Hercules Double IPA - Great Divide Brewing Company

rickyleepotts

Arizona

3.13/5  rDev -24.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

I played 18 holes of golf today, so I wanted to celebrate. Nothing beats celebrating with a BIG bottle of beer with a TON of booze. This beer is 10% ABV, and is just loaded with flavor. I have had it before, but it was a LONG time ago. Why am I using so many CAPITAL letters tonight? Who cares. I am ready to drink.

In the Glass: This is a healthy looking IPA. It is rich in copper color and produces a very thick head. The head is white, and sits on top for a LONG time. There I go again with the capital letters. I will stop. No more. Anyway, this looks like a good strong IPA. A double IPA perhaps! (It is fair for me to put IPA in all caps… that is the point!)

Nose: For a beer that has this much booze and is loaded with that many IBUs, I expected a more overwhelming nose. But it is weak. Their Titan IPA smells a lot better. But I am hoping the aroma starts to come out when this beer heats up. We pulled this from the fridge, so it is ice cold.

Flavor: The flavor is also not what I expected. As the tasting notes say, it is very well balanced. The flavor is never overwhelming and slides from the front of the palate and into the aftertaste without much focus on hops. I am surprised that this beer is just exploding with flavor… but maybe that is the point. They focused more on the overall enjoyment rather than making this a “knock your socks off” kind of beer.

Mouthfeel: The mouthfeel is quite boring. There is a subtle hint of hops on the back of the palate, but is is quick and isn’t obvious. You can smell as you drink to get more of the citrus notes that you expect… but the flavor is just polished (it makes sense when you drink it) from the start to the finish. This is like a domestic for a fan of IPAs.

Aftertaste: There isn’t much of an aftertaste. It is smooth all the way through, and the aftertaste is pretty boring. Now, having said all that… the beer is good. It is solid. It is… you got it, polished. It doesn’t have to be a big punch of hops that knocks me over. I wanted that, but the beer is good. The booze isn’t obvious either.

I like Great Divide, and while I had higher exceptions, this one is still a good IPA from a great portfolio of beers.

Hercules Double IPA - The bottle says: “HERCULES DOUBLE IPA is not for the faint of heart. It is, however, fit for gods. HERCULES delivers a huge amount of hops from start to finish. Its hefty backbone of nutty, malty sweetness balances its aggressive hop profile. 85 IBUs.”

Serving type: bottle

05-18-2012 03:19:17 | More by rickyleepotts

mobrockman

Florida

4.25/5  rDev +2.2%

05-19-2013 01:32:40 | More by mobrockman

lilnicky068

Kentucky

4/5  rDev -3.8%

05-18-2013 04:18:40 | More by lilnicky068

inanity

Massachusetts

4.75/5  rDev +14.2%

05-18-2013 00:15:43 | More by inanity

ajtorres311

Florida

4/5  rDev -3.8%

05-16-2013 18:19:37 | More by ajtorres311

William85

Texas

4.03/5  rDev -3.1%
look: 4.75 | smell: 3 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

In the glass, this one looks great: deep copper color, 1-2 finger head which settles gradually, but not too gradually (i.e. not over-carbonated).

However, the smell is a surprise. Predominantly yeasty/malty, the smell is not exactly bad, but I wouldn't describe it as a good DIPA aroma, either...unusual.

Unlike the smell, the taste is very crisp and hoppy -- much closer to what I was expecting out of a DIPA from Great Divide (Old Ruffian is one of my favorite beers of all time, so I bought this bomber with high hopes).

Overall, this is a better than average DIPA, but I found the smell to be very surprising. With most of my favorite DIPAs (e.g. DFH 90, Saint Arnold Endeavor), there is a very close correlation between taste and smell, but I had to enjoy this one in spite of its smell (again, it worked very well once on the palate).

Serving type: bottle

05-16-2013 04:37:19 | More by William85

BarryMFBurton

Indiana

4.16/5  rDev 0%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4.25

I always seem to find this waaay past its bottled-on date. This is a relatively new bottle (BOTTLED ON: MAR 29, 2013), so I guess it’s my lucky day. Cheers!

A: For an IPA, this is a near-perfect look. The body is thick with fizz as I pour, bubbles rising through the bright, crystal-clear amber to form a frothy head – and a thick one, at that, as it takes minutes to finally condense down. Complex webs of lacing cover the glass’s interior.

S: Aromatic hops with a unique aroma, spilling out of the glass with big scents of berry: cherry, lime, grape, and blueberry notes that remind me of Crunch Berries cereal. This nose is absolutely bursting with sweet, fruity hop textures. Some grains to the malts beneath, with some wheat and warm biscuit notes.

T: An intensely different experience than the normal IPA palate: Hercules is a combination of aggressively roasty malts and deep, satisfying hop bitterness. Meaty, honey-glazed sweetness melts into a nutty, oven-baked taste of burnt biscuit and toasted rye bread, creating one of the darkest, most interesting malt experiences I’ve tasted in this style. Hop bitters don’t choke up on the roasts; rather, the two play quite well together, with hops adding a sticky pine resin and citric oil flavor to it. It ends on a note of hefty breads, with only a marginal dryness from the hops and roasts.

M: While bone dry at the beginning, the crux of this beer’s texture is thick malts that end up a little frothy with the carbonation. The body is light for a 10-point beer, but for a DIPA, it’s just a little syrupy.

O: Hercules takes the typical American Imperial IPA formula of layering a shit-ton of hops over sugary caramel syrup (i.e., the remnant of caramel malts) and puts it in its place. It’s hard to believe that a grainy, rich DIPA was hiding right in front of me for so long; in fact, I might grab a couple of those older bottles to see how this monster ages. A unique palate thick with roasts sends Hercules to the top of my recently-sampled DIPAs list.

Serving type: bottle

05-16-2013 02:59:38 | More by BarryMFBurton

indybearsfan

Indiana

4/5  rDev -3.8%

05-16-2013 02:45:00 | More by indybearsfan

Nolen12

Kentucky

3.25/5  rDev -21.9%

05-13-2013 15:32:08 | More by Nolen12

Jsmercer

North Carolina

4.5/5  rDev +8.2%

05-12-2013 23:52:38 | More by Jsmercer

MinorThreat

Colorado

4.25/5  rDev +2.2%

05-11-2013 21:22:05 | More by MinorThreat

ToddHolder

Illinois

4.25/5  rDev +2.2%

05-11-2013 01:48:20 | More by ToddHolder

eulerthegrape

California

3.75/5  rDev -9.9%

05-10-2013 15:41:49 | More by eulerthegrape

SadMachine

New Jersey

4/5  rDev -3.8%

05-10-2013 04:23:38 | More by SadMachine

rph97

Texas

4/5  rDev -3.8%

05-10-2013 01:17:49 | More by rph97

Arsenal0328

Indiana

3.5/5  rDev -15.9%

05-09-2013 23:02:22 | More by Arsenal0328

osupuck19

Ohio

4.5/5  rDev +8.2%

05-09-2013 03:21:27 | More by osupuck19

MrBuckHigh

Ohio

3.75/5  rDev -9.9%

05-08-2013 18:18:30 | More by MrBuckHigh

kustard

Illinois

3.75/5  rDev -9.9%

05-08-2013 05:45:15 | More by kustard

leftoverburrito

Oregon

4/5  rDev -3.8%

05-08-2013 03:40:38 | More by leftoverburrito

trxxpaxxs

New York

4.03/5  rDev -3.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

A: Pours a befutiful amber with less than one full finger of slightly off-white head. The foam settles quickly into a thin frothy ring along the edges of the glass. Minimal lacing as it drinks.

S: The nose is malty with just a dash of pine hops. There is way more malt than I would have wanted in an DIPA.

T: It starts off with a mix of sweet caramel malt and a nice spicy pine note. The spice lingers from first sip to finish. As the beer transitions into the middle and then into the finish, I get ever developing floral earth notes. I actually like the back end of this beer more than the start. The alcohol is present once the beer is gone from the palate.

M: Medium bodied beer. It's sweet, spicy, floral, and boozy. Not exactly a fast drinker. It's a touch syrupy, but I'm ok with it.

O: Nice beer. Not what I was expecting for a DIPA, but I kinda like it. The taste is much better than the nose. I don't know if I'll be buying this beer again, but I enjoyed it.

Serving type: bottle

05-07-2013 20:26:25 | More by trxxpaxxs

Lee45102

Ohio

4.66/5  rDev +12%
look: 5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75

This beer is overall a wonderful sipping beer. It has a strong taste but not nearly as strong as most other DIPA that I have had in the past. The smell is not a good indicator of the taste at all. The taste begins with a smooth citrus feel and ends with a strong grapefruit taste. This is one of my favorite DIPA. It is a little pricey but worth the money.

Serving type: bottle

05-06-2013 23:04:27 | More by Lee45102

VaporDome

New York

3.5/5  rDev -15.9%

05-06-2013 22:59:56 | More by VaporDome

Topher78

California

4/5  rDev -3.8%

05-06-2013 22:31:03 | More by Topher78

Ultra-Plinian

Connecticut

3.75/5  rDev -9.9%

05-06-2013 14:40:28 | More by Ultra-Plinian