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16th Anniversary Wood Aged
Great Divide Brewing Company
- From:
- Great Divide Brewing Company
- Colorado, United States
- Style:
- Imperial IPA
- ABV:
- 10%
- Score:
- 87
- Avg:
- 3.86 | pDev: 12.95%
- Reviews:
- 208
- Ratings:
- Status:
- Retired
- Rated:
- Jul 03, 2020
- Added:
- Jun 13, 2010
- Wants:
- 5
- Gots:
- 15
Same as 15th Anniversary Wood Aged.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by Pahn:
Reviewed by Pahn from New York
3.8/5 rDev -1.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
3.8/5 rDev -1.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
22oz bottle into Duvel tulip.
Appearance: Free pour yields a two inch, fluffy, just offwhite head that dissipates steadily leaving rings of lacing. Pours a hazy darkish golden and leaves extensive lacing on the glass.
Smell: Vanilla, herbal and grassy hops, and some malt in the background. Almost smoky. Some fresh pastry like notes. Very interesting and enticing.
Taste: First sip: yeah, that's oak aged alright. Tons of vanilla oak influence (almost whiskey-like), along with some sweet caramel malt and mild hop bitterness, with a mildly hot finish. The oak notes taste almost like coconut, and totally dominate the flavor. I'm liking it quite a bit, but is there more here than just oak and caramel malt?
Deeper in the bottle, the answer turns out to be: not much more. The hop flavor from the nose is entirely absent from the taste; I suppose it's dominated away by the oak, but for a lingering, borderline unpleasant bitterness. The 10th and 20th sips taste just like the 1st sip... if this was put on oak chips to add complexity, the endeavor was an utter failure.
The flavor is good, but mostly because I'm partial to vanilla/coconut/whiskey/oak notes. While, yes, "WOOD AGED" is in big letters on the label, I feel like the underlying beer should be a bit stronger. For example, those hops in the nose played really well with the malt and oak notes. Would have loved to taste them.
Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied, close to over-carbonated. The building bitterness and heavy carbonation take away from my enjoyment of the flavor to some degree, but overall it's not a bad mouthfeel.
Drinkability: It's a little hot and one note, but I wouldn't mind having this again. At the same time, I wouldn't seek it out.
This beer is strangely unbalanced, especially considering it was made by such a great brewery as Great Divide. They've had their share of misses for me, but with the exception of Belgica (which I thought was simply awful in all respects), it's usually squarely on the side of "my personal preferences lead me away from this beer," rather than "this is poorly made". My personal preferences are right on board with this beer, and I enjoyed it... but I can't really call it "well made".
Think of alcohol + oak aged + caramel + bitter and that's about what's going on here. Straightforward, sure, but to the point of being simplistic and out of balance. It doesn't help that the smell delivers a tantalizing mix of the taste's 1 note + deeper malts and strong, earthy hops. It's a constant reminder of what the beer could have been.
Jul 19, 2010Appearance: Free pour yields a two inch, fluffy, just offwhite head that dissipates steadily leaving rings of lacing. Pours a hazy darkish golden and leaves extensive lacing on the glass.
Smell: Vanilla, herbal and grassy hops, and some malt in the background. Almost smoky. Some fresh pastry like notes. Very interesting and enticing.
Taste: First sip: yeah, that's oak aged alright. Tons of vanilla oak influence (almost whiskey-like), along with some sweet caramel malt and mild hop bitterness, with a mildly hot finish. The oak notes taste almost like coconut, and totally dominate the flavor. I'm liking it quite a bit, but is there more here than just oak and caramel malt?
Deeper in the bottle, the answer turns out to be: not much more. The hop flavor from the nose is entirely absent from the taste; I suppose it's dominated away by the oak, but for a lingering, borderline unpleasant bitterness. The 10th and 20th sips taste just like the 1st sip... if this was put on oak chips to add complexity, the endeavor was an utter failure.
The flavor is good, but mostly because I'm partial to vanilla/coconut/whiskey/oak notes. While, yes, "WOOD AGED" is in big letters on the label, I feel like the underlying beer should be a bit stronger. For example, those hops in the nose played really well with the malt and oak notes. Would have loved to taste them.
Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied, close to over-carbonated. The building bitterness and heavy carbonation take away from my enjoyment of the flavor to some degree, but overall it's not a bad mouthfeel.
Drinkability: It's a little hot and one note, but I wouldn't mind having this again. At the same time, I wouldn't seek it out.
This beer is strangely unbalanced, especially considering it was made by such a great brewery as Great Divide. They've had their share of misses for me, but with the exception of Belgica (which I thought was simply awful in all respects), it's usually squarely on the side of "my personal preferences lead me away from this beer," rather than "this is poorly made". My personal preferences are right on board with this beer, and I enjoyed it... but I can't really call it "well made".
Think of alcohol + oak aged + caramel + bitter and that's about what's going on here. Straightforward, sure, but to the point of being simplistic and out of balance. It doesn't help that the smell delivers a tantalizing mix of the taste's 1 note + deeper malts and strong, earthy hops. It's a constant reminder of what the beer could have been.
More User Ratings:
Rated by spinrsx from Canada (ON)
3.51/5 rDev -9.1%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5
3.51/5 rDev -9.1%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5
If you have one, drink it now - it is not getting any better..
Dec 21, 2015Reviewed by bmwats from Louisiana
4.26/5 rDev +10.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4.25
4.26/5 rDev +10.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4.25
I was sure this was well past it's prime, as it had been pushed back into a corner, so I figured what the hell... However, once again I have proven to be very very wrong....
Poured from a 650 ml bottle into a footed tulip.
A: Dark amber hue. Pours a 1 finger, foamy, whitish head. Settles pretty slowly leaving some residue behind as it does. Tons o' cascading, dry, sticky lacing. Head renews fully with each pour.
S: Pine resin, honey, a little grapefruit, butterscotch, and orange citrus.
T: Full of pine resin, with a little raisin. Sweet dark chocolate and butterscotch. Soft, distinct wood character is very notable.
M: Thick, hearty, malty, and syrupy. Pungent aftertaste. A little dry in the finish. Woody, citrus notes hang on the palate. It is slightly harsh. High alcohol content is apparent.
D: Sip and enjoy.
Atmosphere is excellent. Great head, and some impressive lacing. Nose is full of character with prominent characteristic notes of resin, grapefruit, citrus, and sweet. Flavor is a very finely balanced combination of syrupy pine, bittersweet raisin, with candied chocolate and butterscotch, all with a pungent woody base. Thick, hearty, and malty. Overall, this is a great quaff.
Jun 29, 2013Poured from a 650 ml bottle into a footed tulip.
A: Dark amber hue. Pours a 1 finger, foamy, whitish head. Settles pretty slowly leaving some residue behind as it does. Tons o' cascading, dry, sticky lacing. Head renews fully with each pour.
S: Pine resin, honey, a little grapefruit, butterscotch, and orange citrus.
T: Full of pine resin, with a little raisin. Sweet dark chocolate and butterscotch. Soft, distinct wood character is very notable.
M: Thick, hearty, malty, and syrupy. Pungent aftertaste. A little dry in the finish. Woody, citrus notes hang on the palate. It is slightly harsh. High alcohol content is apparent.
D: Sip and enjoy.
Atmosphere is excellent. Great head, and some impressive lacing. Nose is full of character with prominent characteristic notes of resin, grapefruit, citrus, and sweet. Flavor is a very finely balanced combination of syrupy pine, bittersweet raisin, with candied chocolate and butterscotch, all with a pungent woody base. Thick, hearty, and malty. Overall, this is a great quaff.
16th Anniversary Wood Aged from Great Divide Brewing Company
Beer rating:
87 out of
100 with
297 ratings
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