Two Brothers Domaine DuPage

Brewed by Two Brothers Brewing Company
Style: Bière de Garde
Warrenville, Illinois USA

The label calls this a "French ale", but I correctly pegged it as a bier de garde. Pours turbid orangeish with a behemoth off-white head and numerous floaties. Aroma of malt, hopcit, barnyard, apricots, and female taint. Tastes malty, with a lot of citrus and hops, backed up my the typical bier de garde horse blanket element. Not as complex as I crave, but very nice. Two Brothers continues to impress me.

Pours a rich earthy brown color with good floatie content and a healthy khaki head. Aroma is very fruity hops mixed with very sweet malts, lending a very unique aroma, similar to olives, but not entirly so. Flavor is sweet and malty at first, then comes a sour spell, grassy hops follow, tinged with some lemon, toasted malts begin to appear after swallow, and a dry, toasty flavor finishes this one out. My first for the style. Interesting for sure, and pretty good.

dark golden color, thin head, with lots of floaties. smells like black olives? kind of weird. first sip was like green olives, sour, somewhat citrusy; very odd, but good. definitely not noticing any sweetness or caramel. I think this is the strangest beer I’ve ever tasted, (and I’ve tried cherry chocolate beer!).

I wasn’t so sure about this beer after my first sip, but it did begin to grow on me a bit as I went on. It was an odd brew, along the lines of a Belgian, but not quite there (and not quite as good).

Sort of a brown/orange color out of the bottle with a big, frothy white head. Very complicated aroma with spice, wood, some orange and celery and something a little earthy all in there. Dry on the palate. I notice the sourness right off, but balanced with some sweetness, toast, orange and something acidic. very nice sipping beer.

It’s nice to see an American brewery attempt a biere de garde. It’s a nice attempt as well because in terms of style, this beer is dead on. Fire. Aroma of sweet toasted malt, herbal hops, vines, apples and a hint of orange. Dynamic and molded in it’s flavor profile. The malts are toasted throughout and at some points develop notes of butter, caramel and toffee. The hops are herbal and grassy. The malts are more scrumptious as it warms.

Slightly hazy amber color with not much head. Notes of orange, toffee, malt heartyness. The flavor is a bit more malty, and a bit less sweet. It starts off with a bit of roasted feel, then to a more bitter acidic flavor. It ends with a more citrus viscous feel. Not a bad beer, but a good beer to be drinking in autumn.

First off, this is my first tasting of this style, so I have nothing to compare it to other than its merits. Pours a clear, light amber and a smallish head. A nice lactic, somewhat musty aroma. First thing hits the tastebuds is the sourness, with a rich, cheesy (in a good way) aftertaste. Body is somewhat thin, though, and mouthfeel is a bit too spritzy for my liking. Not a bad beer and a very interesting style. Will try others like this, for sure.