The Two Hearted Ale is a great beer. I had to look more than once on this can in order to validate that I wasn't just drinking the same beer. Nope, this is an IPA. I really liked that ale, and I really like IPAs. The combination of these two should be spectacular. That said, I recently had their experimental version of this beer, and it was a bit too experimental for my tastes. This should not be experimental, so I anticipate liking this quite a bit. I'm just going to dig in.
The somewhat hazy beer has so many points of nucleation in the depths that I started to wonder whether or not I properly cleaned the glass before pouring. The head is a nice, thick, off-white, and dense cap of bubbles that completely covers the top of the beer with some lacing left on the sides. The aroma is deliciously tropical mixed with citrus fruits and a base cracker malt that smells incredibly inviting. This is going to be a good beer. I can feel it in my bones.First sip is, indeed, very good. The bitterness on the backend is heavier than it probably needs to be, but the flavor on the front end is exactly what it needs to be. The fruits are wrapped together and even have some pine sticking through, but it's not intrusive. While the whole drink has quite a bit of hop bite to it, it seems more than justified by the heaviness of the flavors involved. Obviously, this won't be finished in just a simple sip. Time to gulp.
Tip-in is a storm of carbonation with grapefruit and lemons vying for supremacy. The middle is a smooth, cool river of crispness that has citrus aggressiveness with tropical soothing and cracker at its back. The finish is where things break down a little bit with the bitterness coming out a little too strong and bringing pine in its wake, but it's not so much that it upsets the entire cart.
Bottom Line: Not as good as it sibling, but pretty good.
3.5/5