The other night I had the opportunity to try a new beer: Great Divide Hercules Double India Pale Ale. A beer with a name this long should automatically clue you in: it's a highly complex and potent beer.
Perhaps I should start out with an explanation of India Pale Ales. The production of the IPA came about due to the British exporting beer to India in the 1700s. The long journey would cause the beer to flatten or go sour, so the brewers used more alcohol and more hops to prevent beer from spoiling. Henceforth the creation of the IPA.
Great Divide, a Denver brewery, is known for brewing flavorful, assertive beer and the Hercules Double IPA is no exception. The bottle is 22oz, which I found nearly impossible to drink the whole thing. Although I thought the beer to be horribly disgusting, it's not a bad beer, per se, just not my style. Describing the beer with disregard to my personal opinion, Hercules maintains a nice balance of hops and malts, which is often unaccomplished in American style IPAs. The beer has a medium body, a deep golden copper color and an aroma of pine and hops. As the name implies, a Double IPA has even MORE alcohol and hops than a standard IPA. It's a "more of a more," if you will. Hercules has an EXTREMELY hoppy, intense and bitter taste with an alcohol content of 9.1%. The Great Divide website affirms Hercules is "not for the faint of heart."
You want a beer that will knock you off your barstool, drink this one.
6 comments:
I have had this... being an IPA fan.. this is one that I was not a fan of. I don't think I drank it all.
I like your blog idea...I noticed it on the myspace bulletin. You are a good writer and anyone who drinks beer in the name of research, I support! See ya at work!
I worship this beer. I pray that someday I have children nearly as perfect as this wonderful punch in the face of hops.
Anonymous is right. How Great Divide jams such a complexity that is the hop into a bottle is amazing. A Double IPA for the folks that love IPAs for the qualities that make them an IPA. Its the same concept as an Imerial, big and hot. But as with all, not everyone has got to like it. It just leaves more for us cool guys to drink.
I am a huge fan of IPA's but i really think they overdid the hops in this one. Had this brew for lunch one day and it was a big mistake since i had to be back to work....it definitely is not a beer for th faint of heart.
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