Beer Review: Great Divide Brews

Decided the try out this brewery with a variety pack over the weekend. 4 beers – 4 thoughts

Denver Pale Ale

This is their APA style brew with the hops turned up a tiny bit. Of all the brews in the box, this and the Titan were my favs. Nothing about this was remarkable though. A pretty typical American Pale Ale. This is Great Divide’s hallmark brew and has won all sorts of awards for them, though most were over 7 years ago.( my 2 cents on that at the end).

Titan IPA

This is one from their Really Big Beers sections. Overall, it was a well balanced IPA but the BIG and TITAN names are a bit of a misnomer. I guess what has become a BIG HOP beer has changed and with my ease of access to Victory ‘s Hop Wallop or any of the DFH offerings, I have become a jaded Hop-head.

Ridgeline Amber

This is described as a more malty more complex amber in a sea of boring ones. This is the stand out one? Maybe I got the wrong stuff. It is malty – sure – it is an amber. They have won a bunch of awards for this brew as a Scotch ale in the same regional competition. Note to self: Enter MacRae into Regional Champion, United States Beer Tasting Championship, Scotch-Style ale.

St. Bridget’s Porter

St. Bridget, a legendary Irish saint, created a sensation by turning her bathwater into beer.

WHOA! And that made her a saint! Some things with the Catholic church are ok! This brew was a very standard porter. They have won awards for this also, 10 years ago.

Overall

Overall, I was a bit disappointed. I have grown to want adventurous brews, and these were a “brew to type” set. Not that is a bad thing. The Great Divide brewery was founded in 1994 and so was ahead of the curve on the microbrew thing and that deserves some respect. Most of the awards they won were over 10 years ago, before the hugest of competitors moved in. I would not buy their case again, but would defenetly try their brews at a pub – especially the some of the Really Big Brews.