Brother Benjamin - Greenbush Brewing Company

buschbeer

Ohio

4/5  rDev +1.8%

01-31-2013 18:34:06 | More by buschbeer

JRBecks

Illinois

3.5/5  rDev -10.9%

06-18-2013 21:25:19 | More by JRBecks

anticipation23

Wisconsin

4/5  rDev +1.8%

06-18-2013 01:26:58 | More by anticipation23

SawyerMI

Michigan

4/5  rDev +1.8%

06-18-2013 00:53:35 | More by SawyerMI

JPortillo

Illinois

3.75/5  rDev -4.6%

06-15-2013 02:21:31 | More by JPortillo

scruffwhor

Illinois

4/5  rDev +1.8%

06-15-2013 01:39:24 | More by scruffwhor

TheBrewo

Michigan

3.89/5  rDev -1%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

We crack the top and pour a brew of sunset ruby-orange into our Founders snifters. It holds a two finger head of big khaki colored bubbles, showing excellent retention, and leaving rings and spots of patterned lacing around the glass. A cidery haze permeates clarity with the dregs from the bottom of the bottle, but no outright sediment is noted. Carbonations appears to be on the light side. The aroma is heavy with floral, nectary, and grapefruity hops, giving a perfumed fruitiness to it. The malts to meet are crisp and pale, but do dip down into toasty caramels, with fusel booziness, cotton candy esters, strawberry and blueberry bite, musky moss, mineral, and salt crackers. Our first impression is that the flavoring is heavy and spicy as the nose suggested, but more to the bittered side of the hops, and less to the sweeter caramel side of the malts. As we sip, the taste begins with oily grapefruity hops and rind, slick waxiness, booze fumes, black pepper, tannic tea leaf, cotton candy and lighter browned banana esters, nectarine, and apricot skins. Moving to the peak is a flash of white sugar sweetness that is quickly countered by a hoppy herbal bitterness, along with pine bark, sulfur and mineral, musk, and leafy vegetals, with the hotness of the booze dragging us to the end. Here we are hit with bittered herbal and earthy hops, mineral-laden dirt, graphite, floral perfumes, raw honeycomb, lemon rind, sesame seed, buttery bread, toasted pales, clover, and far off medicinals. The aftertaste breathes of chalk, sawdust, moss, earthy and floral hops, nectarine pit, walnuts, parsnip root, green grassiness, biscuity butters, toast, mineral, peppery booze, and chalked yeast. The body is rather full, and the carbonation is medium. Each sip gives nice slurp and smack, with slightly lesser cream and froth. Finishing pop is also nice, but falls away into a stiff pucker. The mouth is left slick at first, eventually breathing chalky dryness into the hard palate. The abv is apparent but appropriate, and the beer sips easily.

Overall, what we enjoyed most about this brew was its aroma. The nose was filled with a nice balance of clean, fruit, and floral hoppiness, with a malt bill that gave just the right amount of depth and toast, without going overboard into American barleywine or strong ale territory. The flavor, however, showed a bit more bitterness than expected. This was not to its ultimate detriment, but was rather more of a surprise in that it unbalanced the sweetness of those aromatics. The booze was decently well hidden, and moderately contributory in the end. This is a great introduction for us to an up and coming local brewery, and it certainly does a nice job of generating excitement for the rest of their stock.

Serving type: bottle

06-15-2013 01:36:26 | More by TheBrewo

DooshBagalow

Illinois

4.25/5  rDev +8.1%

06-15-2013 00:56:31 | More by DooshBagalow

EROCK75

Illinois

4.5/5  rDev +14.5%

06-13-2013 13:21:39 | More by EROCK75

supa0525

Michigan

4.75/5  rDev +20.9%

06-11-2013 19:30:51 | More by supa0525

bigred89

Maryland

3.25/5  rDev -17.3%

06-09-2013 23:03:18 | More by bigred89

ygtbsm94

Virginia

3.5/5  rDev -10.9%

06-08-2013 03:06:58 | More by ygtbsm94

beernads

Florida

4/5  rDev +1.8%

06-05-2013 09:28:15 | More by beernads

Ribsandwhiskey

Oregon

2/5  rDev -49.1%

06-05-2013 02:40:56 | More by Ribsandwhiskey

tabitha

Illinois

4/5  rDev +1.8%

06-03-2013 01:57:17 | More by tabitha

blackcompg

Illinois

2.44/5  rDev -37.9%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 1.75 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5

Poured from their 12oz bottle...

Appearance - Pours 3 fingers of tight khaki foam, body is a deep opaque brown amber, by far the darkes and murkiest dipa I've ever seen, leaves big thick lacing. Really looks like a barleywine.

Smell - Floral hops, pineapple, candied orange, tropical notes, whiff of carmels, and perhaps some butterscotch.

Taste - Whoah, rich ripe plums, rum cake, sweet ruby grapefruit, warm butterscotch with an accent on the scotch, touches of brown sugar and molasses, finishes pretty hot from the alcohol, slightly sweet grapefruit zests, and a slight spice heat, like white pepper.

Mouthfeel - Higher side of medium, sweet and somewhat mouthcoating, carb is on the lower side and very smooth and foaming, which gives the impression of being mouthcoating - and really lets the heat from the alcohol settle in vs. any kind of scrub.

Overall - The only sign of this being a dipa is in the nose - otherwise the appearance, taste and mouthfeel are much more like a barleywine/scotch ale/wee heavy. The label says "prepare to be mystified" - and I truly am, why this is classified as a dipa is certainly a mystery to me. And as this warms... well, just throw back a shot of scotch - less filling, same taste. I can't recommend this.

Serving type: bottle

06-02-2013 06:03:26 | More by blackcompg

Anonymous1

Illinois

4.25/5  rDev +8.1%

06-01-2013 04:53:35 | More by Anonymous1

mgroothuis

Michigan

4.5/5  rDev +14.5%

06-01-2013 01:26:15 | More by mgroothuis

cnbrown313

Illinois

4.25/5  rDev +8.1%

05-29-2013 16:31:12 | More by cnbrown313

JimGlonke

Illinois

4/5  rDev +1.8%

05-28-2013 20:34:38 | More by JimGlonke

nasastrums

New York

3/5  rDev -23.7%

05-28-2013 01:40:06 | More by nasastrums

TonyTalon

Wisconsin

3.75/5  rDev -4.6%

05-27-2013 21:14:00 | More by TonyTalon

cp45

New Jersey

4/5  rDev +1.8%

05-27-2013 03:46:22 | More by cp45

miga

Georgia

3/5  rDev -23.7%

05-26-2013 02:59:01 | More by miga

maximum12

Minnesota

1.7/5  rDev -56.7%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 2 | overall: 1.5

Thanks to a good guy, who shall remain anonymous, for this extra in a recent trade full of Michigan goodness. Popped open while watching a bit of The Incredible & poured ably by my 10 year old Cicerone-in-training. 12 oz. bottle split with my wife.

Pour is dark murky orange shot through with muddy brown; very viscous. Nose runs along in the same vein, the hops are earthy & muddled while simultaneously slightly sweetened. Good? Weird.

Brother Benjamin is malting all over the place. Big old sweet malts overcome the hops, the nose in profile is more like an old ale than an IPA. The hops match the nose, farmland dirt & dankness. Drinkable? Ah, no.

Blech. Six or seven sips of this leave me yearning for clean hops or deep malts or a barrel or strychnine. Anything else. This is a malt-bomb coupled up with dank earth, not a combo I'd ever seek out. Drain-pour.

Serving type: bottle

05-26-2013 02:03:29 | More by maximum12