Quick Sips: August 2010

Here is our first entry of Quick Sips, a super condensed and brief synopsis of some beers that we've had in the last few weeks. This one will include thoughts from the last few months.

• Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA tastes amazing fresh (less than 2 1/2 weeks old)
• Weyerbacher Tiny is incredibly delicious (on our fourth bomber)
• Dogfish Head SahTea isn't as good as last years (not enough cinnamon, clove and ginger spices)
• Southern Tier 2XIPA is amazing (but make sure it is fresh.) Blows away most IPAs.
• Bell's Hopslam wasn't as good as last years. Like most IPA's- Make sure it's fresh.
• Great Lakes Holy Moses was a great choice for a spring beer. Glad to see it back.
• Thirsty Dog has come out with three new crap beers (Barktoberfest, Whippet Wheat and Twisted Kilt) and one decent one (Cerberus)
• Some batches of Founders Devil Dancer taste like a THC producing plant.
• Heavy Seas Below Decks Cabernet Barrel Aged is probably the best fresh barleywine out there.
• Goose Island Green Line Pale Ale (Pub Exclusive) is just plain gross.
• Heavy Seas Smoke on the Water wasn't as generic as it's name. Worth the buy.
• Lagunitas A Little Sumpin' Sumpin' Ale is a refreshing summer IPA.
• Great Divide Brewing has some great beers out there (Colette, 16th Anniversary, Titan, Yeti.) We're excited to try more
• Dark Horse has yet to come out with a beer I thought was above average (Crooked Tree, Sapient Trip, Scotty Karate)
• Great Lakes Lake Erie Monster was great fresh but had a tinge too much alcohol flavor.

Great Divide Expresso Oak Aged Yeti

Colorado's Great Divide is working their to our hearts. The saying goes "the way to a man's heart is through his stomach" and they are doing a good job at it. We have had some delectable beverages in the recent months and given an opportunity to try a variation at their most popular beer, Yeti, we took couldn't leave the 9.5% ABV Expresso Oak Aged Yeti on the shelf any longer.

EOAY pours jet black and thick with a foamy carmel head. Roasted malts, chocolate and hint of coffee overtake the nose as you smell. First impressions become reality as it tastes almost exactly as it smells yet it is exceptionally smooth given the ABV. As the brew leaves the tongue you are left with chocolate dancing on the tongue with a tinge of alcohol to remind you that you are drinking a brew, not a dessert. As the beer warms in it's glass, the taste shifts and the oak becomes noticable on the back end of the flavor.

This is an incredibly solid brew from a company that we are becoming more familiar with. However, there is nothing unique to this brew and the word "expresso" should be removed from the label. While there are differences to this and the other Yeti brews (which are all delicious- by the way) there is nothing that sets this one apart from its siblings. Kind of like one of the Osmonds that isn't Donny or Marie.

Oz Scale: 7.9

Mike Scale: 8.0