That fish is swimming in some of the finest beer ever crafted.

A long day at work that was preceded by a migraine once again derailed my plans of going out tonight, and so I reached into the fridge to see what I had “on tap”, so to speak. I realized I had three seperate beers by Bell’s sitting in the fridge and so seperated my beers into Bell’s and non-Bell’s so I could properly space the breweries out when I noticed this – the Two Hearted Ale.

I’m a big fan of things that have two hearts, with Doctor Who being one of my favorite shows of all time, so I thought I’d give this a whirl. Having not had it before, I took a look at the back and saw that this was no ordianry ale, this was in fact an IPA. Believe it or not, contrary to what you’re about to read, I have not traditionally been a fan of IPAs – 2013 seems to be turning that around in a big, big way, though.

I’m going to do this review “out of order”, so to speak. Generally, I review the appearance, the scent, the taste, then the mouthfeel.  I’m going to skip straight to the taste and quote one of my favorite Youtube videos in doing so: oh my goodness. Oh my damn. The taste of grapefruit and orange, sweet pineapple, and other citrus is beautifully balanced by hops and a grassy, earthy taste at the back of the flavor. This goes down so smooth that the only word that comes to mind is “buttery”. This is an IPA par excellence, something that should be immediately tasted by everyone reading this blog.

The appearance is a fine amber color with a slowly dissipating head, and the scent is citrusy and hoppy, inviting, warm, wonderful, like the first scent of spring after a long winter. The mouthfeel is almost airy – this is such a refreshing IPA! It makes me wonder if I’d only been drinking bad IPAs prior to this, or whether I’ve just turned a corner in my life and like a new style of beer better than any other.

The long and short of this is that after only one tasting I’m willing to slap the “legendary” tag on this one.  If you’re going to be a beer afficianado you need to be drinking this immediately. I will accept no excuses. Go out and get a bottle right now. RIGHT. NOW.