Great Divide Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout - Denver Colorado      

Oak Aged Yeti is Yeti Imperial Stout’s sophisticated sibling. They may be from the same clan, but they have entirely different personalities. Oak aging gives a subtle vanilla character, rounding out Yeti’s intense roastiness and huge hoppy nature. Who says you can’t tame a Yeti? 9.5% ABV
 

           
Beer Review by Beer Advocate
Appearance: A black beauty, this body pours incredibly thick; looks like motor oil coming out of the bottle. There’s some absolutely silky caramel-brown cream on top; great strings of lacing as it settles. Retention is a smooth, even layer of richness.

Aroma: Here we go: intensely oaky at the start, with a bourbon spice of barrel-aging. Chocolate, vanilla, and cinnamon-sugar hang around in light fashion, mellow and complimentary to the wood scents – soon after, some toasted maple aromas open it up quite nicely (though in a syrupy way). Hops are next, adding a pine-floweriness to the sugar powerhouse; still, the marshmallow-sweets prevail as the dominant players. And then there’s the finish: damn, it’s that chalky yeast aroma that I’ve picked up in every other Yeti I’ve tried. It’s lighter here, making this the best nose I’ve had among the Great Divide stouts so far.
  

   
Taste: Chocolate-covered pine cone! Rich, syrupy dark chocolate and a pine-citrus brightness combine in a manner that I can only describe as one of those chocolates filled with lemon cream. After, it starts to show its true character: palpably woody – smoke and char, coffee and vanilla, barrel and booze – and full of complex flavor. A bittersweet cocoa profile is overarching in this palate, but there’s a salted caramel and oily nut taste that digs deep into the oozing maltiness. Some leafy tobacco (generic cigar) in the aftertaste, with biscuity and chalky yeast for that final chocolate smoothness, as well.

Mouthfeel: Loveably thick, with only a hint of froth and fizz. At the perfect temperature, it feels like drinking skim milk – more refreshing and satisfying than it sounds.

Overall: This is one devilish beer, so much so that the sky turned dark as soon as I started drinking. Oak Aged Yeti is POWER, and too big to ignore. The best dark beer from Great Divide I’ve ever had; so good. I feel bad that every Yeti I taste is in the vein of “well…it’s good, but there’s X amount of chalky chocolate yeast flavor,” but that’s how it is. Still, I enjoyed it; my favorite Yeti so far.
 
 
  

Great Divide Brewing - History
In 1994, Colorado’s craft beer scene scarcely existed, but Brian Dunn recognized Denver’s potential to be a great beer city.

Combining his business background with his passion for beer, which was developed through his international travels and his experience as a homebrewer, he decided to start a brewery. He set up shop in an abandoned dairy-processing plant at the edge of downtown Denver and began brewing the beers that would eventually carry Great Divide Brewing Company to its status as one of America’s most decorated microbreweries and would help transform Denver into an international destination for beer lovers.

Great Divide brews some of the globe's most balanced yet assertive and flavorful beers. These beers have landed an impressive amount of acclaim: Great Divide beers have earned 17 Great American Beer Festival medals and 5 World Beer Cup awards. Great Divide was also ranked 8th in Ratebeer.com’s 2010 “The Best Brewers in the World” and was ranked 7th in Beer Advocate’s 2010 “All-Time Top Breweries on Planet Earth.”