Two Brothers Brewing Co.

30W315 Calumet Ave W, Warrenville, IL 60555
Additional Locations

Free Tours:

Saturday: 1pm, 2pm, 3pm
Sunday: 1:30pm

Tap House Hours:

Monday-Thursday: 3pm-11pm
Friday-Saturday:12pm-12am
Sunday: 12pm-9pm

Brothers Jim and Jason Ebel got their start when their grandfather, a retired dairy farmer, gave them his bulk milk tanks. The brothers, who had been overseas learning and developing their brewing skills, quickly turned those milk tanks into fermenters. Today Two Brothers Brewing Co. is housed in a 40,000 square foot facility in Warrenville, Ill. and turns out a wide variety of year-round beers as well as numerous specialty/seasonal beers.

The first thing you’ll notice when you walk into the brewery is the wide variety of home brewing supplies sold in the brewery store. The Ebel brothers themselves started out as home brewers so they wanted to make it easy for others to take a stab at brewing beer as well. In fact, anyone can ask for the recipe for a Two Brothers beer and with no hassle get the ingredients list and brew it at home. From the hops to the yeast, to the actual equipment needed, Two Brothers can outfit anyone who has a desire to be a home brewer.

Once inside the brewery you’ll notice one piece of equipment not found in many breweries. The Two Brothers’ centrifuge is powerful – and that might be putting it lightly. The centrifuge is so powerful that its supports go ten feet down into the ground to support it while it spins the beer. Installed six months ago, the centrifuge is having tremendous results as even the darker beers have tremendous clarity.

You notice the clarity especially in the brewery’s hefeweizen beer, Ebel’s Weiss. Despite being unfiltered, thanks to the centrifuge process the beer comes out very clear and the notes of banana and vanilla come through even stronger.

It should also be noted that the centrifuge is one of only two pieces in the entire brewery that wasn’t made in America. Why are two pieces shipped from outside the country? No one in America makes the equipment they wanted.

As you wander around the brewery there are little things you might not pick up on if it wasn’t for your tour guide. Most beer companies put the label on the bottle using a standard three-dot glue method. This makes the label easy to peel off, especially if it’s soaking in a cooler for an extended period of time.

The labels on Two Brothers’ bottles are all full stickers. Not only is it a tough task to try and rip off the label, but after sitting in a cooler full of icy water, you can pull the bottle out and the label is still stuck tightly on the bottle.

If you continue to look at the bottle you’ll notice the beer doesn’t have a born-on date. Instead it has a best buy date. That date on the bottle is also not some out-of-the-air date a worker slapped on. Batches of beer are scientifically tested to see how long they will stay good, based on oxygen levels and other factors. In fact batches do not always expire chronologically. A batch made on Tuesday could technically have a shorter best buy date than a batch made on Monday – it’s all in the science.

As Two Brothers becomes more and more popular, the company is ready to expand. Currently localized to the Midwest, it has just become the first brewery to expand west as it will soon begin producing beer in Phoenix.

Must Try

Atom Smasher (7.7% ABV): An Oktoberfest style lager brewed in virgin French oak foudres. This unique brewing process gives the beer a unique earthy flavor with great accents of caramel and toffee. Brewed using a trio of hops the beer has a golden amber appearance, but with the centrifuge is very clear.

 

Ebel’s Weiss (4.9% ABV): A hefeweizen that’s incredibly light and crisp, Ebel’s Weiss will give off a strong banana aroma that continues when you actually taste it. This beer has won back-to-back medals at the Great American Beer Festival and is trying to become one of the only three-time medal winners in 2015. This beer has a light yellow appearance and a thin white head.

Engine No. I (5.2% ABV): This kolsch style beer is one of two beers brewed by Two Brothers that is a charitable beer. One hundred percent of the profits of Engine No. I will go to the The Hundred Club of DuPage County, a charity that helps families of injured and fallen firefighters. Besides being a smooth and delicious beer to drink, it’s also helping a great cause. The beer is brewed with a trio of hops, including my favorite, Cascade. You’ll get a citrusy aroma and when you taste it you’ll experience notes of citrus and a little spice.

Be On The Lookout For

Wobble: All of the beers at Two Brothers are very well-balanced. From the lagers to the double IPAs you won’t recoil at the taste of any of the beers offered. So when the brew masters were presented with the idea to make a beer that teetered away from the well-balanced brews they were used to – they wobbled. However, coming in the next month or so, Two Brothers will release Wobble – a brew that uses around 95lbs of hops per barrel. Breaking the norm of what they traditionally put out, Wobble is going to be a type of beer Two Brothers has not put out before.

Check Them Out

Two Brothers Brewing Co.

Find Two Brothers Beer Near You

Follow Mike Zoller on Twitter @mikezoller