Great Divide Brewing Company - Denver Pale Ale

The Great Divide Denver Pale Ale is the best selling and most award-winning beer in their line, taking 3 medals at the Great American Beer festival over the years. In fact, it most recently took the Gold at the 18th annual GABF last year! It’s a classic English-style Pale Ale and we found it nicely balanced offering a moderate-to-full bitterness and a definite emphasis on hop flavor and aroma. It’s dry-hopped, as you’ll soon find out in the big hop profile. Look for a highly floral moderately spicy nose. Note great head retention in this light copper-colored, medium-bodied filtered ale. We found a pleasant pale maltiness up front and a big floral/spicy hop flavor in the body. Overall, a classic representation of the style. We loved it!

Great Divide Brewing Company, an award-winning downtown Denver microbrewery, was founded in 1993 by avid homebrewer Brian Dunn. After completing his master’s degree in environmental policy and being discouraged by a job search, Dunn decided to create his own job and fill a niche in the Denver beer market.

At the time, there were four brewpubs in Denver, but no microbreweries. Dunn decided that opening Denver’s first microbrewery might be the perfect way to turn his homebrews into craft-brewed reality. Before this could happen, though, there was lots of work to be done.

Dunn went out and conducted a marketing study by calling bars, restaurants and liquor stores in Denver. Then he did financial projections, which were positive, and put together a business plan. With his business plan in hand he was able to raise money from a group of investors, and soon only one piece was missing: a place to house the brewery. That piece fell into place when he found a vacant building that housed a dairy in the 1930s, located just four blocks from Coors Field (home of the Colorado Rockies baseball team). With everything in place, Dunn could get down to doing to what he does best.

On May 30, 1994, the starting team of Brian and his wife Tara brewed the first batch of Arapahoe Amber and Great Divide Brewing was officially up and running. The hours were long for Brian and Tara back in those days, but now with 10 full-time employees, things are a little easier.

In addition to growing their staff, Brian and Tara have increased their production. Over the years the brewery has grown from 900 barrels per year to a capacity of 12,000. The quick growth was no doubt helped by the fact that Great Divide has won so many awards, including a Gold Medal for their Denver Pale Ale at the Great American Beer Festival this year.This brewery is one of the few that we’ve ever featured more than once in the 7 years we’ve operated the club and there’s a reason for it. They make Great Beer! Enjoy!

For more information about the brewery and scheduled tours, call (303) 296-9460 or check out their web site at www.greatdivide.com.