Great Divide Barrel Aged Yeti

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

Serve in Snifter

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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.

750 ml bottle bought at an auction from a Swedish importer. Bottle 11 of 1104, one of 6 sold to the public in Sweden.
12.3%, probably released in 2010?
Sampled on July 16, 2011
Pitch black color, brown to dark brown head. Sweet, vanilla, oak scent. Sweet, chocolate, malty, cocoa taste. Lingering sweet chocolate aftertaste. Thick, smooth, velvet mouthfeel. Warming alcohol. Medium low bitterness. Some acidity as well.
What an amazing beer! Damn I love it!

Sample at the 4th Annual Coldest Day of the Year Stout Tasting on 01/21/2012: The beer pours a viscous black with a medium tan head that recedes steadily. Rings of lacing on the glass. Oaky aroma of bourbon, vanilla and dark malt. Rich body with a boozy quality and flavors of oak, vanilla, charred malt and dark chocolate. The finish is plums and bourbon. Good beer all around.

Big thanks to Gillard for bringing another BA GD beer. Thanks Ryan. Pours deep black darkness with 60 second mocha head. The aroma is full of vanilla, fresh cut oak, mild molasses, caramel and boozy whiskey. The taste begins feeling thick and rich bringing up smooth notes of chocolate, molasses and caramel. Big wood oak notes and whiskey booze surface by midway and squeeze out the malt flavors. As the finish approaches booze alcohol chemicals rise up and move the rich chocolate and molasses to the side completely. Could use a bit less booziness. The chocolate, mild coffee, burnt malts and molasses somehow manage to resurface at the finish and persist into the after taste.

750mL 2010 ed #549/1104 big thanks to BrainLayer for this big want list item! The pour is ink black with a gorgeous, reverse cascade chocolate head that has excellent retention. Scary dark SRM. Big webby lace remains. Aroma is herbal, minty, some sweet maple and molasses, and then later as it warms fatty meat and smoke comes through nicely. Taste is lavender soapy, herbal, dusty, lots of bittering hops and raw dark chocolate. Palate is pretty chalky and moves to cardboard unfortunately. Not bad but certainly not an improvement over any of the normal Yetis.

Pouring at the Night of the Barrels on the Friday night of EBF 2012. Pours a deep brown to black with a thin to medium sized deep tan head. Big smooth bourbon and vanilla on the nose, roast. Medium bodied, bourbon and vanilla, wood. Spicy wood and malt, lots of roast. Lingering alcohol.

750mL bottle. Head is initially small, frothy, brown, mostly lasting. Body is absolutely opaque black (flashlight tested). Aroma is lightly to moderately malty (roasted grain, dark chocolate), trace hops (resin), with notes of cardboard, wood, alcohol. Flavor is heavily sweet, lightly acidic, lightly to moderately bitter. Finish is moderately sweet, lightly acidic, moderately to heavily bitter, woody. Full body, velvety/creamy texture, lively/soft carbonation, moderately to heavily alcoholic. As with Oak Chip Yeti, I’m not as wild about this compared with regular Yeti...but it’s still pretty good. The aroma has dulled a lot (I actually rated this side-by-side with regular Yeti, and it’s not nearly as enticing in the malt department), it’s got the expected cardboardy style of oxidation that is typical with aged stouts, though it’s thankfully mild. The aging has seemed to procure more wood than whiskey, though not quite as harshly so as the oak chipped version. Thicker mouthfeel than regular Yeti, but definitely more burning. So, all in all...good, but I definitely prefer plain Yeti. And because this is already 20 months old and dulled, it really has nowhere further to evolve in the bottle...what they really should do is bottle condition regular Yeti...now THAT I would cellar for 6-8 months and expect to improve.

In short: A superb BBA Impy Stout that doesn’t overdo the bourbon thing. Lovely.
How: Bottle 750ml, 2008 vintage, Bottle 330 of 470. Consumed when over 2 years of age. Major thanks to the owner of Goebel Liquor in Wichita KS for letting my wife dig into the “private reserve”. I didn’t even have to trade for it. Thank-you so much Rob
The look: Black body topped by beige ring of foam
In long: Nose is moderately bourbon and lots of moderately roasted dark malts. Taste of chocolate pudding, soaked wood, mild to moderate bourbon notes, some cocoa notes, burnt caramel, coconut, light fruity notes. In addition to the oak tannins there is something chalky (yeast?) that dries out the beer. Far from cloying, this beer is actually quite drinkable in large quantities. At first I thought the carbonation was too soft but after drinking a full 750ml I thought that this very relaxed carbonation was just perfect. I still prefer the regular Oak Aged Yeti but this Barrel Aged version is still an amazing beer. After I finished my bottle I would have liked to drink another, something I rarely feel like doing with a barrel age stout. An excellent beer but not worth the $30 price tag, I need to stop buying those expensive bottles from beer stores. I’ll bet you $4,648.85 you can’t guess how much I owe to my credit card company.

Bottle shared by Larry, thanks a lot! Pours a black body with a very dark tan coffee head. Oaky chocolate bourbon in abundance. Coffee accents, very creamy with a moderate etoh warming. Lingering chocolate and coco but not cloying by any means. I loved it!

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.