Two Brothers Incinerator Blonde Doppelbock (15 Years With 15 Beers Series)

Brewed By: Two Brothers Brewing Company in Warrenville, Illinois

Purchased: 22oz bomber bought at Evolution Wine & Spirits in Chicago, Illinois; 2012

Style/ABV: Doppelbock (Imperial Maibock?), 8.2%

In celebration of 15 years of brewing (Two Brothers opened in 1996), Two Brothers has been rolling out 14 of their past artisan beers as part of a limited series. The 15th release in this limited series is going to be a new artisan beer. A bit about Two Brothers:

Two Brothers are based out of Warrenville, Illinois, a town not far from Chicago. Two brothers was founded in 1996 by brother Jason and Jim Ebel. Their brewery and Tap House Restaurant are both located in Warrenville. Their distribution and production seems to be increasing with each year, and along with their beer you can buy home brewing equipment and supplies at the Tap House Restaurant.  

The Incinerator is release number 8 of 15. The bottle states: 

We were joking around one afternoon at the brewery that we thought it was funny how most Dopplebocks end in "ator." We started throwing around funny names we could call one if we ever made the style. When incinerator came up we knew we had to make it. We add Tellicherry black pepper-corns to give us a unique character that balances the big malt notes of this Dopplebock.

Today's beer is pretty cool. This beer was originally brewed with the intention of being a Maibock (a Bock brewed with lighter malts), but ended up kicking just a little harder than expected. The brewery decided to add some black pepper-corn to further spice things up. Clocking in at 8.2% ABV, and 32 IBUs, this is the type of big beer that makes the transition from Summer to Autumn more bearable. Let's get this into a glass, and celebrate 15 years of Two Brothers!

 Incinerator Blonde Doppelbock

The beer pours with a thumb's worth of head made up of finely packed bubbles. The head doesn't hang around for too long, but is leaving some minimal lacing. I do see some alcohol on the side of my glass when I swirl the beer around. In low light, the head is slightly off-white with a golden tint, and the body is a dark yellow/bronze color. In bright light this is a golden-orange beer, the head is still slightly orange/gold, and you can see a stream of moderate, medium-sized bubbles rising upwards. This looks to be filtered. 

The aroma is sweet bready malts, a slight earthy/lemon hop character, some Noble hop character, and what smells like some Vienna or Munich malts. I'm also getting some pepper in this, as well as some weird apple cinnamon note and some honey.

The taste is a pleasant follow-through of the nose, with a lot of sweet grainy notes. This drinks like a refined Lager, with some apple, pear, light peppercorn and cinnamon spice, grain and bread, and some hints of hops. The alcohol is really well-hidden if not totally hidden in this.

This is dangerously light and refreshing for an 8.2% ABV beer. This has a medium-light to light mouthfeel, and is supported by a lot of dry and effervescent carbonation. Palate depth is great, and complexity is moderate. Up front is carbonation, light fruits like pears, grapes and apples, and some sweet malts; this rolls into sweet malts, and some nice subtle hop profiles emerge; the back end is slightly spicy, with lingering hops and sweetness. The finish reminds me of a cider or champagne, and is slightly dry and dusty.

Rating: Above-Average

I'm feeling a Decent Above-Average rating on this. This is really light and refreshing, and yet has a lot of sustenance and a nice front-to-back palate experience. I actually really dig this, and would love to drink this during the early Fall months. 6-pack this stuff, Two Brothers!? I'd say check this out if you can. Cheers!