. Aromas are rich roasty and black malts, cocoa and sweet caramel, dark fruit and toffee, moving into more cocoa, coffee, touches of spirit barrel, oak, and gentle vanilla. Light, with some residual sweetness. Initial is thick and rich, full bodied, a huge silky big beer with rich roastand sweetness up front, touches of dark fruit, plum, and oak. Vanilla, gentle bourbon spirit. More touches of plum, caramel, and toffee. Light cherry, fig, and prune essence. Dark fruit works well with a cresendo of dark malts, roast, and more gentle barrel presence. Rich, enveloping the palate with roast, touches of spirit, oak, gentle vanilla moves in with more sweetness, toffee and caramel, fruit, and roast/toast presence. Good flavors, perhaps a bit thin (But, into the beer it feels very "Yeti" Like). Nice beer. Overpriced, I think, with more of a gentle than assertive barrel presence. Solid, but not top tier. Probably as such for some that shy away for a hotter beer. Good flavors overall, envelopes, but doesn’t bring the power or barrel presence. I appreciate why this scores well with some.. Gentle, rich, and complex.. But for me, a little more barrel is wanted. Overall, it’s a great beer worthy of many.

UPDATED: MAR 10, 2012 Bottle @ Exira Beer Summit II. Deep black appearance with a dark brown head. Strong whiskey, vanilla, oaky, roasty chocolate malty aroma. Very rich flavor. Big whiskey, oaky, chocolate malty, vanilla flav with some booze on the finish.

2011 vintage, bottle 844. Black with a creamy, mocha head. Aroma of boozy whiskey, oak, chocolate, coffee and rich caramel. Flavor is semi-sweet chocolate, caramel, roasty malt, and more boozy whiskey and vanilla. Full body with average carbonation and a thick, chewy mouth feel. Outstanding beer, lots of barrel aromas and flavors that go great with Yeti.

Bottle # 1527, 2011 Bottle date; Sampled November 2011
A steady pour into my lost abbey Teku glass produces a deeply darkened, almost full brown colored, three-finger thick head. The beer is simply pitch black in color and doesn’t even dream of passing any light through it no matter how close it is held up to the light. As I pour this beer notes of deeply caramelized, toasted coconut are apparent in the nose. A more focused inspection yields strong whiskey like notes; spicy oak, tartly toasted coconut, deep vanillin notes and that sort of whiskey like fruitiness that is distinct but hard for me to describe for some reason. As my nose gets used to the dominating whiskey character more of the Stout aromatics start to come out; aromas of deeply toasted grain, cold coffee liquor notes, smooth roasted malt notes, smooth burnt caramel notes and just a general dark malt richness / sweetness that helps to round things out. At first the whiskey notes can certainly be a bit too much, but thankfully this gets tamed down a bit and becomes much more smooth once you really start to explore the nose.

Thick, smooth and viscous feeling as this first hits the palate; the beer has a dark caramelized sweetness, a chewy, almost savory dark malt richness, an almost salty / briny note and even a solid smokiness in the middle of this beer. The beer finishes with a palate thinning, warming, whiskey fruit and spiciness as well as a touch of woody astringency; this can’t quite thin out the thick, rich texture that the base beer provides this beer. Other barrel notes of vanillin, ample toasted coconut, tart whiskey notes, a smooth spiciness and a touch of woody flavors. The base beer contributes flavors of dark chocolate notes (that remind me a bit of chocolate syrup, though without the sticky sweetness), a smoky sort of richness, a chewy whole grain brown bread character, some briny notes (that mix with the smokiness to form a peat like character), some savory dried plum notes. The smokiness adds a touch of spicy phenolics to the finish at times and speaking of the finish, there is only a touch of the ample hop character that was once here, it provides only a hint of bitterness as compared to the fresh base beer that is so redolent of expressive hops. The dried plum notes have a smokiness as well as a molasses sort of character that has been slightly burnt. As the beer warms up a savory, almost distinctly cedar like note is accompanied by underlying notes of pine; both of which seem to suggest at the once vibrant hop character that was once here.

This is quite a bit more tasty than I was expecting; this beer nicely stays away from the harsh notes that often plague whiskey barrel aged beers, it is quite smooth, and the barrel aged notes for the most part are quite well integrated with the base beer for the most part. The Whiskey notes are definitely the dominant note here, but this has not spent so long in the barrel that these notes are overwhelming or harsh. In the end this is quite a nice marriage of whiskey barrel and Imperial stout; I really like the mix of savory smokiness, dark chocolate and treacle laden, concentrated dark malt character that this beer achieves. This is most definitely the most balanced of the three Barrel Aged Great Divide beers that I have had, but it is also the freshest (so that may have something to do with it). This is one of the better Whiskey / Bourbon barrel aged beers that I have had in quite some time.

Appearance: Pours black with tan swirls and edges.

Aroma: Sweet bourbon, dark chocolate. Slight soy sauce.

Taste: Bourbon,oak and chocolate. Finishes boozy.

Mouthfeel: Full bodied , creamy carbonation.

Overall: My new favorite rendition of Yeti. The stout is super tasty on it’s own and the bourbon barrel makes it even more tasty and rich. Love it.

Bottle for rating 3600:   Black as night, velvety brown head, fairly nice lacing.   Looks like a very dark stout.   Strong whiskey aromas on the nose.   Otherwise roasted malts, graham cracker, and alcoholic marshmallows.   Smells interesting, tasty, but a bit young.   Smooth velvety rich roasted malt nose with a heavy emphasis on whiskey.   Lots of campfire, roasted malt, graham cracker, whiskey, and roasted marshmallows.   Alcohol is well hidden despite this one packs a punch!   Little bit of vanilla as well.   Hop bitterness is moderate.   No overly complex, fairly simple but still a little young.   Body and mouthfeel are moderate to full.   Drinks well now, but maybe a little bit of age will bring the heat down a bit.   Otherwise fairly rich, malty, roasty, with loads of whiskey and barrel aged characters.   Its also fairly sweet, which balances well with the mild bitterness.   This one is really easy to drink, and after this 750ml, I am really feeling it.   My only complaint is that it doesnt come across as a rich robust stout, on its own.   The barrel aging dominates this one.   A bit more stout character would do this one well, tone down the whiskey, despite the fact the barrel aging is rather nice.   Big thanks to Irishboy for the bottle.   Richard, I owe you!

Hella limited bro. Shared by Ben, thanks dude. Looks like black ink. No head at all, thick, viscous, boom. Barrel softented up the relentlessness of the hops and shit. Nose is soft sweet dark malts and a good deal of barrel, caramel, brown sugar, vanilla, whiskey. Smells fucking great with molasses and shit. Flavor is a shit ton of whiskey and dark malts, sweet, boozy, aged for a long ass time on theese motherfucking barrels manne. approaching cloying. Full bodied, smooth, softly carbonated, roast pushes through and fuinishes somewhat dry. Tons of sugars residually on the lips and palate. What bitch.