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Bell’s Two Hearted Ale...meh
- Thread starter JHulen
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Yup....
I've finally learned after having Pliney and Heady Topper...
It's just beer...there's not anything so magical about any of them.
Blazinlow86
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Ive only had it a few times in the last few years as we don't typically have it in canada but also found it wasn't really anything special. Cheers
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Living in Michigan, Two Hearted is pretty much ubiquitous so I kind of know how you feel. Its often my last-choice-craft option. The high ABV is actually one of the turnoffs for me.
VirginiaHops1
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It's a really really well done beer, but it also is very approachable(read: maybe a little boring). But that's why it appeals so well to the masses. I'm a big craft beer drinker and love getting the expensive stuff at my bottleshop but 2 Hearted was a great beer to supplement with so I didn't go bankrupt(now homebrew fills that void). Dogfishhead 60 minute was my other cheaper but very good beer to supplement all the really expensive **** I buy.
devilssoninlaw
Well-Known Member
Another Michigander chiming in.... It's fairly popular on tap in our area and I'll order it regularly. Is it the "best beer" out there, not in my opinion. Is it good? Heck Yeah!
Let's be honest though, I can think of 100 beers off the top of my head that don't even come close. More people drink Bud Light than Two Hearted and talk about under whelming......
Let's be honest though, I can think of 100 beers off the top of my head that don't even come close. More people drink Bud Light than Two Hearted and talk about under whelming......
Give me any average beer and I can probably think of 100 beers that don't come close. Give me one of the meh beers that have been talked about and I could probably think of 100 beers that are better. Good is good but if I can have better......
You are right. I watched the video they posted and had not listened to the radio side. Having used the hops from the brewery though I do notice a difference between them and some other Centennials.
Call me a homer, but this is one of the best IPA's on the planet... and will always be. Tried, tested, and true. Even though its a somewhat simple recipe, for $90.00 a 1/4bbl, I have this on my home taps year round. You cannot possibly go wrong with such a exceptional IPA for only $1.50 per pint.
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I agree with you. To me, this is an exceptional tasting beer with a history and track record to prove it.
But the problem with these "meh beer" threads is that it's all subjective. What pushes an average beer over the edge to "great" depends on your taste buds and expectations.
The other part of the equation is perceived excess hype and popularity which seemingly is unearned - again all subjective.
Just one example out of many I can think of is "Spotted Cow" out of tiny New Glarus Wisconsin. This is a "good" cream ale. Simple. Nothing special about it. But it's wildly popular due to a clever name and limited licensing. You can't get it over here in MN so people go nuts to get it. Anyone remember Coors in the 80's? People here would drive 14 hours to get it.
Agreed on the new Glarus. The rarity definitely enhances it. I wish we could get it here in MN as well, but I have a friend with relatives over in Wisconsin, and he drops off that and their cherry blonde that I love on his way back. I got my first taste of two hearted about a month ago. Thought it tastes fantastic, but wasn’t the experience I’d been lead to believe.
I brought michelob to wefest about a decade ago and had folks from different (non mid northern apparently?) areas of the country offering me huge prices for cases of it. To me, it just tastes like beer. Shrug.
When I first tried it, again meh.., I thought it was your average pale ale. It didn't come across as an IPA in any way. Maybe by the time it got to Rhode Island it was too old. Who knows. I remember, way back, when Coors was not available on the east coast, it had a great reputation, (among the BMC crowd. That was way before the craft beer days) I thought it was one of the worst beers I ever tasted. My impression has not improved much.
I can’t tell you the last time I was blown away by a beer. 2 Hearted is totally solid. IPA is never a style that blows me away.
Anytime someone comes at me with "it's so great, you've got to try this beer, coffee, dish, new gadget", etc. it brings out the critic in me, even though I'm not deliberately attempting to be contrary.
But last year I got around to trying Two Hearted, and I was pleasantly surprised. Like others have said, it ain't flashy, just a good solid drink.
Derp
Well-Known Member
I've never checked the dates, but I've found the bottles here in Texas to be rather mundane, but the cans are exceptionally tasty. So was the 5L mini keg that I bought around Christmas.
bobeer
Fermentation Specalist
Taste is so subjective I always find these threads to be a fun read. Obviously a lot of people feel different than the OP since TH dethroned Pliny after a 5-pete best beer in America stint. TH is pretty much everywhere and it turns over so quickly it's usually pretty fresh where ever you can find it on tap. I think it's a great beer on draft if you're into the way IPAs used to taste. So many "IPAs" are these hazy, hardly bittered, juice bombs I think people just assume that's what they're going to get when they see "IPA" these days and TH defiantly isn't that. In a world of $15-$20 4 packs of NEIPA's I'm glad TH is still popular enough to find it in most places where beer is sold and for a reasonable price. It's a solid beer that reps the style well but everyone has different taste buds.
permo
Well-Known Member
Two hearted is a classic single hopped American IPA. Its not a boundry pushing hazy, new England style IPA but at the time of its release the flavors and especially aroma(huge dry hop) made it somewhat of an oddity and eye opener for folks.
The beer is still fantastic especially super fresh or in cans but in terms of todays juicy crazy hop explosions it is somewhat meh...…
Just like many other classics like SNPA you can count on it being consistently good.
The beer is still fantastic especially super fresh or in cans but in terms of todays juicy crazy hop explosions it is somewhat meh...…
Just like many other classics like SNPA you can count on it being consistently good.
To me, consistently good and meh are two really two different things.
A beer that is consistent, can be good.
The same beer to someone who doesn't care for it might say it's good, but it's meh.
For me there are tons of beers that are consistently good. Most of them are. At the same time most of the consistently good beers are - meh.
Two Hearted was around a long time before I tried it. It may have been ground breaking when first introduced. But by the time I tried it - good - nothing special.
I will have to be on the lookout and give it another try.
A beer that is consistent, can be good.
The same beer to someone who doesn't care for it might say it's good, but it's meh.
For me there are tons of beers that are consistently good. Most of them are. At the same time most of the consistently good beers are - meh.
Two Hearted was around a long time before I tried it. It may have been ground breaking when first introduced. But by the time I tried it - good - nothing special.
I will have to be on the lookout and give it another try.
Its smooth and balanced and makes for a beer you can drink often with some wow beers mixed in. I too would prefer lower alcohol is a beer like this but when you go out to eat and the tap list is bud, bud lite, coors, ultralite, two hearted, I'm getting two hearted for sure. I'd rather have a little sumpin sumpin.
Freshness definitely makes a difference with 2 Hearted IMO. The "freshest" I've been able to get around here was just under a month from the date on the 4 pack. It was great. Picked up a 4 pack on my way home yesterday and could only find some with a date about 2 months ago. That extra month made a huge difference in flavor and I much prefer the fresher of the 2.
Despite the can saying it has a 6 month shelf life, it is a lot better fresher.
Despite the can saying it has a 6 month shelf life, it is a lot better fresher.
Blazinlow86
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It's not that it's a bad beer. I think it's just that back in the day bitter IPAs were the preferred style ipa and lots of people really pumped it up and therefore people buying it for the first time nowadays find it just lacking because majority prefer the flavor of hops more than the bitterness these days hence the popularity of the neipa. Cheers
PlexVector
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You mean 'Coors in the 60s & 70s'?
Grew up on the Kansas/Missouri border. Dad drank Hamm's and Schlitz, and occasionally Falstaff, so you can see the offerings for sneaking a beer were limited.
Ah, but COORS, was available in Kansas just a short border-crossing away. And, you only had to be 18 (or maybe 16, if you knew the 'right' places). Scoring a sixer of Coors was a major coup and earned you respect among your peers on those hot summer nights.
Every now and then I'll pick up some of that Banquet Beer just to take a trip down memory lane. But alas, nostalgia just ain't what it used to be.
Brooo Brother
