Great Divide Brewing, which made its name with enormous, potent beers like Yeti and Hercules, will continue a newer romance with lower-alcohol beers in January when it debuts Lasso, an IPA that will carry the lowest ABV in the brewery's lineup.

Brewed with three kinds of hops -- Columbus, Centennial and Cascade -- Lasso will be 5 percent alcohol by volume and carry 50 IBUs, low for an IPA these days.

See also: Great Divide tentatively plans a large new brewery in Denver's River North

Great Divide has introduced two other low-alcohol beers in the past two years: Nomad, a 5.4 percent pilsner, and HeyDay, a 5.2 percent Belgian-style wit.

"We think it's a good fit. IPA fans want something they can have a few of, and Titan is still a little beefy," says Great Divide spokesman Doug Christie. Titan, Great Divide's regular IPA, has a 7.1 percent ABV, while its Hercules double IPA is 10 percent.

Several of Colorado's bigger breweries have been flirting with low-ABV beers over the past year or so. Odell released Loose Leaf in May, a 4.5 percent ABV pale ale, that was only available in the Fort Collins brewery's seasonal mix-packs. Several other breweries experimented with Berliner weisses that hovered around the 4.0 ABV mark.

Avery has also been promising to release some low ABV beers in the near future -- and probably in cans -- including an IPA and a stout, but those beers may have to wait until the Boulder brewery builds its new facility next year.

"We've certainly developed an outstanding reputation for our big, high-ABV beers," says Great Divide founder and president Brian Dunn in a statement. "But we really take pride in our entire collection of balanced beers, regardless of alcohol content."

Lasso will be a year-round beer, available in six-packs. It replaces Hades, a Belgian-style ale that Great Divide stopped producing on a regular basis earlier this year.

Westword

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