Bissell Brothers Brewing Substance Ale - 2012 Original Recipe

Substance Ale - 2012 Original Recipe

 

Bissell Brothers Brewing in Portland, Maine, United States 🇺🇸

  IPA - New England / Hazy Special
Score
7.41
ABV: 7.3% IBU: - Ticks: 4
It’s Substance in the DeLorean. An honest, scaled-up version of Noah’s baseline homebrew recipe for our flagship beer. Fermented dry with a clean American yeast strain and some more West Coast-leaning, decidedly dank hops than exist in Subby's current form. A celebration of BBB's humble start on an apartment stovetop.
 

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7.4
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5

Pours clear gold into a willi. Bright white head with good retention recedes leaving trailing sheets. Mango and pine aromas. Medium bodied with berry, pine and sourdough front to back. Medium length, crisp pine finish.

Tried on 04 Jan 2026 at 22:13


8.1
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8.5 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 9

Can from Tavour. Pours gold with a large white head. Dankness wafts from the pour along with some citrus. Med body. Flavor is dankly citrus with some discernible pale malt support. Hop burn in the mouth. High level of bitterness. Excellent flavor. Excellent ale.

Tried from Can from Tavour on 27 Nov 2025 at 00:45


8.3
Appearance - 9 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8.5 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

Canned 10/9/25, drunk 11/15/25, as pictured.
Nice mix of clean, honey-like malt and spicy, slightly citrusy and tropical hops. Good muskiness, with earth and mineral, but not skunky or herbal. This is very different than The Substance. Much for the better, IMO.
Musky, earthy, chalky (but not too chalky), dry and with big mineral and spice. Soft tropical fruit, mild citrus. Just enough bitterness up front to carry through to the dry, slightly crackery finish. Really like the flavors they got here; musk melon, kumquat, unripe tropical fruit and various spice and mineral. How and why did they change the recipe of this so drastically??!

Tried from Can from Tavour on 15 Nov 2025 at 17:25


8
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8.5 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

Pours a hazy, lemon-gold, with mid-sized head. Aroma is a touch muted, but with citrus and tropical fruits. Flavors follow and are more pronounced. Smooth mouthfeel. Mild to moderate levels of hop bitterness in the finish.

Tried from Can on 26 Oct 2025 at 19:19