Brought to you by:
BrewTools Homebrewing iPhone App

Latest Reviews

Double Dry Hopped pseudoSue
Toppling Goliath
Modus Vivendi
Wild Beer Co.
Spaceman
Brewfist

Recent Articles

Shameless
Craft brewer sellouts become as tone-deaf and underhanded as their new overlords. Great Taste Eve
Check out the burgeoning Madison beer scene the night before the best fest in country. Good Beer Makes Good Conversation
The effects of drinking beer worth talking about. The Beers of Walmart
The largest retailer in the world now has its own line of beers. Our Take on the Lagunitas-Heineken Deal
Fuck Lagunitas. archives »

Beer Reviews

Northwind

Two Brothers Brewing Company
Warrenville, IL
USA
http://www.twobrosbrew.com/

Style: Imperial Stout

Eddie’s Rating:
   (Recommended)


Comments:
The imperial stout style seems as though it was created for subzero weather. Huge body with a massive malt bill and a load of alchohol to boot. There should be hops in there, but just enough to balance out that gargantuan malt. It’s one of the world’s more challenging styles, sending Bud Light drinkers screaming in abject fear like the bleating sheep that they are.

Two Brothers Northwind is one of those arduous brews, although their offering is on the light side for a Russian imperial stout. It pours just this side of an impenetrable black, with glints of ruby and auburn as it streams from the 22-ounce bomber. A generous, fairly thick cap of dark tan foam closes the pour. Nose news says lots of chocolate and mildly roasted malt alongside hints of that 8.5 percent ABV goodness. The sipping is thick and rich, but super smooth—not a wit of harshness—and fairly small-bodied for a big stout. The taste is light roasted coffee and chocolate, with some plum-like esters around the back edges. Although the hops are present strictly for balance and therefore only barely noticeable, they lend a relatively short, dry finish.

This is a sippin’ imperial stout. That smooth body makes Northwind not as challenging a brew as you’d expect, and the alcohol, although evident in the nose, is invisible to the senses (except the ones that detect drunkeness) even as the beer warms up to room temperature. If you absolutely need your imperial stouts to be overpowering gigantors, the Northwind isn’t for you, but for those who want an entry into the style, grab a bomber, sidle up to the fireplace, and pour.

Reviewed by Eddie Glick on February 20, 2008.

Drinkin’ And Thinkin’

Beer Dorks News

R.I.P. Tallgrass... another casualty as the regional/national craft beer market continues to get squeezed. Wait... Constellation Brands cut all of the Ballast Point and Funky Buddha sales staff? They merged it with their Corona/Modelo staff?? We're SHOCKED!!! Pizza Beer founder crying about failure of company, blames everyone else. Reminder, the beer tasted like vomit. Try having better ideas or making better products so you're not a failure. It's Bud Light so doesn't really matter, but we expect this beer to be sitting around for awhile. Indiana brewery to open with controversial beer names to "get the conversation going". Translation: taking advantage of serious issues for free publicity. Hundreds of amazing beers in Wisconsin and the Cubs took back the one everyone drinks just because it exists and people have heard of it. How fitting... New Green Flash owners tab former AB exec to lead "turnaround". Gosh, wonder what his plan is... Pop quiz... Which of these entities is more washed up and irrelevant: ABInBev-owned Elysian or 80's pop-rock band Def Leppard? Need proof that the World Beer Cup is a joke? Hamm's won a medal this year. Yes, THAT Hamm's... Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, Budweiser has slandered the good name of George Washington.