Two Brothers Heavy Handed India Pale Ale

Brewed by Two Brothers Brewing Company
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Warrenville, Illinois USA

Lot 2525 bottle drunk on 4/22/06
Orange copper with a heavy strawberry blond highlight. White head is small, remaining briefly at partial cover and mostly at a ring. No lacing, light chill haze. Aroma is coppery, rather metallic and odd. Very dry, centennial-like bitterness and some plant-like notes. Dry, herbal, citrus tea, you might say. Not overly aromatic, but rather dull leafiness. Everything is so dry, with crystal malts papery and rather hard. Munich malt sourness is notable.br>Flavor is caramelly and lighlty sticky, though drying out with a citrus zest, herbal tea spiciness and green, wet, leafy hops. Quite plant-like. Some spicy hops mix with lighlty toasty malts while carbonation, low and large-bubbled, still provides some refreshment as it pulls the spiciness along. Flavor is bitter, but other than orange tea, it just dosent have all that much hop flavor. Mlats are dry and not overly deep. Fresher bottle from the fridge that I had a week before this showed much more bitterness, but in my opinion, not much else. And bitterness levels are not really indicative of quality. Just too wet, no pun intended (it’s a wet-hop ale). Large, loose-bubbled carb is not engaging enough and hop flavors are too dull.

Bottled. Dark amber colour, low head. Big nutty hop nose(centennial I believe) and notes of grapes and pine. Very fruity in flavour, also caramelly with a nice balanced bitterness that lasts long. Flavouring hops are pretty laid back.

I couldnt identify the hops from the aroma which I thought was earthy and alittle malty. Seemed like a bitter beer that coats your tongue with bitterness but not a lot of hop aroma or flavor, both of which are important to me in a great IPA

Bottle courtesy of HogTownHarry. Pours a clear amber with an average size lasting foamy off-white head. Nice lacing. Looks great! Wonderful aroma of sweet malt and resiny hops -- very well balanced. Flavour’s also a nice balance of sweet malt and resiny hops along with a long bitter finish. Medium bodied. Not much to say really, this is a nice, easy to drink IPA and would make a great session Ale.

2006 Bottle Lot 3006. Pours a translucent golden orange amber with a rocky/creamy off white head that left lots of spotty lacing and sustained. Aroma of earty/spicy/floral hops with hints of citrus and a good amount of caramel malt. Flavors also of the earth/spicy hop, some grapefruit and pretty heavy on the hop bitterness. Would have preferred they used something other than Cluster.

12 oz bottle. Cloudy copper with a dense, lasting off white head. Nice hoppy and spicy aroma. Taste is sticky sweet with flavors of piney hops, grapefruit and an odd caramel. As it warms, I found my hand getting heavy as the second half wasn’t as drinkable. Perhaps the malts were too sweet, I dunno but not that enjoyable.

Bottle. Small ivory head with poor lacing, transparent, no visible carbonation, and an orange hue with some gold peeking through. Malty, hoppy and notes of grapefruit in the nose. Flavor was some maltiness, hoppy and dry. Not overly hoppy. Mildly tingly and dry mouthfeel. Quaffable, but nothing outstanding.

12 oz bottle purchased at John’s Grocery in Iowa City, IA. Lot 3006. Poured a clear copper color. Head was off white with good retention and lacing. Aroma was malty caramel and piney hops with a hint of toffee. Delicately sweet on the tongue with moderate hop bitterness. Malty caramel dominates the flavor with sprucy hops coming in a close second. Not bad at all.