Rare as a Yeti

Great Divide is back! The Colorado brewer hasn't been seen on these shores in around ten years but it has returned -- via Grand Cru Beers, of course -- with a couple of the classics and a bunch more recent releases. Predictably, I acquired cans in Stephen Street News.

I begin with Hibernation, described as an English-style Old Ale and a sizeable 8.7% ABV. Pouring was a bit of a chore, lots of foam piling up with each tip of the properly fridge-cold can. It's a dark red colour under that; a clear shade of garnet. I guess English bitter is the beer style at the base as it tastes of that sort of caramel and green cabbage. "Old ale" implies a certain richness but this doesn't have that. It's sharply boozy, throwing in a mix of strong tea, cheap sherry and rancid veg. Old in the sense of dusty, musty and dry. I'm not a fan of this. Dry and strong bitter is fine but this one just pushes things too far. Americans.

On a much more modern note there's Heyday IPA, because those crazy kids love hazy. It's only slightly clouded, still letting plenty of light through. There's a delicious spice on the nose, all mandarin rind and a kick of coconut. The flavour brings more coconut plus a mix of satsuma, grapefruit and red cabbage. A sticky passionfruit tang lasts long into the finish. This is very much its own thing, not chasing a juicy trend yet still full-on tropical goodness. I don't know that there's anything to answer the real fashion for murk, but plenty of punters will be convinced they're on-trend and drinking the latest thing. Fair play to them all.

I look forward to seeing what else Great Divide has been up to, as well as quietly revisiting some old favourites.