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Like the circle of life, this week we revisit Warrenville's Two Brothers Brewing Company nearly a year to the day that we featured their Prairie Path Ale in this column. This time around, they've got something special for us.
A bragot (or "braggot"), by definition, is a mixture of beer and mead. In olden days, the mixing was done by the bartender. Today, craft breweries tend to do the honors by putting the honey directly into the brewing process. Two Brothers is celebrating their tenth anniversary with a series of limited-run beers. Heliocentric, their version of a bragot, is actually part of another limited run of artisan selections where the Ebel brothers try their hands at different brewing styles. But, by God, if it isn't tasty either way.
Heliocentric is a rich, malty ale brewed with sunflower honey. Now, sunflowers are like the powerball lottery for bees. Sunflowers produce more nectar than other flowers. Sunflower honey granulates very quickly, is lighter tasting and slightly bitter, and is used by some home remedy advocates as a treatment for heart disease. That faint herbaceous flavor is something we picked up on the palate upon first sip. It actually made a nice substitute for the hops. Heliocentric poured a bright golden in color. We decanted this aggressively to build up a head and open up the nose on this beer. The foam faded quickly and left no lacing on the glass. Malt and spice were what we picked up on the nose. Heliocentric finished dry, with a sticky mouthfeel. We were trying to keep things simple, so for a food pairing we made a club sandwich featuring homemade dill aioli and tomato slices from our garden.
Two Brothers doesn't receive the recognition of Goose Island or Three Floyds, but their entire beer line is one worth checking out. It's a wonderful thing for local beer geeks to see them reach their tenth anniversary, and to see that they're doing these limited availability brews. To use a weak punny play on words, it isn't "bragot" if they can back it up; obviously Two Brothers can. If the rest of their limited-run selections are like Heliocentric, we'll be budgeting more for beer money. Two Brothers Heliocentric Bragot is Chicagoist's "Beer of the Week."
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Two Brothers is great.
Cane & Ebel is one of the best beers I've ever had.
Anyone know where's a good place to look for this Heliocentric? (Or short run specialty beers in general?)
Haven't had much luck at Sam's Wine finding short run lines.
both locations of Lush Wine and Spirits have it. in fact, they've had every beer of the week recently posted ...
Why don't you marry Lush Wine and Spirits?
While this beer sounds a little too sweet and malty for my tastes, at least the pictures are a step up from last week..
It's not that sweet or very malty--actually pretty subtle, but satisfying. Unfortunately it will cost you $12 (ouch!) to try at a bar (I did so at Small Bar on Albany).
It's not that sweet or very malty--actually pretty subtle, but satisfying. Unfortunately it will cost you $12 (ouch!) to try at a bar (I did so at Small Bar on Albany).
Binny's should have all their brews. Of course if you're out in the burbs, you can actually visit the brewery and pick it up there.
Two Brothers has a small brew-it-at-home/brewery store at the factory. It's in a small commercial park just west of the intersection of Rt. 59 and Rt. 56 in Warrenville on the north side of the street.