Once again, I’m offered a chance to try some beer from outside of my usual coverage area. Once again, I have some national influencer cred that I can’t quite quantify. But it means I get to learn about a new brewer.
Two Roads Brewing was founded in 2012 in Stratford, CT, and has become that state’s largest craft brewer. They have a portfolio of about 12 year-round packaged beers, and rotating seasonals and special releases. Their brewing campus includes an “Innnovation Hub” brand, Area Two Experimental Brewing, whose web page currently shows an IPA brewed with pineapple and hemp hearts, a lime Gose aged in tequila barrels, some cross-fermentations with wine grapes, and a selection of krieks and lambics.
In January, Two Roads underwent a rebranding process to make their packages stand out on shelves, and introduced some “variety packs” of similar styles: IPAs, hazies, Oktoberfests, seltzers, etc. And their representatives offered me some samples of their flagship Road 2 Ruin IPA, plus the Rocket 2 Ruin “Cold IPA.” So this is my disclosure that these beers were provided to me.
Two Roads Road 2 Ruin
Double IPA with 4 American hop varieties. 8.0% abv.
A more traditionally hoppy pale ale nose. Pine and resin. Amber beer color in the glass, with a foamy head. The initial hop nose kind of dwindles, until it’s not as overpowering as a hop bomb might be.
But then, there’s that big dose of hops when I taste it. Heavy on citrus and then some bitterness. Yet it’s “easy” enough that I could swig it all down. The mouthfeel is a little thick, again, perhaps from the extra alcohol. Hoppiness settles in to complement the malt, making this a cooperative “go with” beer.
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Two Roads Rocket 2 Ruin
Imperial “Cold” IPA, 9.5% abv
Here’s my first taste of what’s called the “Cold IPA” style. This is an IPA brewed with a lighter malt bill, and fermented at lower temperatures, sometimes with the help of a dose of lager yeast. Its brewers and partisans say it’s not the same as an “India Pale Lager,” which is a base lager with an IPA style hop load.
This has a nice tropical fruit hop nose under the pop top. It pours a slightly hazy gold color, with a bit of a foamy head.
The taste keeps up the tropical Pacific hops, then a bit of grass, but actually very little of the usual strong IPA bitterness. The malts themselves stay on the light side for balance. Although, the extra alcohol results in a thicker mouthfeel, topped by stickiness on my lips.
Two Roads beers are available in much of the East Coast. Their site suggests a few other states hopscotching out to California, though I can’t use it to find specifics.
