Bell’s Two Hearted Ale...meh

[SteveH aka shetc]

Its a nice place. Always a good selection of belgians!

Speaking of Belgians, look at what I won yesterday

 

[kevin58]

And for yet another datapoint, Basic Brewing (March 7, 2019 episode) did a batch with Bell's hops and one with "regular" homebrew centennial and they felt they could tell a difference.

I did not remember them saying that when I watched the episode originally so I just watched the whole thing again. They did not brew one with Bells Centennial Select and another with "regular" homebrew centennial. And they made no comparisons so I don't know where you got that information.

 

[catdaddy66]

I was very anti IPA several years back as the one or two examples that I tasted we're SO freaking bitter that it turned me off to the style completely. But then I kept seeing unreal love for the style and decided to try Two Hearted specifically. Wow!!! Smacked in the face with grapefruit character and the taste, while definitely bitter, actually had great flavor. It turned my opinion 180° on IPA's.

Now, after trying several more national and regional versions I have found a few go-to beers such as Hoppyum, DFH 90 minute, Lagunitas' A Little Sumpin Sumpin. Now I have to admit while Two Hearted is still a very solid example, it no longer wows my palate like it did initially.

I will still drink it anytime it presents itself. IMO it has lost some luster but is not close to 'meh' status. At least not yet.

I have a clone of it on my to brew list this spring.

 

[brewgar]

@Yooper Love your new avatar!

 

[myelo]

I did not remember them saying that when I watched the episode originally so I just watched the whole thing again. They did not brew one with Bells Centennial Select and another with "regular" homebrew centennial. And they made no comparisons so I don't know where you got that information.

May I ask what is the date of the episode you watched? I'm not sure we are referring to the same thing.

 

[Yooper]

@Yooper Love your new avatar!

Thank you! With all of the snow in the UP right now, I wanted to remember what my yard in Florida looks like. (I wish I was still there!)

 

[histo320]

Two Hearted is definitely one of my go to beers and has been since I was introduced to craft beer in 2008.

To me, Bells and Two Hearted are one of the originals, up there with Sierra Nevada, New Belgium, and Sam Adams.

The fact that I get a fairly fresh bottle or on draft and the flavor always takes me back to the first time I had it at the Biergarden in Asheville, NC. I've drank a lot of beers and if I can remember the first time in had one, it is definitely na special beer.

 

[CascadesBrewer]

I did not remember them saying that when I watched the episode originally so I just watched the whole thing again. They did not brew one with Bells Centennial Select and another with "regular" homebrew centennial. And they made no comparisons so I don't know where you got that information.

They talked about this in the podcast on this topic.

My take is that who knows what the grower, supplier, harvest year, etc. was of the hops from Steve's shop. It would not surprise me if you could get a noticeable difference between various sources of any hop variety. I suspect the version that Bell's sells are more consistently in line with the flavors they want, but not necessarily "better". The Brulosophy hops could have just been more similar to the Bell's selected ones.

In that same podcast they talked about some IBU results of Bell's lab testing on the "Hop Stand Bitterness Unit" idea. It is an interesting episode to listen too.

 

[kh54s10]

Maybe people set their expectations too high when a beer is highly touted.
Maybe many of us live to far from where a popular beer is brewed.
I too found Two Hearted to be average at best. And Fat Tire was totally underwhelming. SNPA - meh, But those have been around for a long time and things change. Maybe they just don't have the wow factor they once had. I haven't tried all the beers that these breweries put out but I like some of the less popular beers from a brewery often more that the highly touted older beer.

 

[mattdee1]

Let's face it, craft beer is very heavy on trends. In the IPA space, if a new beer with hop character similar to Two Hearted gets introduced on the scene, it might get enjoyed in the taproom at the brewery but it isn't going to generate any widespread hype. It's just not bombastic enough to do that.

But a good beer is a good beer. I regularly retreat back to beers like Two Hearted and SNPA because they're good for grounding yourself after drinking a bunch of crazy new stuff. Those old beers are seminal classics; very refined, no rough edges, consistently tasty. Things of beauty, IMO.

 

[balrog]

And people's tastes change, too. You find yourself having a favorite of Berkshire Brewing Drayman's Porter and suddenly it's Jack's Abbey Amber Lager and then @Yooper 's Dad's Cream Ale.
You just never know.

 

[bob1852]

Maybe people set their expectations too high when a beer is highly touted.

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]

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

 

[matt_m]

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]

I know I’m gonna get some crap for this, but what’s the big deal about this beer? I just picked up a 6 pack and tried it for the first time. Don’t get me wrong, It’s a good beer, very balanced. I like beers that are a balance of malt and hops.

However I can’t really say I’m wow’d by it. What’s with the cult following this beer has? Another thing I can say about it is that it hides its 7% ABV well. Other than that I find it a little boring. What am I missing here?

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 sh!t I buy.

 

[devilssoninlaw]

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......

 

[kh54s10]

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......

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......

 

[kevin58]

May I ask what is the date of the episode you watched? I'm not sure we are referring to the same thing.

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.

 

[Quadrider]

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.

 

[SEndorf]

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.

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.

 

[Immocles]

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.

 

[kh54s10]

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.

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.

 

[Dog House Brew]

I know I’m gonna get some crap for this, but what’s the big deal about this beer? I just picked up a 6 pack and tried it for the first time. Don’t get me wrong, It’s a good beer, very balanced. I like beers that are a balance of malt and hops.

However I can’t really say I’m wow’d by it. What’s with the cult following this beer has? Another thing I can say about it is that it hides its 7% ABV well. Other than that I find it a little boring. What am I missing here?

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.

 

[Kee]

The other part of the equation is perceived excess hype and popularity which seemingly is unearned - again all subjective.

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]

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]

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]

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.

 

[kh54s10]

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.

 

[WesBrew]

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.

 

[mullet6577]

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.