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Beer Reviews

Two Women

New Glarus Brewing Company
New Glarus, WI
USA
http://www.newglarusbrewing.com/

Style: Lager

Eddie’s Rating:
one beerone beerone beerone beerone beer   (Outstanding within its style.)


Comments:
“I don’t give a shit about money.”

That’s what I heard Deb Carey, owner of New Glarus Brewing, say when I last visited her brewery. She was personally giving a tour, and she was talking about the integrity of her product and the importance of the workers at her brewery. Both of those things, as she put so eloquently, were far more important to her than money.

So it’s no wonder that New Glarus makes some of the best beer not just in the country, but the world. And, wouldn’t you know it, if you make world class beer, catch a break here and there—and you manage to weave your way through the maze of shit beer- and shithead-sponsored dumbfuck laws—you can make money while doing it. If you’ve seen New Glarus’s recently constructed new brewery, you’ll know what I’m talking about.

And one of the great beers New Glarus is brewing is tonight’s featured brew, Two Women. The name comes from the fact that both the brewing company and the malting company—Germany’s Weyermann—whose malts fuel this beer, are owned by women, an aberration in the modern brewing world.

This one’s a “country lager,” which really doesn’t mean anything. So in order to find out what this beer’s all about, we need to open, drink, and pour. Not necessarily in that order.

First, pour: a crystal clear, translucent copper. Beautiful. The head’s cream colored and creamy, leaving some lace on the inside of the glass and sticking around the edges for the night. The nose is subtle but distinct: spicy hop notes buried underneath clean, pure maltiness.

Finally, drink: the first thing that jumps out at me is how light this beer is. For a craft brew it’s light, dominated by delicate, smooth malt flavor. Toward the end of the sip it twists with a little sweetness, finishing with a perfectly timed nip of herbal, earthy hop bitterness.

Two Women is an incredibly subtle, yet intricately flavorful, beer. The starring role was promised to the malt, but for me it got upstaged by the Hallertau Mittelfrueh hops. A fresh beer with quality Hallertau skillfully used is almost an awakening for anyone whose head is buried in American hop brashness. And to experience it used by a master, all you need to do is snag you some Two Women.

Reviewed by Eddie Glick on January 9, 2012.
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