My wife recently traveled up north to Denver and happened to bring us back a couple of beers from Great Divide brewing. I had never tried any of their beers but had heard from several sources (a.k.a. Stoutmeister and E-Rock) that this was a brewery worth checking out. So on a lovely evening I cracked open a bomber of the aptly named Hercules Double IPA and was in for a real treat of epic, hoppy proportions.

The overall head on this beer is white and creamy in color, where the beer itself is a nice, deep amber, as are most of the double IPAs of around 10-percent ABV. Flavor-wise it is quite sweet, with a good bit of bitter tartness at the back balancing very well together. The mouthfeel is outstanding; you get that good crisp bitterness in the midsection that just washes back and fills your mouth with, what else, but hops! There are multiple layers of different hop bitterness throughout and I can taste two if not three distinct profiles, more citrusy and then more piney, but overall really well balanced with the malt.

For a 10-percent monster this beer is wonderfully smooth and sessionable, which is extremely deadly in something with this much alcohol, but I definitely appreciate the drinkability of this beer. The finish is wonderful, as though a double IPA morphed into a champagne. It has that wonderful, crisp nature of a good bottle of bubbly and it’s so smooth at the same time.

Hercules drinks like a good horn of mead and is well worthy of the name (in Greek spelling) Herakles! So if you have a chance to head up north, grab a bomber of this one (and a couple of Yetis, which are wondrous in their own right) and enjoy a unique take on that most delicious of hop concoctions.

Pröst!

— Franz Solo