Two Brothers Northwind Imperial Stout

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

2005. The stats on the bottle tell the story: 8.5% ABV, 45 IBU, this is not the most extreme imperial but who cares? This is a somewhat sweet stout with lots of roast and smokey, choclate, and liquorish notes. More like a foreign stout.

Well, probably the most disappointing Imperial Stout I’ve ever had. Actually, I wasn’t expecting anything. In terms of imperial stouts this is very not good. It doesn’t taste bad or anything, just like a normal stout but it gets you drunk. $5 for a bomber isn’t that bad to give it a try. It has a nice roasty aroma but lacks flavor.

Poured dark brown with minimal head. Aroma was mildly roasty,coffee,mocha. Flavor the same. I was surprised at how watery a 8.5% Stout could be. On the plus side the ABV was abviously well masked and easy to drink fairly quick. 22 oz bomber.

12oz bottle. Poured a dark brown with an averaged sized tan head. Some big floaters at the bottlom. Aromas of roasted malts, dark fruits and light chocolate. Tastes of roasted malts, dark fruits, chocolate and some coffee. Starts out sweet and ends in a light bitter finish. A bit thin for an imperial stout.

On tap at Firkin’s, Libertyville, IL. Black hued stout having a long-lasting creamy tan head with good lace. Soft carbonation. Intoxicating aroma of roasted sweet malt and prunes. Medium bodied that starts with light sweet malt, chocolate, expresso, dried fruit, and some bitterness. Finishes dry with light lingering bitterness. Thin textured to balance out the giant flavors without being overly heavy or oppressive. A very good drinkable stout that went well with my Caribbean pork sandwich and fries.

12 oz bottle thanks to npdempse. Very dark and rather nice looking pour. Head was pretty huge, and took two pours to finish. Aroma was some chocolate but overdone with a plastic smell. Is that what people call bandage? It did rather remind me of a Band-Aid. Flavor of bandage too. It really wasn’t that bad, there was chocolate and some toffee, and the hop finish was decent, but that bandage was all I could concentrate on.

12 oz bottle, via trade w/ Ughsmash. Pours a cloudy dark brown with minimal head. Nose is roasty with coffee and chocolate, and a little alcohol. Flavor is lightly acidic and lightly roasty. Some bitter chocolate as well. Minimal hop bitterness. Mouthfeel is very thin (especially given the style) with high carbonation. Overall this lacked any complexity or depth of flavor. Rather unexciting and kind of a stretch to call this an Imperial Stout.

Bottle, Lot 45. Poured black with an explosive tan head that receded almost completely after a couple minutes. Aroma was of some lighter coffee and baker’s chocolate.. but not very complex or fresh. Very light mouthfeel for an imperial stout, and some substantial carbonation caused the flavors to be quite fleeting from the taste buds. Flavor was similar to the aroma, with old coffee grind and bittersweet chocolate primarily. I wasn’t too impressed with this one.