18th Anniversary Wood Aged Double IPA - Great Divide Brewing Company

scruffwhor

Illinois

3.25/5  rDev -16.2%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

Clear, dark copper color and steady bubbling columns. Good head and a slow receding tan foam after each sip.

Resiny, orange peel aroma with toasted malt and wood chips. Good, inviting sweet, and little abv. warm aroma.

Bittersweet orange peel, light, toasted wood chip, sweet biscuit crust. Malty and bitter with a warm resiny mouthfeel and finish Maybe a too warm, but still good to sip. Not bad.

Serving type: bottle

05-12-2012 17:26:22 | More by scruffwhor

UCLABrewN84

California

3.4/5  rDev -12.4%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.25

On tap at Boneyard Bistro in Sherman Oaks, CA.

Pours a hazy dark orange-brown with a foamy khaki head that settles to a film on top of the beer. Foamy streaks of lace form around the glass on the drink down. Smell is of malt, citrus fruit, citrus zest, and slight wood aromas. Taste is much the same with sour citrus flavors on the finish. There is a mild amount of hop bitterness on the palate with each sip. This beer has a lower level of carbonation with a slightly crisp mouthfeel. Overall, this is an above average beer with a sour presence in the flavor that is unexpected for the style but fairly drinkable as is.

Serving type: on-tap

06-09-2013 02:40:50 | More by UCLABrewN84

HollyHops

Pennsylvania

4/5  rDev +3.1%

06-08-2013 02:29:55 | More by HollyHops

bluckbeyes

Oregon

4/5  rDev +3.1%

06-06-2013 23:17:44 | More by bluckbeyes

beernads

Florida

4/5  rDev +3.1%

06-05-2013 09:15:16 | More by beernads

TheBrewo

Michigan

3.8/5  rDev -2.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75

We crack the top and pour a brew of the deepest ruby-brushed copper coloring. It puts up an easily reproducible two finger head of caramel colored bubbles, showing nice retention. Geographic lacing is left around the glass as it slowly bubbles away, leaving a large aggregate of soapy bubbles to one side of the glass. Haze is thick, and large chunks of sediment are seen floating about. Carbonation appears to be moderate. The aroma is your typical malt bombed-DIPA, much thanks to the year of age we put on it, no doubt. The grain that comes in is thick, syrupy, and richly sweet, with toffees, caramels, light browns, and rich and metallic pales all coming through. Filling the gaps are notes of grassy and bitterly soapy hops, fusel booze, vanilla extract, chemically phenols, pencil eraser, Styrofoam airs, buttercream frosting sweetness, browned apples, rice starchiness, and warmed mossy woodiness. Our first impression is that the flavoring follows the nose as you would expect, but the oak chips come out very, very strongly, and dry the palate to the bone. As we sip, the taste opens with goose bump-inducing booziness, rich caramel and roasted toffee maltiness, massive metallic yeastiness, earthy dirtiness, soft vanillas, mixing sweetness of browned apples, and bittered, filthy herbal hoppiness. Rushing to the peak are mustard greens, biting plastics, bittered oak, continued fusels, puckering soapy hops, and more depth and bitterness of malts through dried straw bite, raw toasted barley, and salty pales. The end washes with light banana ester sweetness, vegetal sushi nori, nickel, chalked yeastiness, raw honeycomb, inky newspaper, warmed brown breadiness, caramel wash, moldy oak chips, green resin sappiness, and gravel. The aftertaste breathes of huge oaky bite, moss, dust and cobwebs, ocean water, vegetal metallics, soured lemon rind, magic marker phenols, steel, black tea tannins, peppery booziness, and dying echoes of herbal hops. The body is thick and full, and the carbonation is medium. Each sip gives pleasant slurp, smack, cream, and froth, with decent finishing pop and light stickiness to the corners of the lips. The mouth is left a bit warmed, two be quickly puckered and dried with booze and heavy woodiness, mopping up all available moisture. The abv is appropriate, and the beer drinks on the slower side.

Overall, what we enjoyed most about this brew was its look, and the stark presence of the wood throughout the flavoring. As confirmed by both our sniffers and our first impression, this one is a malt bomb. Again, this can be partially explained by the age we ourselves put on it, but the malt bill is huge regardless, with rich and toasty caramels really revving up that Denver Pale Ale base to a whole new level. The hops are sadly diminished at this point, but the sheer woodiness of the thing will make you soon forget this discrepancy. This adds not only to the flavoring, with warmth, earthiness, vanillas, and depth, but contributes significantly to the mouthfeel, keeping things dry and astringently puckered. In the end, this beer falls in line with what we’ve come to expect from Great Divide’s anniversary series, and will certainly leave you thinking on a lazy night.

Serving type: bottle

06-01-2013 01:13:16 | More by TheBrewo

DMc8ride

Maryland

4/5  rDev +3.1%

05-28-2013 22:15:11 | More by DMc8ride

Jamison85

Indiana

4.75/5  rDev +22.4%

05-27-2013 20:20:49 | More by Jamison85

goblue3509

Pennsylvania

3.5/5  rDev -9.8%

05-26-2013 14:13:18 | More by goblue3509

ediaz

Florida

4/5  rDev +3.1%

05-24-2013 17:08:48 | More by ediaz

mikeincharleston

South Carolina

3.5/5  rDev -9.8%

05-23-2013 02:00:35 | More by mikeincharleston

MinorThreat

Colorado

3.75/5  rDev -3.4%

05-16-2013 02:24:05 | More by MinorThreat

ChumleyX

California

4/5  rDev +3.1%

05-12-2013 23:01:58 | More by ChumleyX

mychalg9

Illinois

4.25/5  rDev +9.5%

05-04-2013 02:49:59 | More by mychalg9

NWer

Washington

3.5/5  rDev -9.8%

05-03-2013 02:06:00 | More by NWer

spycow

Illinois

3.5/5  rDev -9.8%

04-26-2013 23:40:50 | More by spycow

Beergelden

Pennsylvania

3.75/5  rDev -3.4%

04-22-2013 11:17:36 | More by Beergelden

ALLISON01

Pennsylvania

3/5  rDev -22.7%

04-21-2013 19:26:43 | More by ALLISON01

Kelp

New Hampshire

3.75/5  rDev -3.4%

04-15-2013 06:13:10 | More by Kelp

Woodysbeard

Pennsylvania

4/5  rDev +3.1%

04-05-2013 17:14:51 | More by Woodysbeard

bulldogg915

Wyoming

4.75/5  rDev +22.4%

04-02-2013 21:36:36 | More by bulldogg915

RochefortChris

South Carolina

4.75/5  rDev +22.4%

03-31-2013 02:36:22 | More by RochefortChris

Omnium

Pennsylvania

4.13/5  rDev +6.4%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

Bomber > Pint Glass
NOTICE: This bottle is nearly a year old, keep that in mind while reading this review
A - Pours a hazy brown orange rustic color, 1 finger head nice and foamy, lighter on the lacing
S - Oak, Vanilla, sweet malt, piney resinous hops, some citrus, minor alcohol scent.
T - Caramel and toffee malts with hints of vanilla that have that great oak tone to it, there's still a decent hop profile left in this bottle despite its age, earthy and woody traits from the hops.
M - The malts hang on for a good while, and you get a rather nice aftertaste from it, but no hops, and a little burn from the alcohol.
O - Got this for $5 on the discount shelf at House of 1000 Beers, so I expected it to be old, but I cant see this beer being drastically different fresh. Its got some good flavors and characteristics that remind me of a double rumble. Good stuff.

Serving type: bottle

03-22-2013 02:41:09 | More by Omnium

DrDemento456

Pennsylvania

4/5  rDev +3.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Picked up a bottle for 5 bucks at the House of 1,000 beers. Marked March 20th 2012 so its almost a year old. Hopefully it's not musky and tastes of old wood.

A - Well damn for a year old I was welcome with a 1/4 inch of sticky white head so thankfully not flat. Beer is a very hazy amber brown with no sediment.
S - Very mild if any citrus or pine malts. On the same level not too much wood which is nice since I am still scared from a "Oak aged yeti" I had.
T - Well it's not bad at this stage of being a year old all the bittering hops or strong/musky oak flavors have mended together, yet it's far from faint. I also get a strong caramel/toffee flavor and some wood in the finish.
M - ABV is completely aged out. Drinks like an 7 or 8% ABV but clocks in 10% so insanely drinkable.
Overall again worth the price of admission yet I find it not as good as the 17th anniversary ale in terms of balanced oak meeting citrus hops. This could have been because I had it on tap but it's just as drinkable. A great aged DIPA.

Serving type: bottle

03-22-2013 00:34:07 | More by DrDemento456

510a

Washington

4/5  rDev +3.1%

03-17-2013 22:41:02 | More by 510a