Great Divide Brewing Company

Denver, Colorado

Founded in 1994, Great Divide has already earned itself an astonishing 17 Great American Beer Festival medals and five World Beer Cup awards. Brian Dunn saw Colorado’s potential as a major craft beer state. Setting up shop in Denver, Dunn won his first awards at the Great American Beer Festival a mere three months after brewing his first batch. With demand skyrocketing over the years, the brewery tripled its production after a huge expansion in 2007 and has been brewing high-quality, award-winning beers for us to enjoy nationwide ever since.

 

Titan IPA

Style: American IPA

ABV: 7.1 percent

Rating: 4.5/5

With a unique smell for an IPA, this particular brew brings fresh-cut grass, pine tree and mild citrus right into the nose. You would never have known it by the taste but at a whopping 7.1 percent ABV, you’ll be surprised how few of these you can reasonably drink before they catch up to you. Tasting relatively balanced, it starts out sweet and malty, then transitions to bitter and hoppy by the end. The carbonation is relatively low, making a very light-mouth feel and allowing it to be easily drinkable.

 

Hoss Rye Lager

Style: Oktoberfest

ABV: 6.2 percent

Rating: 3/5

A rye smell really comes through on the nose for this lager, along with caramel and a little toffee flavor. The taste is a little sweeter than some may like and is intensely malty with really no hop presence whatsoever. If you are into sweet and not bitter, you may like this spiced, cool-weather lager. The mouth-feel is extremely thin, though, and the carbonation is very low. Those two factors make this brew sessionable for anyone interested in the nontraditional lagers that, with an alcohol content higher than most of the styles, may do the trick better than your standard, light mass-produced lagers.

 

Denver Pale Ale

Style: English Pale Ale

ABV: 5.4 percent

Rating: 4/5

Though not strong-smelling, a faint waft of biscuity and bready malts jumps out, and a mild citrus presents itself as well. The taste starts out sweet and malty, then transitions to slightly bitter with a mild hop presence by the end. This creates a nice balance for a relatively low-alcohol session ale. Give it a try to taste something a little different from your standard pale ale.

 

— Compiled by Lucas Sacks, staff writer, ldsacks@syr.edu

Published on February 16, 2011 at 12:00 pm