Changes to Great Divide's Lineup for 2017

When taken out of context, this is an interesting statement.

 

Maybe it's just me, but I have for some reason been overlooking Great Divide's beers besides the Yetis in favor of newer and more exciting breweries. So maybe a shake-up was necessary.

 

The new beers sound a lot like what New Belgium is going for...maybe people's ever-changing tastes have made it easier to swap beers with names like 'Citradelic' in and out of distribution as tastes change...popular beer styles and opinions are pretty fickle these days. Hell, in six months hazy IPA's could be entirely out of vogue...maybe it's easier to have something like Hop Disciples that can be whatever you want it to be as tastes change.

Also! I can't believe GD is releasing a Radler/4.0 ABV beer! They have really never had much below 5.0 (except DPA).

 

If I remember right, the original mission statement of GD was "Nothing below 7%".

 

No matter what is produced, as a company grows, so does the need to chase the ever elusive dollar. When you have more invested, you need more in return. And when you have a down year, sometimes the decisions you make are good and sometimes those decisions are not so good. An ever growing business is easier on the decision making process since whatever you do seems to come up profitable. But even if it's a hiccup, a down year after so many up years, has for some businesses created panic. Like it or not, that's capitalism.

 

I had some strawberry rhubarb sour out of a bright tank from their pilot system (18 months ago) and it was fantastic. I'm not sure how much ever got released, because most of it was drank off the sample port.

 

The sours that they bring to their anniversary parties have almost always been fantastic. I wouldn't mind some of those making it to bombers. Even if they're making changes that aren't to my personal tastes, I want to support GD. I've been a fan going back to the days of HotShot and Bee Sting. They made an about face away from almost all of their original beers and it worked out. Hopefully they can do that again.

 

Hahaha....it wasn't much. The guy who arranged that collab (it was with Loveland AW) was PISSED so much was drank before packaging. When they made it again it was crushed super quick out in the market, it was supposed to be tap room only but a few sales reps decided to sell them off.

 

Most of the old beers get brewed every other year or so. Allows them to hold on to their trademarks for the names.

Hades has been produced about 2x a year for the mixed 12 packs, and a little for the tap room. Not sure over the last year or so, but for several years that was the deal.

 

WTF!?!?!?

Oak Aged Yeti is one of the the best wood aged consumable fluids in existence.

There are very few beers or hard spirits that are able to translate the flavor of the oak into the drink like this. In fact I really have never, ever had anything that really brings forth the flavor of the wood without introducing totally unwanted flavors of booze and spirits.

Oak Aged Yeti is pure.

Good god man, what are they doing?! Will it come back!?!

I have to go back and read the article, but as of now this is completely disheartening.

And then wow, to turn around and get slapped in the face with the prospect of a Chai version? Jesus what a terrible idea. I haven't had a Chai beer yet where I thought, "you know what, it was a good idea to ruin that perfectly good beer with Chai spices."

 

After reading more thoroughly I guess we're all under the assumption the espresso and chocolate versions will survive, which would be a nice consolation. Although, can we be certain?

I admit, I prefer the espresso version by a hair, but like regular Oak Aged Yeti far more than the chocolate version.

 

The Yak and Yeti pioneered the chai stout thing and has won some major awards with theirs. I feel it's a great beer, but it was designed from the ground up to be what it is. Tough to say how it will work using a Yeti base...except maybe Velvet Yeti.
GD's Yeti variants are almost always really good (including the zany ones that don't see retail) so I'm hopeful. I'm also hopeful that if it doesn't work they're open to a return to the old versions.
At this point I think all of their oak chipped beers will be gone. I prefer oak chips to barrels in a lot of beers, so I'm disappointed.

 

Good thing I've got a few bottles of Old Ruffian in the cellar.

I may have to see if I can find some Oak Aged Yeti on a store shelf somewhere.

 

Left Hand is making a ton of lineup changes:

http://wearebrewstuds.com/stories/news/craft-beer-left-hand-brewing-announces-2017-release-calendar/

 

I'm sure they'll do fine. I LOVE the OG taproom, and love that the same people have been working the counter for years and years. As someone mentioned earlier, they do re-release old beers from time-to-time due to trademarks — need to be used to keep them. I was frankly most surprised Samurai made a comeback as the internal notes on that one at GD were 'never again.'

Ask GD what the difference between Yeti and Velvet Yeti is...the answer is water. It's just watered down Yeti.

 

I kinda like the new beers from Left Hand. Canned saisons, a Belgian single, a Red IPA, a new strong dark ale, and the return of St. Vrain Tripel. Plus, canned Sawtooth = bomb as hell. No clue if those will sell well, but I like 'em.

I couldn't care less about all their nitro stuff (or most other nitro beers for that matter) but it's clearly a niche that they're doing well with. I've noticed that people new to craft beer, especially those with exposure to Guinness and Boddington's, absolutely love it.

 

Oak Aged/Espresso/Chocolate are all the same base beer, so they could easily pull out a pilot brite tank worth for the taproom. It was a great beer, but it likely lagged in national sales behind the other two.

 

Never been a fan of Espresso Yeti going back to the day they launched it. I know a lot of people love it, so I certainly have no issue with it. That BA "Fireside" variant from 3 years ago was pretty damn nice, though.
Chocolate varies from year to year, but after a couple down years I've really enjoyed the last two batches. That first one with the hefty cayenne might be my fave, though.
Belgian Yeti was straight up awesome to me, but when the Belgian yeast fad died, it took that beer (and a few others from them) with it.
Oatmeal is okay, but I don't know if anything about it is as notable as the others. It sounds better on paper than it actually is. Wouldn't shock me if that one was the next to go as I never see it on tap anywhere and I don't know anyone who particularly loves it.
Velvet is probably just an easy way to hop into the nitro tap market that Left Hand has ensured every CO bar now has. Baby Yeti has been floating around at their events for years and was the same thing only sans nitro.
BA Yeti has been a tale of good vs. infected until last year. The extra hops cut through some of that whiskey, so I tend to enjoy it more than the zillions of other "me too" BA stouts ya'll forced every brewery to make
They can do whatever they want, but they better keep normal Yeti around forever. If that one goes in favor of more trendy variants, so do I.