Great Divide Hercules Double IPA

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

Serve in Shaker, Snifter

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Bottle. Pours a slightly hazy tan. Nice head with great lacing. Aroma of hops and citrus. Very hoppy taste with a lasting citrus burn.

Aged 1 year (2009 vintage): After a year this treat still has a very nice-looking head, billowy and frothy, off-white in color. After the pour, once the yeast exits the bottle, it looks like you’ve sprinkled the head with cinnamon and/or other spices. It’s a very pretty beer. Lots of sediment has precipitated after a year. It’s a very orange color, and definitely not filtered. The aroma has really chilled out after a year. It has a very soft hop aroma, light with pine notes, and a little bit of malt. It has that aged character to it and a soft, but bold, hop aroma. The flavor definitely mellowed out after a year as well. It’s much more pungent when freshly consumed. I definitely wouldn’t let this age any more than a year, though. It’s very soft on the palate, but still relatively heavy from the malts. Bitterness, totally absent of hop flavor, comes through just a little late in the finish, which makes the undersides of the tongue water up a little. With the hops dying out, a little of a raisin-like character comes through in the flavor.

On tap @ Super Deli Mart. Can’t believe I haven’t rated this before... Pours dark slightly cloudy orange with a thin creamy head. Aroma is sweet caramel malt and juicy citrus notes. Taste is big sticky caramel malt with punchy bitter hops. Only a little of that enticing citrus aroma on the taste, mostly the bitterness dominates. An excellent DIPA, not quite as balanced as the best though.

Pours a medium amber in color with a light tan foamy head that lasts. Sweet malty aroma. Malty flavor with a fig or prune sort of Carmalee taste. Seems very bitter just for the sake of being bitter. Not a pleasant hop flavor. A little alcohol burn. ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

bottled 3/1/13, served 6/11/13. clear copper, frothy off-white head, a little lacing. lots of biscuit, toffee, a little citrus, some spruce. hop aromas are extremely muted. very bitter, very sweet. full body, thick and creamy feel. long, bitter finish. bitterness really comes through on the finish. honestly, it feels a lot more like a hoppy barleywine than a double ipa. even accounting for the fact that it’s 3 months old, the hop aromas are way too subdued, especially when I compare it to other double IPAs that are 6 months or even a year old and still crazy aromatic.

Appearance was orangish clear gold with diminishing off white creamy. Super strong, bitter. On tap at YardHouse.

650 ml bottle. Pours an amber color with a two inch beige head that lasts. Taste is of caramel, malt, wood, fruit and hops. Has a similar aroma. Has a decent body with a slight bitter and dry finish that lingers. It doesn’t drink like it has 10% abv. Overall, it is a rather good beer, but falls a touch short of being great..

Bottle. Amber with creamy white head. Sweet caramel malts, pines, stone fruits on nose. Body is full, suitably bittered, dry finish. Caramel malty, syrupy sweet pines, dried apricots. Full flavoured nice DIPA that doesn’t show too much alcohol even thought featuring a hefty ABV.

Enthused to pour this top-rated bomber driven up from San Diego & brought to market by our local bottle shop. Looks tremendous in pint glass: apricot colored with moussy white head and champagne-like cascading. A showy malt aroma, yet disappointingly little by way of hop aroma-- only scant piny notes. This beer offers a lot to the senses when sipped, as it’s gushing with caramel sweet crystal malty core and plenty of piney hop flavors, then leaves a a resiny hop bitterness on the lips. Nearly-full bodied, a bit sweet, but does dry out some in finish. Alcohol notes become more prominent when I worked my way through it, but not distracting. As it warmed, it came to have some fruity, and heavy qualities I associate more with barleywine. So glad for bottle-dating. This one was two months old, plus it’d done some traveling from Colorado to NorCal via San Diego; I’m quessing this quashed some volatile hop compounds. I’d like to try again with original aroma intact.