Two Brothers Northwind Imperial Stout

Brewed by Two Brothers Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Warrenville, Illinois USA

On tap at Firkin’s, Libertyville, IL. Black hued stout having a long-lasting creamy tan head with good lace. Soft carbonation. Intoxicating aroma of roasted sweet malt and prunes. Medium bodied that starts with light sweet malt, chocolate, expresso, dried fruit, and some bitterness. Finishes dry with light lingering bitterness. Thin textured to balance out the giant flavors without being overly heavy or oppressive. A very good drinkable stout that went well with my Caribbean pork sandwich and fries.

12 oz bottle thanks to npdempse. Very dark and rather nice looking pour. Head was pretty huge, and took two pours to finish. Aroma was some chocolate but overdone with a plastic smell. Is that what people call bandage? It did rather remind me of a Band-Aid. Flavor of bandage too. It really wasn’t that bad, there was chocolate and some toffee, and the hop finish was decent, but that bandage was all I could concentrate on.

12 oz bottle, via trade w/ Ughsmash. Pours a cloudy dark brown with minimal head. Nose is roasty with coffee and chocolate, and a little alcohol. Flavor is lightly acidic and lightly roasty. Some bitter chocolate as well. Minimal hop bitterness. Mouthfeel is very thin (especially given the style) with high carbonation. Overall this lacked any complexity or depth of flavor. Rather unexciting and kind of a stretch to call this an Imperial Stout.

Bottle, Lot 45. Poured black with an explosive tan head that receded almost completely after a couple minutes. Aroma was of some lighter coffee and baker’s chocolate.. but not very complex or fresh. Very light mouthfeel for an imperial stout, and some substantial carbonation caused the flavors to be quite fleeting from the taste buds. Flavor was similar to the aroma, with old coffee grind and bittersweet chocolate primarily. I wasn’t too impressed with this one.

Bottle: Inkjet dye black or construction paper black, whichever you prefer. Thin light head with loose lacing and mild carbonation. Nose of sweet spent fermented coffee grounds, vanilla beans husks, baking cocoa and coconut milk. Has the right notes but not intense or of good enough quality. The flavor is very roasty and rich with chocolate and plum, a nice overall dryness that goes well with the roast but gets a bit dusty towards the tail. The mouthfeel is fruity and rich with mild creamy milk chocolate sweetness. Not much or any alcohol feel to this which gives it more of a foreign stout feel than an imperial stout. Imperial stouts are much more fruity, bitter, sweet and hot than this. This just doesn’t have those offensively delicious notes. Thanks to Matt for this Imperial Stout from Illinois.

Bottle. Overcarbonated. Murky dark brown, huge tan head that fades. Roasty aroma with yeasty notes that I usually notice on overcarbonated beer. Flavor is sharp and roasty and a little fizzy. this would be much better without the extra carbonation. Thanks EDA!

beer pours a ridiculously fizzy brown/black - 3 pours, in fact, until I got it all in one glass. also, despite trying to decant, I got a lot of yeast floaties - and there was a lot left in the bottle. nose is very nice - a balanced blend of malty sweetness and chocolatey roastiness. flavor is quite nice - a good blend of creamy dark matiness, finished with a nice bite of roastiness...but the insane CO2 zip overwelms all that. super sharp and burpy. would have been good if it hadn’t been ridiculously over-primed.

Pours to a thick tan head atop a super dark brown color. (can see through it during pour but not in glass). Unfortunately, no lacing. The head also disapates rather quickly. The aroma is tons of coffee and roasted malts. Dark chocolates. The flavor is coffee, sugar, roasted dark chocolate, milk chocolate, light grass hops. Not as strong as other imperial stouts but still tastes quite good. The palate is medium-light, perhaps a bit too thin for what this "should" be.