Great Divide Hercules Double IPA

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

Copper amber, some particles with a medium tan frothy head that leaves spotty lacing as it reacquaints itself with beer at a moderate pace. Aroma of strong pine, citrus, resinous hops, caramel, malt and light alcohol. Smells pretty damn good! And taste pretty damn good too with a thick, smooth and creamy mouth feel full of hops – of the pine, citrus and resinous varieties. Balanced out by caramel and nutty malts and accentuated by alcohol. Some burn on the back end to go with a moderate bitter finish. To me, hercules was always a crappy roller coaster at Dorney Park in Allentown, PA, now it’s an excellent brew from Denver, CO.

650 Ml bottle. From the deep shelves of Decicco. Nice pour with a fluffy head that hangs out with you for a while. Deep cloudy amber color. Sweet at first with a bitter finish. Fantastic!

Bomber. Pours clear honey color with copious amounts of foam. Has an extraordinary floral and citrus bouquet. Medium body with loads of hops. Has a citrus and nutty malt character. Finishes very dry, but the alcohol remains hidden. Absolutely delicious.

Pours deep copper color with a creamy head. Strong hoppy aroma, yet very sweet. Lots of caramel on the nose. Similar hoppy and well-balanced malty flavor. Soft and creamy palate. Terrific!

Pours an amber color topped with a relatively thin head but a bunch of lacing ends up on the glass. If you hold it to the light it looks pretty much like orange to me. The aroma is great consisting of piney hops, citrus and floral notes and you get it as soon as you crack the bottle. A rush of sweet hops and pine needles come out right away in the flavor followed by a long gradual bitterness. Malty base provides some stickiness and honey. There’s a lot of hops and a lot of flavor here but it’s also quite smooth and easy to drink. Definitely well done! Re-rate 1027/09. Pours deep amber color, thick head, lots of lacing. Aroma is hoppy with some caramel sneaking though as well. Piney hops, moderate bitterness for the style, and supported by quite a bit of malt which keeps the hops in check. Not the biggest IIPA I’ve ever had but very well rounded, tasty, and relatively easy drinking. I’ll rank this one just a shade under Stone Ruination.

Holy crap - what an aroma Warning: Candyland description ahead... I popped the top and thought: pine tree forest where little mandarin oranges grow and there are fresh flowers, earth and hay all overlooking a caramel waterfall. Damn, this beer is nuts. I let the bottle breathe and noticed butterscotch, maple, caramel and sweet maltiness. When poured, Hercules is copper/orange and a creamy 2 finger buttermilk colored head laces the glass like so much high tide. Even at the bitter end there was a nice clump of foam left in the glass. There were some small translucent particles that hung near the bottom of the glass and bottle. The flavor was sweet and malty with lots of caramel and a little bit of hazelnut. Great bitterness... a kick in the teeth at first, but you’d gladly spit your teeth out just to be reassured that this flavor will last the whole bottle through and it DOES. The full flavored oily assault on the palate has just enough soft carbonation to tickle the tongue and rock out to a chalky bittersweet finish. The 9.1 ABV is well masked beneath the sweetness yet lends its warmth to the character of Hercules.

On tap, this is a tasty beer! American barleywine-esque. Dark amber color, sweet candy sugar aroma with citrus hops. Taste, I enjoy thick sweet malt notes with the hop bite. The hops seem subtler than was anticipated, but definitely there. I did not notice the alcohol.

Pours golden amber with a frothy white head that stays with a little bit of a yellow hue. Aromas of sweet hops, citrus, orange and pine. The aromas carry over to the flavor. There is a strong hop profile here with other flavors of pine, citrus, and orange. The texture is somewhat creamy and there is a nice maltyness that does balence the strong hop precense. If it was a little bit more malty it would almost be a perfect DIPA and one of the best I’ve had. Nicely balenced brew!