Beer is Now in Session: Two Brothers Brown Fox Session Ale
Feb 01 '02
The Bottom Line If you're in Illinois, find this beer at all costs!
One of the undeniable truths of the craft beer renaissance is that it is the smaller, less well known brewers who produce some of the most interesting beers and are worth going out of one’s way to discover. Perhaps it is the fact that their beers are often very hard to find, and thus much sought after by those of us constantly seeking out new and different brews, that makes this so. Whatever the case, Epinions does members and visitors a disservice by not updating its database from time to time with the addition of new beers and brewers.
Of course, the Hard-to-Find beers category has served as sort of a catchall for beers not listed, but reviews posted in this category are often lost amidst a sea of other non-indexed, non-searchable reviews. Epinions could become much more useful a tool in my view by adding small brewers like Two Brothers of Warrenville, Illinois, to its database. They’re worth seeking out, and deserve to have the public made aware of them.
Two Brothers was established in 1996 as a small micro with a goal of selling its beer in the nearby Chicago market. The company was founded by two brothers, Jim and Jason Ebel, hence the name. They started their brewing business with lots of work and some old dairy equipment (fairly common practice in the business), and today have built the business into a well-respected company producing some very, very good beers.
One of my favorites is Brown Fox Session Ale, an English-styled mild ale that is eminently drinkable. Mild ale is a sweet, malty, low-strength brown ale meant to be consumed in fairly large quantities. Beer enthusiasts will often refer to such a moderate beer as a session ale, a beer that you can drink a lot of without getting plastered, usually in a social setting. The lower alcohol strength makes this possible. Personally, I think you can have a session with most any beer, regardless of the strength. You just need to pace yourself.
Brown Fox is one of two brown ales Two Brothers produces, the other being a slightly more potent Best Brown. Brown Fox is a beer that disproves the popular misconception that dark beers are higher in alcohol content than light colored ones. Despite its rich, delicious malty body, Brown Fox has an alcohol strength of only 3.2% by volume, just a little over half the strength of Budweiser.
Brown Fox Session Ale pours to a dark brown color with almost no head formation and a very sweet, sticky malt nose. The palate is rich, incredibly malty, with a wonderfully luxuriant mouthfeel from caramel malts. The low attenuation, or level of fermentation, makes this all the more apparent. There are strong suggestions here of sweet malt, caramel, chocolate, toasty notes, and molasses. Eight different malts are used to produce this outstanding brew. A hint of hops and roasty bitterness emerge in the finish. This is definitely a malt-dominated beer, with only 13 IBUs of hop bitterness according to the label.
This is a jewel, to be sure, and one you can drink a lot of quite easily. I like it by itself, but the inherent sweetness of the brew would lend it to pairing with desserts. Not to be missed.
EPINIONS CRITERIA:
Overall Rating: Five Stars
Beer Rating: A must - sensational
Weight: Medium Body
Flavor: Sweet
Complexity: Complex
Price: $6.99 per Six-Pack
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