Two Brothers Heavy Handed India Pale Ale

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

Got this one bottled at the Binny’s Oktoberfest in St. Charles, Illinois. Crystal clear, dark yellow color with a foamy, white head. Sweet and bitter nose of roses and hops, raisins and orange. A pretty good IPA all around.

Hazy golden color, slight swirling head. Aroma is typical from a nicely hopped brew; sweet, leavy and floral. Flavor is crisp and sometwhat thin. Could use a nicer body to it, but still has a good crisp end to it.

(draught - must have felt the beer as it appeared under "Heavy HEAD IPA" in my notes) Orange-amber; thick yellow head, quite stable, very lacy. Quite orangey nose, too, intense hoppy smell. Taste is bitter-hoppy, flowery and tart-citrussy. Medium bodied. Long citrus aftertaste. Good IPA, not over the top, still retaining balance. Convincing one, Jason.

Bottle. 2008 variety. Pours a deep brilliant orange color, lots of carbonation emanating up from the bottom. Flavor is sugary malt followed by a blast of fresh clean hops. Hops are pine like and a bit grassy. Malt bill is mild, a bit sweet, as if some sugar was added to the fermentation. Medium bodied, fizzy on the palate. Ends on a lingering dry note. Damn, this is a solid IPA, with a nice sweetness to balance the hops.

Bottle, from Julio’s, lot 2525. Good nose, bittersweet. Citrusy, lemon, grapefruit, lime. Clean brownish orange color, small head that quickly reduced to a ring. Bitter flavors. Like aromas with a metallic, soapy thing. Medium body, sticky mouthfeel, bitter dry finish. Good brew, but I’d like it to have a little more to it’s malts. Some caramel would mix in great.

Bottled, lot #2547
Amber/copper color, small off-white head. Cut grassy hops in not so intensive aroma. Malty, sticky hoppy with average palate. Nicely drinkable IPA.

In the bottle. Pours a dark copper color with a rapidly dissipating head and awesome lacing. Strong aroma of citrus & pine. Sweet malt aroma peaks out as well. The sizeable hop bitterness masks the malt in the flavor. As this warms, the floral and malt aromas begin to compete for the piney hop bitterness. Thick chewey finish that makes the mouth dry.

(12 oz bottle: Obtained in trade with Ughsmash, thanks Jason!) Quite a flavorful and full-bodied IPA here. Husky, caramely and fairly sweet, but also reasonably hoppy and bitter, so though different from the IPAs I’m used to, it presents a pretty balanced assault on the palate. The nose is less balanced and pleasurable, showing the same sweet and caramely maltiness and a fair amount of husk and grain, but little in the way of hops. Mild chalkiness in the flavor and mouthfeel. Medium-full body has good heft from start to finish and carbonation is good, so this feels solid on the palate. Medium amber in color with only a slight haze. Short but tightly-packed head pours an off-white color and gradually settles to a ring, but not before leaving a moth-eaten curtain of lace on the glass. Not among the elite of IPAs, but solid enough to buy regularly if I lived in the area.