This is a wonderful offering from Great Divide. Celebrating sixteen years of brewing, Great Divide made this, a wood-aged Double IPA. As always top-notch style points for the label design.
I aged this beer about seven months, so don't expect huge hops in my review you lupulin freaks!
Appearance: Pours a wonderful clear copper color. Like a burnished copper, but brilliantly clear. The head is off-white and thin, but extremely persistent. Lacing flows down the side with each sip, leaving a ring like a trail of memories all the way to the bottom.
Aroma: Surprisingly strong notes of vanilla and oak. The hops come in the background, but certainly make their presence known. This beer does not lack a complex aroma, it's bursting at the seams with strong scents. As mentioned, the hops fall in behind the vanilla and oak, but it's a beautiful balance that leaves you aching for a sip. There's also some sticky sweet malt aroma, like you fired a sticky bun on an oak plank, simply wonderful.
Taste: Bitterness is very smooth. The oak is as bright as the hops, but doesn't have that astringent or overpowering oak flavor a lot of wood aged beers have, very smooth and complimentary. There's a nice amount of mouthfeel here, but with the wonderful balance of flavors, you could easily forget this is 10% ABV.
Overall: Simply put, this beer is a delight. Even though it's getting up there in age, it's a beer that ages remarkably, which is surprisingly for a double IPA. It is the best wood aged hoppy beer I've had in quite some time.
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