Great Divide Brewing Co. Hibernation Ale
It’s that time of year when breweries left and right come out with their winter beers. Snow lies somewhere just around the corner up ahead, the leaves have nearly all fallen off of the trees, and if you haven’t already then you’re seriously considering turning the heat on in your house.
Really, the various winter beers hitting the shelves are a motley crew. There are barleywines, doppelbocks, imperial stouts, spiced beers, you name it. Any style is fair game when it comes to winter beers. But recently my attention has been truly caught up by old ales, a much less common winter brew here in the States.
It all began with Founders’ Old Curmudgeon, their old ale -style beer aged in bourbon barrels. I’m a bit of a sucker for bourbon-barreled beers, and quickly fell in love with the insouciant combination of flavors Old Curmudgeon presented: sweet, bready malt, brandy-soaked fruits, and vanilla, caramel, and a hint of whiskey from the barrel-aging.
But old ales aren’t all that easy to find, and I haven’t been very motivated to do much searching lately, and so it wasn’t until we were heading over to some friends house to help them move that I ended up trying another old ale (and another American version of the style). This time it was the 6-pack of Great Divide’s Hibernation Ale, their seasonal old ale released each fall. That night, after several hours of loading furniture, boxes, and bikes into a giant U-Haul, we all opened up a bottle of Hibernation Ale and thoroughly enjoyed the soothing warmth that it brought back to our tired bodies.
About a week later, I had the chance to try a second bottle of Hibernation Ale, at a moment when I could pay a bit more attention to it. It once again totally hit the spot, and this time I was able to pick up more of the flavors in the glass. I came away pretty excited by what a great, remarkably enjoyable beer this was.
Hibernation Ale was first brewed by Great Divide in 1995, and since then has been one of their consistent seasonal beers. Old Ales originated in the UK and were one of the typical winter offerings from breweries (alongside barleywines). They gained the name Old Ale because they were often left to age for several months before being served, in the process acquiring a darker color and sweeter, nuttier flavors from oxidation. Hibernation Ale is brewed each year in July and aged until October before being released in November. It rolls in at 8.1%, on the higher side of ABV for most old ales that I’ve dug up info about.
The beer pours a ruddy, amber brown, with dark red highlights. A thick off-white head forms and slowly dissipates to a thin film, leaving a trace of lacing. The nose is rich with rummy notes and deep, malty tones, with a hint of smoke and a trace of hops floating around in the background. The palate is deliciously smooth, viscous, and mouth-coating. Flavors of brown sugar, burnt caramel, bran, and molasses rise to the top amidst lots of toasted, sweet, chocolatey malt flavors. I picked up some hop prickliness early on, but as the beer warmed this disappeared. The finish offers flavors of rum, brown sugar, and coffee that lead to a trace of lingering hop bitterness.
This is without a doubt one of the nicest, most enjoyably warming beers I’ve had in a while. The flavors all work together perfectly, offering loads of flavor without overwhelming your palate. Most importantly, it really, really just hits the spot on a cool, November/December evening as you appreciate the austere simplicity that is Fall in New England.
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