Two Brothers Night Cat Dark Hoppy Wheat Beer

Has anyone here tried this beer? I had a couple at dinner tonight and it was quite tasty. This is a small Chicago-area brewery but I see that they distribute to MN, IN, IL, OH, PA, NY and FL so maybe some of you have seen it. Their site says “wheat” and also “citra” along with 43 IBUs and 5.8% ABV. I could easily see if being just 50% 2-row base malt (pale ale malt maybe) and 50% wheat with maybe 2-3 ounces of midnight wheat. Some clean hops for bittering and then a bunch of Citra in the last 10-15 minutes. Really nice beer… if you see it, give it a try.

Thanks for the heads up.
A wheat beer with 43 IBU of Citra. Count me in. I love Citra.

[quote=“wallybeer”]Thanks for the heads up.
A wheat beer with 43 IBU of Citra. Count me in. I love Citra.[/quote]
I’m noodling with a recipe right now.

Sounds similar to New Glarus Black Top, though you don’t mention if it has chocolate notes.

http://www.newglarusbrewing.com/index.c ... /black-top

Sounds interesting! I happen to have a jar of 3068 in my fridge which I wanted to do something different with. I’m thinking Black Wheat IPA. I like your idea of 50% base, 50% wheat, and a touch of midnight wheat for color. I also have a pound of citra just dying to be used.

[quote=“TJHatchit”]Sounds similar to New Glarus Black Top, though you don’t mention if it has chocolate notes.

http://www.newglarusbrewing.com/index.c ... /black-top[/quote]

I’ve had the Black Top and I like it but this beer was a little more approachable for the lack of a better word. I think the Night Cat was smoother and the Citra notes really did it up righteous. As I drank the Night Cat, my mind was thinking “Midnight Wheat” both in terms of getting the color and also the flavor which was very mildly roasty and I didn’t get the chocolate.

I will mention that this Night Cat had a neutral yeast character like 1056 or something so the 3068 would not get you close to this beer but if you like the banana & clove of the 3068, you could certainly try it. When I ordered it, I was hoping it wouldn’t have that character because I don’t care for it. The fact that the yeast was neutral was a plus for me.

The other funny thing was that the Citra didn’t JUMP out at me as it normally would. Maybe it was because the beer was dark and the Citra character was different or because the Citra was blended with another hop and their site didn’t mention it. Some people on BA said the beer was “piney” and “resiny” which I kind of picked up but I’m not sure. I have some Citra but all but one ounce is earmarked for another beer so I could bitter with something clean (Magnum, Mt. Hood, Northern Brewer) and then blend the one ounce of Citra with something else that would pair nicely with it. My options would be: Hallertau, Spalt, Tettnanger, Saaz, Mt. Hood, Northern Brewer, Perle, Nelson Sauvin, EKG, Cascade, Motueka, Vanguard and Amarillo. I didn’t really get Amarillo from this plus I already make a nice Amarillo-Citra pale ale. I will put a recipe together and post it.

I think Night Cat has more IBU than Black Top (like 43 vs 40). I can see the “smoother” with a clean bittering hop like Magnum. Have you considered Chocolate Rye? Tasting both raw the rye seems “smoother”, IMO.

[quote=“TJHatchit”][quote=“Ken Lenard”]
I’ve had the Black Top and I like it but this beer was a little more approachable for the lack of a better word. I think the Night Cat was smoother and the Citra notes really did it up righteous. As I drank the Night Cat, my mind was thinking “Midnight Wheat” both in terms of getting the color and also the flavor which was very mildly roasty and I didn’t get the chocolate.
[/quote]

I think Night Cat has more IBU than Black Top (like 43 vs 40). I can see the “smoother” with a clean bittering hop like Magnum. Have you considered Chocolate Rye? Tasting both raw the rye seems “smoother”, IMO.[/quote]
No, I haven’t tried the Chocolate rye but I have been on a crusade to find dark malts that aren’t overly roasty… dehusked carafa, midnight wheat, debittered black malt, etc. Midnight wheat is currently my favorite of these and since Night Cat is a wheat beer, I figured I would go that way. The biggest issue I’m having now is figuring out what to blend the Citra with to get that nice late hop flavor and aroma. I’ll be honest… when I was drinking it and didn’t know what the hops were, I was thinking, “I like this hop profile but I can’t tell what it is”. The Citra was not evident, which is weird. I’m actually considering bittering with something like Northern Brewer and then blended an ounce of Nelson (around 12%) and an ounce of Citra (maybe 13%) and going a half-ounce of each at 10 and again at 5. I have to check the IBUs on that and possibly use something else to boost it if it’s low. Nigh Cat is not a bitter beer… it’s a hoppy beer so boosting the bittering addition to boost the IBUs is not the way to go.

Perhaps you should try cold steeping… keep those roasty malts out of that hot mash. :cheers:

Perhaps you should try cold steeping… keep those roasty malts out of that hot mash. :cheers: [/quote]
I have heard of that as well as adding the darker grains to the mash right before the recirc/runoff so that you get color with little or no roastiness. But I will say that I’m typically using just 1-2 ounces of this stuff in 5 gallons of beer and I’m getting good color without a lot of roastiness and that’s with the 1-2 ounces in for the whole mash. This could be a very tasty attempt but I still need to play with the recipe a bit.

Thanks for posting Ken, I’ve seen this but haven’t tried it yet.

Okay, I have something that I would be willing to try to make and if it did not get close to this beer, I think it would still be good and at least in the zip code. A good “first attempt”, if you will to make something along the lines of this beer. I only have 4.25 lbs of wheat in my brewery so I adjusted the recipe accordingly. I have 1056 up & running right now and will be making another beer with 1056 next (my Amarillo-Citra pale ale) and then this beer next. So it will be a little while before I make it… enough time for you guys to poke holes in it, if you like.

[b]Ken’s Hoppy Dark Wheat Beer

5.75 lbs Rahr Pale Ale Malt (56.6%)
4.25 lbs White Wheat (41.8%)
2.5 ounces Midnight Wheat (1.6%)
4.6 AAU of Mt. Hood pellets for 60 minutes
½ oz Citra pellets 13.9% for 10
½ oz Nelson Sauvin pellets 11.8% for 10
½ oz Citra pellets 13.9% for 2
½ oz Nelson Sauvin pellets 11.8% for 2
Wyeast 1056 American Ale yeast

OG: 1.057, FG: 1.014, IBU: 43, SRM: 13, ABV: 5.5%[/b]

My ABV is slightly lower than the commercial version but that’s fine with me. The IBUs are right on. The addition of Nelson Sauvin is slightly out of left field but I don’t see it causing a problem and I think it would blend nicely with the Citra. The commercial version did have a bit of a dank, resiny thing going on with the Citra and although I don’t know if Nelsons will bring that to the beer… I see it being nice. I would probably do a single-infusion mash at about 151° for 60 minutes. Thoughts?

The Mt. Hood hops I bought from Hops Direct only has 3.4% AA.

What did you think about that recipe? I’ve been to the Two Brothers Roundhouse in Aurora; I live not too far and I love NightCat too!! Thinking about giving this a whirl.