Here's to Beer! Two Beers Evolutionary IPA

It seems like every week I hear of a new brewery opening up in our area. Even with the inordinate amount of beer I drink on a weekly basis, I simply can’t try all the new stuff fast enough. I do give it my best effort, mind you, but with a chef’s schedule, there just never seems to be enough time in the day for drinking my favorite beverage.

So, I am a little embarrassed to admit that it’s taken me this long to get to trying the beers from Two Beers Brewing Company. These guys have been around for about three years or so now, and therefore, I thought it was high time I checked out some of what they have to offer.

Since we are in Northwest IPA country, I thought it only appropriate to taste the Evolutionary IPA. If you are a fan of the big, bitter hops profile, then you will like this. The hops roster consists of Magnum, Simcoe, and Amarillo. Magnum hops are known for being a very clean bittering hop with a bit of a spicy flavor, which is very apparent here. Simcoe is generally considered to have a bit of a piney flavor, and Amarillo, a sweeter, orangey citrus flavor.

In the Evolutionary IPA, I get a lot of peppery spice, as well as a resinous flavor that, to me, seems almost cedar-like. Also, the citrus is a deeper darker flavor than the usual bright citrus rind notes. I would call it a more “cooked” citrus flavor; grilled kumquat, perhaps.

Overall, it has a quality which I look for in an IPA, which is balance. Malt and hops flavors that harmonize and complement each other. That being said, it has a fairly big hops profile that should satisfy all the hopheads out there. At 70 IBU, it is clearly towards the higher end of the scale. Its 6.2% alcohol feels just right. Any more and it would be getting into Double IPA territory.

I consider hops in beer to function the same way as tannins in wine, and thus, a highly hopped beer can be said to “need food” much like a tannic wine. I would say this is a beer that needs food, and I would go for some big burly entrée fare with this. Steaks, burgers, and barbeque would all be great accompaniments. Try a steak rubbed with a Middle Eastern style spice blend such as Ras al Hanout.

My knee jerk reaction when recommending cheese with a big IPA is to go bleu. And a bleu would be a good choice here, but I could also see serving something that locks in with the spicier elements of the beer, such as Beecher’s No Woman. Cheers!

In case you have been living under a rock, I should tell you Seattle beer Week is going on right now, Check out the schedule here.

Rich Coffey is a professional chef and the first certified Cicerone in the state of Washington. Find out more about him here.