Great Divide Hercules IIPA

I gotta say, I busted my double IPA cherry tonight, and I'm not dissapointed.

I'm also not driving anywhere for a while...

The hops aren't tottaly in my face as it is in some other normal IPAs, perhaps thats the balance of the malt and alcohol. I run into this trouble with some barleywines, they taste really nice and I'd like to drink more of them, but they throw me under the table way too fast. It has a nice full mouthfeel, almost creamy (an odd thing to say of an IPA). Has a nose of alcohol and malt, with overtones of the hops. Again I've had much more agressive hops in other IPAs like dogfish head sixty and Great Divide's own Titan IPA. I guess the focus in double IPA isn't hops, but malt and alcohol character. Anyway, its something I wish I could drink more of. Thoughts?

mike

Thanks for posting.
I have been looking at that one down at the local store, wondering if I should try it. I am finding that I am not as much of a hop-head as I thought that I was. I like a good ESB, and the occasional IPA, but I was not fond of DFH's 90 at all. You make this one sound like something I might like to try.

I found this one way too sweet (cloying), but I sampled it in my beginning beer stages. It's definitely one I need to revisit.

MLynchLtd said:

I guess the focus in double IPA isn't hops, but malt and alcohol character. Anyway, its something I wish I could drink more of. Thoughts?

mike

Click to expand...

Depends....some DIPA/IIPAs are big hoppy monsters while others are more malt-centric. The age of the sample also plays a role as the hops will become muted over time. I have had samples of Hercules that were much hoppier than others, I would imagine due to how fresh (or not so fresh) from the brewery they were.

I also found this beer way to sweet, cloying in fact. But, this is my opinion on most IIPAs. I think that some of the hop aroma and flavor die on the trip. It too bad because there are some beers that I will probably never try unless I can get them in the city where they are brewed (or close).