Great Divide Smoked Baltic Porter

Formerly brewed at Great Divide Brewing Company
Style: Smoked
Denver, Colorado USA

Serve in Dimpled mug, Lager glass, Stein

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UPDATED: SEP 30, 2012 Bottle @ BeerTemple, Amsterdam. Poors dark, translucent brown with modest foam. Taste is earthy, salty caramel, rye?, and pleasant light smoked beech, with bitter hoppy finish. It doesn’t miss a spot of the tastebuds. Not as thick as expected, but pleasantly light and drinkable. Also well balanced. Very good.

Bomber, bottled on 9/9/10. Poured cola brown with a nice cap of yellowy-beige head. The aroma picked up sweet, roasty chocolate and smoked malts with accents of vanilla and light sour fruit skins.. more sour stuff and odd character as it warmed up. The flavor found sour fruit skins and lactic notes upfront, with warm chocolate and smoked black malt backing.. some dry earthiness joined odd sour notes on the finish. Medium-bodied with higher carbonation on the palate.. the sourness put me off, but otherwise it had a decent feel to it.. I’d try a fresh sample sometime.

Pours a medium beige head of good duration, over a clear, dark brown body....nose is chocolate, coffee, molasses, toffee, light smoke...taste is rich sweet malts to start, with heavy chocolate, lighter coffee, slight toffee, mild smoke, finishing with mild bitterness.....mouth feel is thick, carbonation low. This is not as heavy as some Baltic Porters, but has a nice balance of flavor

Aroma: Smells of hops and roasted grain. Earthy, woody and smokey, but not overly so. Mouthfeel: Smooth and still. Taste: In the beginning it was sweetish. Then some warming alcohol, then some bitter-tart roasted grain. Palate of chocolate and chestnuts. Balanced. Finish: Slightly smokey and tart. Moderately bitter and tart. Overall: Not as smokey as I’d like. It only has good elements, but I found it somewhat uncomplicated. Better than most porters out there.

Bottle shared by daje. Thnx man
Pours dark, black in glass, thick beige head. Smells of roasted malts, smoke, some dark fruits. Taste is medium sweet, quite yeasty and fruity, not really as smoked as promised. Light bitter finish. This was somehow a disappointment. Too weak for a smoked i think, and the baltic porter part is not there for me either.

A - Pours a very dark brown-almost black color with a big finger of frothy khaki colored head. The head fades down fairly slowly leaving behind some lacing. S - Aroma is a mix of roasted dark chocolate malts, smoke, peat, bacon, molasses, and vanilla. T - Starts off with a mix of roasted dark chocolate malts with some peat, smoke, and a bit of vanilla. Through the middle, the smoke comes through stronger with a bit of cured meats, oak, molasses, and coffee. The finish is a mix of roasted dark chocolate malts, smoke, peat, molasses, and vanilla. M - Medium-full bodied with moderate-plus carbonation. Feels smooth and a bit thick with a dry, roasted, and smokey finish. D - Very drinkable. Nice smokey porter with a nice overall balance of flavors. Good body and mouthfeel.

My neighbor and I drank this and the Great Divine Smoked Baltic Porter, on a lovely warm night in July (in Minnesota). Avery’s was rating 3.49, while Great Divide was at 3.55, so essentially the same. Both of us thought that the Avery was the superior of the two. This was fine, but on the hedonistic scale, it didn’t wow us. Why? The smoked presence was there, but more mild than other smoked/rauch beers--some may see this as a good thing. The body was a bit limp--not exactly thin (it’s a porter, not a stout, afterall) but it seemed a bit lifeless. And the finish was a bit unsophisticated. But still, it’s a fine beer, just not a great one in a style that masks a lot of flaws.

very nearly opaque black mahogany with a sudsy beige head. full body with high carbonation.

aroma: lots of black roasted malt, hardwood smoke, and licorice. the black malt and smoke malt seem to unify and compliment each other very well.

taste: black malt, caramel sweetness, and hints of licorice, raisins, and ash. less intense than the aroma suggests.

(Bottle). A little smoky and sweet aroma of roasted malt, smoked meat and coffee. Same taste, slightly watery and with a sweet stickiness in the finish. Not a bad beer but after a while it gets rather boring and too sweet!

7.5% ABV
Black color; medium sized head, with short retention. The aroma is not as smoked as expected, instead it shows paper, coffee, cardboard, light vanilla. Smooth mouthfeel; dry but pleasant flavor of roasted malt, coffee, ashes; these are correctly blended and mild enough to be acceptable; light smoked touch; ordinary bitterness. It reminds me of Carnegie Porter with some smoke, not enough chocolatey, not enough Baltic (in other words, it’s weak).