I tried two more Great Divide beers last night. The first one I tried was the Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout. It was excellent. Not quite as thick/strong as the Rogue Imperial Stout I had the other night, but I still thought it was a little better overall. I'm curious to try just the normal Yeti now though... because I doubt the Oak Aged is worth paying $7.50 vs $5.50 for 22oz...

The Barley Wine I liked but not as much as the Double IPA.

I have a bottle of the Oaked Yeti in my fridge right now, and I plan on reviewing it tomorrow or Thursday. I had the regular Yeti last winter, and it was a very solid imperial stout. I'm curious to hear your thoughts on both.

Alright. Rather than play on Party's obnoxious Monster tables tonight, I've decided to review more beer. Tonight's was Avery's Maharaja Imperial IPA. My first experiences with the Avery brewery were underwhelming, so I didn't have my hopes up for this beer. After I really wasn't digging their beer when trying my favorite styles, I didn't have my hopes up for their super-IPA, which really has to be something special to impress me. Here's a picture of the bottle:



I paid a whopping $7.49 for this beer (22 oz). It weighs in at a hefty 9.9% ABV, though, so the buzz for your buck is still in the right ballpark. Here's a picture of it right after I poured it into my glass:



It has a nice amber color and a good head. It smells just like I'd expect from an IPA -- hops! I had the first half of this beer with dinner, a rib steak with a great horseradish sauce and a tomato and cucumber salad, and the second half on its own. I thought the hops might be good with the horseradish, but I wasn't sure. Anyway, on my first sip, I was pleasantly surprised. This was clearly the best beer from Avery I've tried. The hops come through with a good citrus and flowery flavor. The beer is a little sweeter than traditional IPAs, as I'd expect, but it's not as sweet as, say, the DFH 90. The flavors are well in line with what I'd expect with beers of this style, although I'd say it's dialed back from the DFH 90. Not quite as much hop flavor, and not quite as sweet. Consequently, I can't give it as good a rating. I give it and a half . It's definitely the beer from Avery that I'm most likely to buy again, but I don't think it stacks up well compared to the competition. One thing is for sure, though. This beer packs a whallop. I don't taste the alcohol much over the hops, but at this point, having just finished the bottle, I'm sure feeling it.

Wookie,
Try the Hog Heaven barleywine. It's very good.

Which brewery is that from?

Alright, I lied. I caved and decided to try out the oak aged Yeti tonight rather than tomorrow. This would be the first beer I've tried that has been aged in oak, so I was looking for something special. Behold the bottle:



I plunked down $10.39 for this (Wow! I didn't even remember I had paid that much), and it weighs in at 9.5% ABV. That's surprisingly low for a beer this expensive, really. Pouring it into a glass was pretty cool, though. It was noticibly thick, and the brown head took longer to form than for most beers.



It smelled rich and sweet, with a lot of the usual stout smells: coffee, chocolate, and just a hint of the wood it was aged in. Taking a sip, I knew this was a good beer. It had the expected thickness of an imperial stout, and I could taste the sweetness along with the hints of coffee and chocolate. The bottle claimed that I would be able to taste vanilla, but I'm not sure if I'm tasting it or if it's just the power of suggestion. The finish on this beer it what sets it apart. It has the usual hoppy character, but the woodiness, almost like a bourbon, is quite unique. The flavor lingers very well. It is distinct from the regular Yeti most in the finish. In the finish of the regular version, I noticed more caramel, but not the wood. The body of the two beers is pretty similar, however. I think I'm going to give this beer and a half . It's definitely a great beer, and it's one of the few where you can get the woody finish. At this price, though, I don't think the main body of the beer is as exceptional as some of its peers. If you're a wood-head and a bourbon lover, look this one up. If you're just looking for a solid imperial stout, you'll find a better value in the regular Yeti.

this thread is making my mouth water.

This thread is making me feel barbaric for not liking dark beers :/

there are great tasting beers out there that aren't 'dark'. most of the reviews above have been done on dark beers, but plenty of lighter beers (like Belgian Golden Ales, maybe) have great complex tastes.

now, lots of these beers do have acquired tastes. so if you like Bud Light or whatever, you're not gonna like (at first) anything posted above

Wookie,
Hog Heaven is an Avery brew.

Victorvdb,
What is it about "dark beers" you don't like? A brown ale, vienna lager, & a stout are all "dark beers" but taste nothing alike.

Good review, pretty much exactly the same thoughts I had on this beer. I only payed $7.50 for the 22oz bottle though

I'd still like to try the regular Yeti though, because at $5.50 a bottle its probably a pretty good deal.

Also, last night I finished off the barleywine and thought it was a lot better then I did the night before... probably because I didn't drink it right after the Oak Aged Yeti this time. I still think the Double IPA is my favorite one by them so far.

Last night I also tried Bell's Amber Ale. Solid beer... very little to no aftertaste though. I'd say it was a 3.3/5.

/edit oh yeah, and you should get a goblet wookie.

Yeah, I probably should. I used a wine glass for the Belgians, but I should have used it again for the Yeti. Oh well. I need to pick up some brandy snifters, too.

Just a quick announcement: for those in the Nashville/middle TN area, Nashville Brewer's Festival is tomorrow from 2-8. See www****siccitybrewersfest.com for more info. I'll be posting a trip report in all likelihood.

Alright. It's Saturday night. Time for some beer reviews. All of these beers were on tap at my favorite local bar. I don't have any pictures, but I do have some words.

First up, I tried a pint of Sam Adams Summer Ale. I didn't have my hopes up for this beer, but I wanted to try it. The beer seemed to be about the color of a hefeweizen. It didn't have too much head, though. The flavor was definitely of a wheat beer, but it didn't get much deeper than that. There were some hints of citrus and some of the other flavors that make the German hefes the outstanding beers they are, but it couldn't really stack up. That said, I think this is better than the Pyramid Hefeweizen, and it's pretty inexpensive. If you're looking for a fairly simple, inexpensive beer to enjoy on a hot afternoon, this is a decent pick. I give it .

The second pint I had was the Cascazilla from the Ithaca brewery, presumably named for its Cascade hops. I'd tried this beer before, but I hadn't had it in a while. I guess you'd classify this beer as something like an ESB. It's brown in color, and strongly hopped. The hop flavor is excellent. It has the familiar citrus and flowers I very much enjoy in this style of beer. The thing I found odd about it was that it wasn't all that bitter. It had a lot of the best part of the hop flavor without the bitterness. I hadn't remembered this about the beer, but it was very pleasant to drink. It had good flavor without being as dry as an IPA or as overpowering as something like the DFH 90. This would be a great beer for someone who's curious about all the fuss over IPAs, but who is put off by the bitterness. The only problem with this beer is that it might be hard to find outside of NY. If you can get it, though, pick it up. I give this beer and a half .

My second and third pints were chosen deliberately to be in the same style of beer. The third was the Victory Hop Devil. It was a little darker red in color compared to the Ithaca, and it had a slightly larger and thicker head. However, it's flavor wasn't quite as good. It lacked the flowers, it didn't have as much citrus, but it did have all the bitterness I was expecting. It just wasn't as good as Ithaca's offering. It had the parts of this style of beer that aren't all that great, and it was a little lacking in the flavors I enjoyed most. It wasn't a bad beer per se, but it looked bad next to the Ithaca. I give it .

My final beer was a beer I picked just because I knew I'd love it. I picked the Ommegang Rare Vos, a Belgian-style golden ale from the American-Belgian brewery this thread has come to love. It came in a bottle, and I poured it into a pint glass. Really, this is one of my favorite styles of beer, and this is a fine example of it. It's fairly sweet, it has great flavors of cloves, citrus, and a little extra, and it has a great feel with the carbonation. A somewhat more widely available beer in this style is Leffe, a Belgian import, and this is strictly better. I give it a full . I'm somewhat tempted to tack on an extra half a for it, but it seems a little weird giving that high a rating to a beer that's not all that expensive and is not from a premium brew process (anything imperial, a barley wine, etc.). Either way, this is an outstanding beer, and I highly recommend it to any fan of Belgian beers, or perhaps hefeweizen fans looking to change things up a bit.

I'm not a huge fan of the beers made by the hometown brewery, but Cascazilla is by far their best offering. (Though I think it's also worth tracking down their Double IPA -- very smooth for 9-10% ABV, and they use only NY-grown hops.)

You mention a very important point -- the dominance of hop flavor over bitterness. I used to be a crazy hophead who lived for bitter beers, but in the last few years I've come to appreciate the flavors of the various hops much more, and I find that I want the bitterness to get the hell out of the way and let the flavor shine through. That's pretty much my goal now with the pale ales and IPAs I brew, and I look for it in commercial versions as well. Cascazilla is a great example of this.

This is my favorite Ommegang brew as well. Most of their beers are very strong (7%+ ABV) and very powerful flavor-wise; Rare Vos is more modest in both alcoholic strength and flavor, yet retains plenty of complexity. I dig it.