Eric:  I finally got to have a Bell’s Two Hearted Ale, and it lived up to the hype.  Bell’s is in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and never distributed anything around here before.  On October 1st, they started shipping to certain areas in western and upstate New York. You can read about it here.  Unfortunately for us, not NYC.  Fortunately for us, Rockland county, our hometown and  where our BrewParentz live.  Andrew’s parentz brought him down some from Growler and Gill.

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The beer is made with only Centennial Hops, which are the ones farmed in the Northwest (read about my trip to Portland and all the fresh hopped beer I drank here and here).  The grassy flavor actually reminded me of those fresh hopped beers, and it wasn’t as bitter as some IPAs.  It’s also not a hop-bomb, and the hops/malt balance made it easy to drink.  It’s so good I’m going to construct a pipeline to carry this from the suburbs to my apartment.

Andrew’s parentz driving along the pipeline

We’re getting really lucky in the NYC area, with both this and Cigar City Jai Alai being recently available (that one is actually in the city).  Both are wold-class IPAs, and it’s getting harder and harder to choose a favorite.  Two Hearted, Jai Alai, Heady Topper, Lunch, Pliny, Blind Pig, Enjoy By, Sucks,  Sculpin,  … I don’t know what to do anymore!  Oh that’s right, drink a lot.

Andrew: Jack’s Abby also in NY (sans Westchester and NYC) this month.

Related articles

• Bell’s Brewery coming to Grand Rapids airport (kansascity.com)
• Michigan’s Best Brewery: Bell’s Brewery is a craft-beer destination (mlive.com)