Bronze Thunder Twins
Harlem Brewing Company

Poured into a Seattle Beer Week pint glass. Pours a medium golden amber with a fine, three finger white head with great retention and nice lacing. Aroma of biscuit and caramel malt, citrus and grassy hops, lemon, grapefruit and a hint of pine. Flavor is biscuit and dry caramel malt, citrus and piney hops, orange, lemon, grapefruit and pine. Moderate piney hop bitterness in the finish. One of the more interesting beers in the BIPOC box; a collaboration between Harlem Brewing and our local Métier Brewing in Washington. This has the more uncommon old fashioned biscuity malt reminiscent of English brews, but with a solid West Coast style hop bill, with clear Citra character, but also bright lemon and pine; my sweet spot for hops. The can is practically a historical artifact with some history of the Negro Leagues and two of their stars; it had so much to read I had a hard time finding the brewer's name on the can. I see on Untappd that a version was also brewed by Métier locally; I don't remember seeing it, but may have ignored it if I suspected it of being a hazy. It would be interesting to compare the two. The combo of nostalgic biscuity malt and West Coast hops is a winner for me. I could use a bit more aggressive hop bitterness, but you can't have everything.

I had a tough time finding out who "owned" this beer!! Finally, I saw that the Harlem Brewing Company listed it on their web site. It was contract brewed at Precarious Brewing Project in Virginia and the recipe is a collaboration between Metier Brewing in Washington State and the Harlem Brewing company. They were all credited on the can .....exhausting!!! The theme behind the beer is to honor the "Thunder Twins" of the old Negro Leagues (Baseball during segregation) Buck Leonard and Josh Gibson . A percentage of the profits go to charitable foundations in the name of these players.
On to the beer!!!! a very pleasant West Coast style IPA. Poured from a 16 oz can into a pint glass, this beer featured a slightly hazy orange/copper color and a medium sized, slightly frothy white head with good retention and lacing. Aroma and taste included mostly piney hops with a little citrus and a little caramel malt in the background, Mouthfeel was crisp and moderately bitter. In the sea of NEIPAs out there, I always enjoy a good, bitter West Coast IPA.