WHAT HATH THOU WROUGHT, O BROTHERS?

So much for my personal TWO BROTHERS BREWING winning streak. I was on a roll with these guys, after totally falling for their HOP JUICE (9/10), their DOMAIN DU PAGE (8.5/10), their HEAVY HANDED IPA (7.5/10) and their CANE & EBEL (7.5/10) the past few months. To say that I expected anything less than near-perfection from their TWO BROTHERS “OH BROTHER!” tripel would be to err. I was certain that this limited-edition, small-batch Belgian-style experiment would be a whopper, and in some ways, it was. It is a totally harsh, overly spiced beast of a beer – not in the are-you-man-enough-to-handle-it imperial big-beer sense, but in the “whoops, how did we end up releasing this mistake?” sense. I wonder sometimes if a beer that’s been designed to be a little “risqué” hits the final round of tasting before bottling, and if there isn’t sometimes a little "looking the other way" when it comes out less than perfect. Sunk costs and all that.

OH, BROTHER! is quite a bit far from perfect, I’m afraid. While there is some fruitiness in both the aroma and the mouthfeel, the carbonation is too dense & strong, and man, the spicing just makes this almost eye-watering to get through. I had to pour it out - it was just no fun at all. It’s a total bastard, homebrew version of the Belgian tripel, and if it was from my neighbor I might forgive it and say, “hey, keep trying”. From the otherwise stellar TWO BROTHERS BREWING, I advise, “lose this one from your lineup” and keep doing what you do so well – which is not this. Ouch. 3/10.