Great Divide Hibernation Ale

Brewed by Great Divide Brewing Company
Style: Old Ale
Denver, Colorado USA

Serve in English pint, Snifter

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I opened it, I poured it, I brought the glass to my nose, I sipped it. and .....big deal. Ended up power chugging this one. I'm sure my rating will suck as compared to the average but who cares. I'm glad I had only one to drink because well I really didn't want to have to think of finishing the remaining five. If your still reading at this point, here is what my final thoughts are. Don't waste your time with this one, not as bold and assertive as the caption on the bottle says.

Hibernation reminds me of 3 Floyds Behemoth(which I think I need to rerate down). It is not as syrupy as Behemoth. It has a nice balance of malty sweetness and hops bitterness. Alcohol is not noticeable. Pours a little cloudy. Aroma of hops. Great Barley.

UPDATED: MAR 20, 2007 A swooning coffee bean dryness whelms the smoked cranberries...Piney, wooden hop hormones tickle the chewy anisey, caramel-laced malt body...Cheeks redden as anatomy is candied and romanced...Another Great Divide masterpiece! Redolent of some Gouden Carolus malt homages?

Red orange color out of the bottle with a quickly disappearing beige head and a subtle, toased grain nose. Nice caremel sweetness with roasted bitterness in the finish. Nice beer.

I thought this was going to be a honey flavored ale due to the big yellow script on the label. I was very surprised when my first sip was packed with grainy malts and a big fistfull of hops!!!! This is a fine ale that also has a bit more alcohol than it hints of. Nicely complex for a beer that I decided to gulp down right out of the bottle! 2002 version.

aah, at last, a huge winter beer capable of warming even my stoney and jaded palate (i’ve tasted too few of the highest rated ones and a spate of the wimpish wannabes). decants a deep rosy amber like red x-mas lights seen through the squinted eyes of a beautiful beer buzz; tresses of silky foam. aroma of very lightly scorched wood and brown sugar made incendiary with plenty of alcohol. taste of bourbon malts, lightly smoky, allowing only a bread-like sweetness. ultra-soft bristles of carbonation airlift spruce cone hoppiness way to the back. this gorgeous beer kissed me like she meant it--at midnight, 2003.

Really enjoyed the rich malts in this. First seasonal that didn’t have that odd bitterness that I find in alt biers. Just had one before moving on to others, so a reratemake be forthcoming. Right now, I’m looking forward to more.

A beer that doesn’t know what it wants to be. I think you could classify this one a number of ways. First observation, both in color and flavors, is the dark, very malty tenor of it all. Aroma definitely of an English strong ale, as promised, then roasted flavors, sticky sweet, passing into the hoppy phase, the grapefruit phase, the warming strong ale phase, then the IPA bitter phase. All over the map. It’s good, especially the malts, but it leaves me unsettled. Some nice parts, but I can’t stomach sweet sour bitterness.

Rerate: This got a bit better after sitting in stores for a couple months. Much smoother with spices and hints of spruce and pine. Original: Very interesting brew--has a bitter ’wild berry’ bite to it, but as it warms up the malt and roasted flavors kick in.

A great beer from a very good brewer. Pours like mollasess. Thick rocky head. Hoppy in the 60 IBU area. Very pronounced. Abv is perfecrt; while not absent it does not dominate. Very malty with a due amount of sweetness. A great warmer.