Great Divide Hibernation Ale

Tasting notes

Dec. 13, 2022

I bought a 6-pack to try again after many years had passed since my last taste. Great Divide calls Hibernation Ale an Old Ale. It blurs the line between Old Ale, Strong Ale, and Winter Warmer. I think it is best classified as a Winter Warmer. Burnt caramel dominates the flavor, sort of a  softer version of Arrogant Bastard. It is an interesting sipper.

Rating = 4 glasses.

Brewer: Great Divide Style: Old Ale Tasting notes: (1102) A 3-yr. 3-mn. old bottle. A hoppy brown ale w/ a creme brulee bite. Downgraded from 5 glasses. (1012) A 3-yr 1 mn old bottle. A thin English Barleywine w/ old ale sour flavor. Makes me wonder what more age would do. (1010) A 1-yr 10-mn. old bottle. Cream brulee, heavy on the brulee, w/ a sourish finish. (1001) A two-year old bottle. A toned down Old Ruffian? Old Ale w/ hops? Nice malty start followed by hoppy bite w/ a little sour, chocolate, coffee, and caramel. Seemed a tiche thiner than I remembered, something like Fullers Vintage Ale. May be the age. (6) Sweet caramel malt, an "Old" sourness, and pleasant spicy bite. (5) Burnt caramel. (4) Toffee, coffee, and chocolate. (3) Wonderful. Caramel followed by sour bite. (2) Less impressive. Malt lacking. (1) Wonderful. Caramel malt nicely balanced with a bitter, piney hop finish. Flavorful but not overpowering. An English Barleywine or Old Ale w/ a touch more hops. Good to drink. Fine to sip. I want more. Comments: Great Divide Hibernation Ale is the brewer's seasonal release in Winter. The brewer achieves a wonderful spiciness without adding spices. Spices are frequent trademark of winter beers. It blurs the line between Old Ale, Strong Ale, and Winter Warmer. Previous ratings: 5, 6, 5 glasses Rating: 4 glasses

Founders Highball Drifter

Highball Drifter is a bourbon-barrel aged strong ale. Interesting and good but not great. Some vanilla, molasses, and bourbon.

Rating = 3 glasses.

Undercover Investigator Shut-Down Ale

Brewer: Lagunitas

Style: Strong Ale

Tasting notes: (1005) A bottle @ Avalon.Sweet malt dominates with loads of hops in the background. Lagunitas calls is an Imperial Mild. I thought is was close to a good English Barleywine.

Rating: 5 glasses

Arrogant Bastard

Brewer: Stone

Style: Strong Ale

Tasting notes: (1005) On draft @ Joe's Inn. Still rough but much more mellow than I remember. Sort of like drinking cracked barley. Upgraded from 2. 0706: Moved to 2 in new rating. 602: Loads of flavor. Sort of a Barleywine with a rough taste with more hops and a bitter end taste. I much prefer SNBFBW.

Top 100: 29 December 2005. (Neither March 2007, 2009 or June 09, 2010.)

Rating: 4 glasses

Batch 9000

Brewer: Bell's

Style: Strong Ale

Tasting notes: (1003) On draft @ Mekong. An massive, over-the-top, and sticky sweet mixture of chocolate, molasses, and hops.

Rating: 4 glasses

Brown Sugga' (cask)

Brewer: Lagunitas

Style: Strong Ale

Tasting notes: (1003) Cask @ Mekong. Very nice, muted, balanced, and complex.

Rating: 5 glasses.

Old Viscosity

Brewer: Port

Style: Strong Ale

Tasting notes: (1003) A bottle purchased 1 yr and 11 mn ago. Baltic Porter and muted Arrogant Bastard. Downgraded from 5 glasses. (0806) A bottle purchased 2 mn ago. A mixture of Baltic Porter and Arrogant Bastard. Lots of coffee, especially when cold, w/ a hoppy finish. Better when cold - was thinking about 6 glasses. A sipper as it warms. A charcoal bite emerges as it warms. Alcohol blast throughout. Bourbon is present but subdued.

Rating: 4 glasses.

Stone 13th Anniversary

Beer: 13th Anniversary

Brewer: Stone

Style: Strong Ale

Tasting notes: (0907) A well-made hop-delivery vehicle. Hops is the entrée, not a spice. Lots of flowers and deep orange and pine.

Comments: This is a darker malt version of a double IPA.

Rating: 4 glasses

Stone Double Bastard

Beer: Double Bastard

Brewer: Stone

Style: Strong Ale

Tasting notes and comments: (3) Massive nutty sweet malt balanced w/ bitter hops, similar to a good double IPA. (2) A blast of sweet malt with a tiche of nutty flavor is followed by a bitter hop bite that lingers. The sweet mutes the bitter and the bitter mutes the bite. The rough flavor I find unappealing in Arrogant Bastard is faint and way in the background. (1) Predominate flavors are sweetness (malt + alcohol), nuttiness, and apricot (?) up front followed by massive, lingering, bitter, piney hops. The beer gets smoother and smoother as it warms. It goes well with food for such a big beer. I would describe it as Triple IPA or a hoppy English Barleywine.

Dates on which reviewers at BeerAdvocate.com rated it as one of the top 100 beers on the planet: 29 December 2005, 10 March 2007, 29 December 2008, and 1 January 2009.

Recommendation: Highly recommended. This is a wonderful "big" beer.

Strong Ale

Strong Ale is a catch-all category for beer that is high in alcohol and does not fit well into other categories.

Inventory

My inventory increased over Thanksgiving. Both parents visited beer stores to purchase something that they thought I might like. They succeeded. I brought home a 6-pack of Troegs Mad Elf Ale, 750 ml of Ommegang Abbey Ale, and a bomber of Stone Arrogant Bastard Ale.

I described Mad Elf Ale in an earlier entry. Visit the Label for Troegs. This six will head to the cellar. I already have 5 bottles in hand and it should age well.

Ommegang Abbey Ale is an excellent example of a Dubbel. Visit the Label for Dubbel for more information.

Stone Arrogant Bastard is Strong Ale. I describe it as Barleywine on steroids. It has a deep, dark husky flavor. Reviewers on BeerAdvocate rated it as one of the top 100 beers on the planet on 29 December 2005. This bottle is heading to the cellar to see what happens to it in 2 years. Visit the Label for Strong Ale for more information on it.

Troegs Mad Elf Ale

I recommend Troegs Mad Elf Ale as an adventure. It is an interesting Christmas brew, brewed with West Coast Cherries and Pennsylvania Honey. The cherry flavor predominates and is unusual and done well. It is dry and grows on me as I drink the beer. Spices seem to lurking in the background. I can't tell yet if I really like the beer or just like it. It might go well w/ food.

The style is ambiguous. BeerAdvocate classifies it as Belgian Strong Dark Ale. I think it might be better placed as Strong Ale, Belgian Amber, or Winter Warmer. The alcohol clocks in at 11%. The more I drink it the more Winter Warmer fits.

New Inventory

Today I purchased 2 bombers of Stone Double Bastard Ale and one 6-pack each of Anchor Our Special Ale 2008 and Troegs Mad Elf. I am stocked for the holidays.

The bottle of Double Bastard that I had last year was quite tasty - a cross between a triple IPA and a hoppy English Barleywine. Loads of sweet malt and bitter hops that created a pleasant and surprisingly easy drinking beer. It is Strong Ale, a category distinquished by high levels of alcohol and charateristics that do not fit another established category. The alcohol clocks in at 10% by volume.

Stone is known as a world class brewery. Posters at BeerAdvocate rate four of its beers in the top 100 beers on the planet. Double Bastard is currently ranked 56. The brewery is home to a restaurant and the head brewer is an advocate of pairing food and beer.

My attraction to Double Bastard Ale is slightly unusual. I think that the flavors in Arrogant Bastard, its parent, are overpowering and unpleasant. Oak Aged Arrogant Bastard Ale is nice but I have not been moved to purchase a second bottle.

A bomber is 22 oz. or 650 ml.

I have never tasted Mad Elf. It is Belgian Strong Dark Ale brewed with cherries, honey, and chocolate malt. The alcohol clocks in at 11% by volume. I plan to drink some and age some. If I like the first couple of bottles, I may buy more for aging.

Our Special Ale is also a new beer to me. It is Winter Warmer. Anchor releases it every year in November and the recipe varies from year to year. It contains spices. I hope that it tastes like Christmas.