Two Brothers Northwind Imperial Stout

Brewed by Two Brothers Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Warrenville, Illinois USA

This one surprised me. On tap at Kuma’s in Chicago. Very roasty, though not overly tanninized, which is a down side for me. The bitterness of the hops certainly outweighed the bitterness of the wort itself. This was very tasty and I’d certainly indulge again. Awesome....

22oz bomber, thanks to Headbanger. Pours black with dark brwon highlights. Moderate, creamy brown head. Smells of roasty toasty malts and some black coffee. Tastes of roasted malts and some coffee maybe some dark chocolate. Medium body with good carbonation. Solid beer.

Black pour, light tan head. Aroma is sweet chocolate, coffee with caramel, moderate to low hops. Medium bodied, fairly sweet chococofee (yes that’s a word) dominated flavor with lotsa caramel too. Carbonation is moderate to high. Enjoyable flavors, but it’s puny for an impy stout.

On draft at Durty Nellie’s. Pour was typical for the style, deep dark black, but a relatively thin head. The aroma was roasted chocolate and some fruity type ester notes, something slightly off/chemical about it? The flavor followed the aroma, but mostly featured roasty chocolate notes, some dry cocoa, finishing with a mild astringency which didn’t enhance the overalll experience. Mouthfeel was moderate to light for the style. Another uninspiring 2B experience. I guess drinking it locally doesn’t help much.

Pours an oily very dark brown with fine tan head. Strong fruity slightly nailpolish aroma with touch of vanilla. Tastes low in alcohol. Flavor is sweet and dark, some mocha in between. Dry smokey dark chocolate finish. Palate is good, crisp carbonation and a full body, little bit syrupy but otherwise easy drinking. Not a great Imp. Stout but a pretty damn good beer.

Pours a dark chocolate brown with light head. Aroma is definitely nut, chocolate and undertones of vanilla. Flavor is a bitter coffee and cacao. It is a very balanced stout. Very mild between the coffee and malts. Well done.

Dark inky black appearance, medium head. Aroma is nutty coffee, slight alcohol. Flavor is predominantly dry coffee along with a bit of dark chocolate and roasted malt. This doesn’t seem to have the amazing depth of other imperial stouts, but it’s very zen in it’s seeming simpleness. A lot of imperial stouts are overly sweet and syrupy, but this isn’t. Therefore, this gets extra points for not trying to be everything to everyone. Damn, I would consider this in my top 5 impy stouts.

I had some high hopes for this one and was let down mightily. I think the only thing that makes this an Imperial Stout is the 8.5%. Too watered down - not enough backbone. If they played it off as a regular stout it would probably rate higher. But priced as it is in a bomber and sporting the Imperial word I expect more. Decent hoppiness saved it from a complete dud.