Brooklyn Local 1 is a Belgian style pale ale, lots of sweet, fruity malt flavor.   This is an excellent beer, smooth, tasty, and easy to drink.

I’d rate this a 4.5 out of 5.

This was my first Great Divide beer. Wow, wow, wow! Easily the best beer I have drank in the last six months (or longer).

For the record, dark red/brown, oaky/roasted beers are my favorite. The Great Divide Hiberation Ale fit this classifcation to the T!

It is mostly brown with a slight red color and is full of roasted goodness.

My only regret is I bought just a single 12 oz bottle. I am hoping to rectifiy this problem before it goes out of season. Highly recommend.

4.75 out of 5 stars.

Review Submitted By: Scott Watermasysk

With its big complex flavors and big alcohol content (9.7% ABV), this beer is not for the faint of heart.

I have been looking for an Old Ale to try and this was my first of the style. I would describe this one as something close to a cross between a Barleywine and a Belgian Dubbel/Trippel. The aroma is sweet: it smelled like a spice cake with raisins to me, but I also got a little buttery scent and a little floral from the hops too. The flavor was very similar to the aroma: very sweet, malty, carmel and a very tiny floral hop kick at the end. A lot of times a high alcohol content beer will be described as having a “Merlot” taste to it. I expected that flavor in this beer but was pleasantly surprised to not find it. The alcohol is definitely present and you can taste it, but it is masked a little by the sweetness and the hops. The specific beer that I drank still seemed a little young and sharp – it would probably mellow out a bit more after sitting for a few more months or a year.

One of the questions in the Beer Advocate reviews of the beer asked if an Old Ale with as much hops as the Triple Exultation should still be considered an Old Ale, so apparently this beer is not a pure example of the style. However, it is a good sipping beer and you’ll enjoy it if you’re looking for something different. But unfortunately (or not!) I’ll have to continue my search for another Old Ale or two to try.

Eel River Brewing (Fortuna, CA) says that it is the first USDA Certified Organic brewery. And the Triple Exultation is a Certified Organic beer. That neither makes the beer any more or less enticing for me, but that’s cool if you’re into those things.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Review Submitted By: Dan Hounshell

The Georgetown 9lb porter was my first beer of the new year. It’s rare to find it on tap and you usually have to pick up some at the brewery. But today I lucked out. This porter is smokey and makes a great companion to BBQ or other slow cooked meats. There are also some coffee flavors, but its not chocolatey. It’s also a great way to end a day of snowboarding at Crystal Mountain where it is also on tap.

Review Submitted By: Josh Ledgard

Wells & Young’s isn’t an American craft brewer, but they have a tradition (Wells and Young independently, at least) of brewing fine beer since the 19th century.  Young’s Double Chocolate Stout is probably the prototypical Christmas beer for me.   A sweet stout, thick, and with strong chocolate flavors, it has a dry, bitter-sweet chocolate finish.  This is probably one of my top five favorite stouts.