Two Brothers Hop Juice

Brewed by Two Brothers Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Warrenville, Illinois USA

Nice deep amber coloured body with a super thin tan head (that fades right away) and very little else. Aroma of pure hops (high a.a.), malt, cane sugar and even some nuts. Medium-bodied; Super strong hoppy flavour with a potent maltiness, strong sugars and the mouth-coating consistency that makes an IIPA exactly what it is. Aftertaste shows so much of the hops, but also a bit of the sugars and plenty of the full malt. Overall, a decent IIPA, a bit less obtrusive than others and more palatable to me. Worth trying if you prefer IPAs over IIPAs, but could stomach the latter. I sampled this 65 cL bottle purchased at Rick’s Beer & Wine in Chicago, Illinois on 13 January 2007.

22oz bottle - Pours cloudy orange with an offwhite rocky head. Aroma is of bitter grapefruit hops. Flavor starts with sweet caramel malts but is quickly overwhelmed by the strong grapefruit and pine flavor of the hops. On the palate this seemed almost resinous and wasn’t as smooth as other IIPAs I’ve had. The hops dominate a little too much in this one for me. Good, but there are definitely better in the style.

Pours with a frothy, tan colored head that sits atop a brilliantly clear amber colored beer. The aroma is fittingly hoppy, with notes of astringent citrus mixed with an herbal pine scent. Underneath this is a sweet malt character that reminds me a bit of orange scented caramel, but also some lightly toasted malty notes as well.

The taste is soft and creamy (which may be because I served this at a cool 58*F), and has a malty sweetness to it that carries through almost to the finish, which is dominated by bitterness and an herbal citrus character. This beer is fairly light on the palate, which is good because I don’t always enjoy the thicker Double IPAs. There is a long, lingering bitter astringent note in the finish, which is actually not too strong such that it actually works quite well, especially with the upfront hop fruitiness and the sweet malt character.

This is a pretty decent example of a Double IPA; it is well balanced between the body (on the lighter side) and the hop character which is not too dominating as to be undrinkable. There is also a surprising amount of malt character here as well, and I would even swear that there was a bit of aged malt notes (perhaps a hint of sherry), but it is still fairly subtle and just adds a bit of complexity. Overall this is quite enjoyable, and definitely worth trying if you like excessive hops.

<font size=-4>Purchased: <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/Places/ShowPlace.asp? Wine & Spirits, Chicago, IL<font size=-1>

Orange/Brown Coloring with White Head. Well Balanced Hops...Clean, Wet, Crisp and Additictive IPA.

22 ounce bottle from Whole Foods Market NYC Bowery. Pours a clear amber color with a medium head. Decent head retention and lacing. Aroma is citrus hops, resin and light sweet malts. Taste is bitter resiny hops, sugary malt notes and citrus notes as well. Medium bodied. Alcohol is not noticeable and this is quite drinkable. Very nice.

Nice orange copper color with a medium foamy head and sediments floating around. Mega intense hop dolds nose. Suprisingly smooth with a nice medium hoppy taste that lasts medium long. As it warms up it gets harsher.

Now, if this was a label competition, this has one of the more elegant and beautiful labels I’ve seen in a while, but this is about beer and so it’ll be the beer I rate. A cloudy medium copper with very little head. The aroma is limited to a little orange pith with a touch of lemon zest. The maltiness is a flat, insipid caramel that really doesn’t do any thing for the hops, or really go with them all that well for that matter. There’s a suitable bitterness in the middle, but quite frankly, this is probably one of the worst double IPAs I’ve had. Still drinkable but way too boring for the style.

I really liked this label - the pliers squeezing the hop cone - nice! Smelled great - strong pine resin/grapefruit with hints of sweet juicyfruit. Body was kind of thick, very smooth, not a syurpy body thank goodness. I thought this had a nice balance between the malt and hop. Finish was juicy hops. It was tasty, but it sure didn’t seem like 100 IBU’s.