Great Divide Hercules Double IPA

Brewed by Great Divide Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Denver, Colorado USA

Bomber from Bottles in Boulder. Amber pour with a two finger off-white head. A+ retention and lacing. Floral hoppy nose with a hint of caramel sweetness to it. Slight grapefruit. Excellent body and malty sweetness which eventually leads to a bitter hop profile. Nicely balanced. Medium-low carbonation. 9.1% alcohol is well hidden. Excellent DIPA by a remarkable local brewery.

Pours very dark orange almost red with a small white froth. Aroma is very sweet grapefruit and pineapple citrus hops with a slight bit of hop oil but a lot of candy like almost to the point of a barleywine. Flavor starts with a syrupy mellow sweetness along the same lines with the grapefruit citrus hops. Remains fairly sweet into the finish and gains some of the caramel and toffee notes suggested. In the throat some bitter nuts become present. About five or six seconds after swallowing the pine hop resin bitterness really kicks in and lingers. Medium to full body and fairly reserved carbonation. Very nice double that isn’t overly hoppy or bitter.

Deep amber with almost no head. There’s a ton of mysterious white floaty things in my beer. I suspect this could be a bad bottle, but I’ll soldier on. Nose is hops and a little apricot- way less smell than espected. Taste is lots of hops up front that mellows into a decent malt sweetness. Finishes fairly clean. Mouthfeel is not unlike apple juice, but with a bit of astringency. Not bad. I’ll have to rerate this when I get a bottle I know is 100%.

On draught. Dark amber color. Flavor is malty, fruity, nutty. Not a hoppy as expected -- a plus for me. Nice double IPA.

Bottle. A lot of yeast in the dark copper coloured beer, off-white head. Mild pleasent citrus aroma, some malts in the background. Bought about 6 months ago, bb date is three months ahead but I remember the beer better as fresh.

Bottle. Aroma of citrus and piny hops, big biscuity malt, pretty evenly divided. Flavor again evenly divided between sweet, semi-sticky malts and juicy hops. Very good if not wowing.

Bottle. Pours a clear orange with a thick white head. Aroma of citrus hops, cracker malt, and sweet caramel malt. Flavor is quite malty--crackery and caramel. Some dark fruits and raisiny notes. A good IPA...not sure if this is old or if it’s supposed to be like this, but I didn’t get much hops from this. So it was just ok. 7/4/8/4/14 Ɠ.7/5)

Update 8/29/09: Got a fresh bottle and it was much hoppier this time. Still lots of crackery malt and sweet malt but also lots of citrus. No dark fruits/raisins. Very drinkable and pleasant. 7/4/8/4/15 Ɠ.8/5)

330 mL into a snifter. Clear, beautiful orange color with a fairly large yellow head that settles down to nice film leaving some good spotty lacing. Aroma is similar to a barleywine: some spicy alcohol, piney and resiny hops. Taste is very tart and bitter with good creamy and citrusy hops up front moving to toffee, caramel, and pine and then finishing with a long, dry, bitter, nutty flavor.