Beer of the Weekend #440: Two Hearted Ale
How is it that I have yet to try Two Hearted Ale, brewed by Bell’s Brewery of Comstock, Michigan? It is just how things work out, I guess. But it is pretty pathetic. I have heard a lot about “Two Hearted,” and it has always been on my “wants” list, but I never gotten around to drinking it. Until now.
Serving type: 12-ounce bottle. The bottling date, “02/06/13,” is printed on the back label.
Appearance: Straight pour into a pint glass. The color is gold that is leaning amber. A finger and a half of off-white head left a skim of foam, a ring around the edge, and trails of foam along the side.
Smell: Pretty tame, especially since “intense hop aroma” is used on the beer’s webpage. The grapefruit and pine resin are present and pretty sharp, but they are not overpowering and intense; I need to put my nose right up to the glass to sense them. Other aromas are pale malts, bready wheat, floral hops, and a little toffee.
Taste: This one is hard to pin down. The bitterness is unmistakable and dominant; the floral hops really excite the taste buds. A blend of floral hops, grapefruit, pine resin, and pale malts is noticeable, but not enough to provide balance. Hints of alcohol emerge, but they are fleeting.
Drinkability: “Enormous” and “intense” are not the right words for this beer. It offers a nice, gritty bitterness, but the flavor and aroma are not as pronounced as I thought they would be.
Fun facts about Two Hearted:
-Style: Bell’s calls it “American-style India Pale Ale.”
-Price: $9.99/sixer at the New Pioneer Food Co-op in Iowa City.
-Serving temperature: 45-50ºF.
-Alcohol content: 7 percent ABV.
-Listed on the beer’s webpage is Two Hearted’s shelf life: six months. One almost never finds shelf life or freshness dating mentioned on a brewery’s website. Bell’s, however, seems to be a major exception. They even have an entire FAQ page dedicated to “Storage and serving.” A big thumbs up.
-Hemingway wrote a short story called “Big Two-Hearted River.” Is there a connection to Two Hearted Ale? There is no information on the beer’s webpage so I am unsure. The only hint of a link seems to be in the description on the back label: “An India Pale Ale style well suited for adventurous trips to the Upper Peninsula.” It has been forever since I read that story, or any of Hemingway’s short stories, so I should probably do that at some point.
The Quiet Man’s grade: B+.
Serving type: 12-ounce bottle. The bottling date, “02/06/13,” is printed on the back label.
Appearance: Straight pour into a pint glass. The color is gold that is leaning amber. A finger and a half of off-white head left a skim of foam, a ring around the edge, and trails of foam along the side.
Smell: Pretty tame, especially since “intense hop aroma” is used on the beer’s webpage. The grapefruit and pine resin are present and pretty sharp, but they are not overpowering and intense; I need to put my nose right up to the glass to sense them. Other aromas are pale malts, bready wheat, floral hops, and a little toffee.
Taste: This one is hard to pin down. The bitterness is unmistakable and dominant; the floral hops really excite the taste buds. A blend of floral hops, grapefruit, pine resin, and pale malts is noticeable, but not enough to provide balance. Hints of alcohol emerge, but they are fleeting.
Drinkability: “Enormous” and “intense” are not the right words for this beer. It offers a nice, gritty bitterness, but the flavor and aroma are not as pronounced as I thought they would be.
Fun facts about Two Hearted:
-Style: Bell’s calls it “American-style India Pale Ale.”
-Price: $9.99/sixer at the New Pioneer Food Co-op in Iowa City.
-Serving temperature: 45-50ºF.
-Alcohol content: 7 percent ABV.
-Listed on the beer’s webpage is Two Hearted’s shelf life: six months. One almost never finds shelf life or freshness dating mentioned on a brewery’s website. Bell’s, however, seems to be a major exception. They even have an entire FAQ page dedicated to “Storage and serving.” A big thumbs up.
-Hemingway wrote a short story called “Big Two-Hearted River.” Is there a connection to Two Hearted Ale? There is no information on the beer’s webpage so I am unsure. The only hint of a link seems to be in the description on the back label: “An India Pale Ale style well suited for adventurous trips to the Upper Peninsula.” It has been forever since I read that story, or any of Hemingway’s short stories, so I should probably do that at some point.
The Quiet Man’s grade: B+.
