Great Divide Hercules Double IPA

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

A surprisingly dark orange pour, with a dense (though fairly thin) white head. This one has a powerful aroma! Packed with citrus hops - lemon zest and mandarin orange, with a grassy undertone. Big, bold earthy hops dominate the flavor, with a good sweet backbone to counter. This one has a great balance. Nice and thick, but still lively - definitely up toward the top of the list of DIPAs I’ve had.

Bottle pours a cloudy dark amber color. Head retention is good and aroma from the glass reminds me of a beautiful bouquet of flowers hand delivered on valentine’s day. Has wonderful taste and flavor with a strong malt character with some floral notes that make want to make beer love to hercules style. Very tasty.

Total commitment. This is one beer I don’t see many people drinking except those IPA-loving fools (like me) since it has such an aggressive hoppy-ness. Nice copper color, good armoa, slight citrus taste on first sip then POW! hops. Mellows a bit with more tasting into a great beer with complex flavors.

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!