Beer Review: Brother Benjamin Imperial IPA
Photo courtesy of Kevin Gibson
An earthy, traditional double IPA that offers intense hops and a hint of honey
With the rash of hazy, juicy, fruity IPAs flooding the market the past few years, it at least feels like fewer and fewer taps and less shelf space are being devoted to more traditional IPAs.
(I say this as an enthusiast of such IPAs; I’m sure folks who aren’t have no problem with the IPA shift, and that’s understandable.)
When a friend brought me a four-pack of Brother Benjamin Imperial IPA from Sawyer, Mich.-based Greenbush Brewing Co., and when I noticed the label said “Brewed with Honey,” I was halfway expecting something on the more modern side. You know, fading bitterness, lots of fruit sweetness, etc. But this guy is a true, big double IPA, and one that bites back.
I poured the 12 ounces into a tulip glass, and the creamy tan head gave way to a dark copper colored, almost brown, beer that bespoke its body.
An aroma of earthy sweetness offers a bold first impression of the flavor profile, adding hints of an almost acidic fruit. There’s even a bit of dankness as my olfactory interpreted it. Needless to say, my palate was intrigued.
And it wasn't disappointed. The beer is active on the palate, in fact almost like some spirits, which can probably be owed in part to the hearty 10.1% alcohol by volume. This beast of a beer also sports a 114 IBU rating, which offers an idea of the bitterness involved here.
But that aspect of the beer is offset pretty well by that earthy dankness, which doubles down with fruit notes reminiscent of dried mango and/or pineapple, with a hint of honey sweetness which may or may not have been suggested to my subconscious by the label.
Brother Benjamin is sticky, lingering on the throat and the roof of the mouth, even as the bitter finish lingers in the back of the mouth and throat. Is this beer good? Yeah, it very much is. Will you want more than one at a time? No, probably not.
Don’t get me wrong, I drank the four-pack in fairly short order – I just spread them out as an occasional change of pace treat. Frankly, this is a beer I could easily enjoy like one might enjoy an imperial stout, on a chilly night in front of a warm TV. Just be aware that Brother Benjamin doesn’t back down. Your results may vary.