All Beer Blog

Two Brothers Brewing Company: The Bitter End Pale Ale

Two Brothers Brewing Company is a local microbrewery located just west of Chicago in Warrenville, IL. Another great Midwest beer! According to their site, the two brothers, Jim and Jason Ebel, have been brewing beer since 1997. They have year round beers, some seasonal ones and some extra special beers they call artisan beers; all together they have around 10-20 different beers. They have a brewery, a restaurant and a pub. They offer tours of their brewery and extremely reasonable prices at their pub, so I’ve heard.

I’ve heard their beers were good and decided to try one, The Bitter End Pale Ale was a great beer! The appearance was that of a clear, slightly dark copper color. It smelled a bit sweet, noticeable hops. I got hints of some citrus in there as well. The taste was a little different than the smell, it was bitter. You can taste the hops and the citrus, ended up being more bitter though. Was crisp and left you with a nice taste in your mouth, very good! It’s 5.1% alc/vol so it wasn’t strong enough to taste the alcohol, to me, it was just right!

You can see the head was pretty noticeable, dissipated after I poured it. Resulted in a little coat over the beer. You can also see how the lacing formed right after I poured it, this also stayed the entire time I was drinking the beer.

All in all, I give this beer a 9/10! Two Brothers Brewing Company is quickly becoming one of my favorite breweries. Having just tried this beer, I can guarantee you will see another one of their beers on here real soon! I suggest you try this beer, if you like pale ales it is a real treat! All around good beer.

Regards!

UPDATE: I reported in an old beer news post that Alabama citizens were lobbying for law that allows stronger beer to be sold in the state. Turns out the governor agreed and allowed the law to be passed. This will allow Alabama to sell beers with alcohol content up to 13.9%. Nice.

The Examiner reports about how Americans pay taxes on beer for their health care. I think this is ridiculous as there are already programs that pay for health care, it is just mismanaged money that is the problem.

InBev has found a buyer for Tsingtao beer stake. Apparently they found someone with stake in many of China’s industries to buy the 7.01% of their stake they wanted to sell. Good luck with that, China beer isn’t that good.

Upland Brewing Company: Wheat Ale

Upland Brewing Company is a local brewery located in Indiana. It is my second post of an Upland Brewing Company beer. If you are looking for a short history of Upland Brewery refer to the Upland Dragonfly post. Upland Brewing Company has become my favorite American craft brewery and it’s nice because it is located right in Indiana, but for some reason I can’t find any in Chicago. Midwest beer seems to be the best!

This beer, as you can see, pours a great clear, golden color with a small head. It smells of lemon and wheat. Smell is more fruity and sweet than anything. The taste is the same, some wheat but more lemon than anything. It is quite refreshing. It sits well in your stomach and makes you want to drink more. The carbonation is great, very fizzy. Wheat Ale is 4.5% alc/vol.

The head is minimal. It only appears for a few moments after the beer is poured into a glass, then dissipates. There is minimal lacing on the side of the glass. Like I mentioned earlier, the carbonation is great; it fizzes in your mouth. You can see that there are more larger bubbles than small, more carbonation.

All in all, I give this beer a 7/10! It was very refreshing, a wheat beer you’d want to drink on a hot summer day if it was ice cold. I had this beer over dinner, went great with a steak! If you are ever in Indiana I would definitely suggest finding some of Upland’s beers. If not the Wheat Ale, try another one, I can almost guarantee you will like it and will most likely have more than one!

Regards!

More state tax on beer, liquor and wine? Illinois legislative leaders are trying to raise the state’s tax on beer by 2.6 cents a six pack. They are also trying to legalize video poker machines. All this to fund construction, why don’t they finish one part of the construction before they start a new one or fix it the first time?

A longtime Cincinnati Red’s sponser, Burger Beer is returning to the market. They have announced that they will be able to brew the beer, under license, in Wisconsin. They say it will hit the market in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky and then eventually the rest of the upper Midwest.

The Huntsville Times reports that people in Alabama are lobbying to have the state allow beer with an alcohol content of 13,9% alc/vol to be sold in stores. Currently, beer with an alcohol content of 6% or lower are the only ones allowed to be sold.

Bell’s Brewery: Two Hearted Ale

This  beer was exceptionally good. It is my second post of Bell’s Brewery beer. Another great Midwest beer! If you are interested in a short history about the brewery you can refer to the Bell’s Pale Ale post. As you can see, the beer poured a nice clear golden color with a thick head. The smell was a mixture or citrus and pine, I smelt more citrus than pine; I assume this is the hops. The taste was floral, like how it smells, the hops must be citrusy. It is 7% alc/vol but you don’t taste any alcohol. Tastes great!

As you can see and as I mentioned earlier there is a thick, white head. It died down but a thin coat remains the entire time you drink it. You can see an about even mixture of small and large bubbles. It left great residue, or lacing, around the glass when I was finished; I regret not taking a picture of it.

All in all I give this beer an 8/10! It was a really good, refreshing beer. I got it in Indiana but you can buy it anywhere in Chicago as they are allowed to sell it again in Illinois. They have a list of states that import this beer on their website. I would definitely suggest picking this up or any of the other Bell’s beers, they are all good!

Regards!