If I’d been on Two Brothers‘ press list for more than about four months, I might suspect the brewery was specifically baiting me by making a beer called “Midwestern Death Metal.” Sure, the label art will hardly have Three Floyds and Surly looking over their shoulders, but the name! Come on!

The taste isn’t as sweet as you might expect from the aroma—it’s not actually very sweet at all, not for a barrel-aged imperial stout. Generous prickly carbonation (presumably added in the production tank where the brewers blended the barrels prior to bottling) complements the bitter tang of the espresso, whose flavor faintly suggests lemon and blueberry; it’s slightly astringent, maybe because Two Brothers used grounds instead of brewed coffee. I taste lots of charred, roasty malts and tons of bittersweet chocolate—so much that I double checked the label to be sure no chocolate had been added to the beer. The bourbon flavor is subtle, despite those months of barreling—I think it might be muted because it has to come in underneath the coffee. What whiskey heat I can pick up is agreeably softened by creme brulee and vanilla caramel.

  • This metal-style logo gets an “A” for effort.

When I wrote about Revolution Brewing last week, I implied that Two Brothers, like Rev, would soon run into trouble with the craft brewers’ production cap. As it turns out, that’s not strictly true. The brewery acquired four new 200-barrel fermenters late last year, and it hopes to produce 50,000 barrels of beer in 2014—well above the current craft brewer’s cap of 30,000. (It’s also renovating its canning line and working on installing a new centrifuge.) But Two Brothers doesn’t have a craft brewer’s license, and it never has.

Among the other answers was “Doberman,” which might have been a joke too—except that it’s also the name of a one-man death-metal project from Parma, Ohio, near Cleveland, that put out one demo in 1993 and then disappeared.

Founded in 1988, Broken Hope split up in 2001 and reunited in 2012. Last year they released Omen of Disease and hit the road, opening for the likes of Deicide and Obituary. I can’t do more than link to a track from the new album, “The Flesh Mechanic.” But here’s a little something from Broken Hope’s 1991 full-length debut, Swamped in Gore. It’s called “Devourer of Souls.”

I hope it goes without saying that I’m always looking for recommendations—for metal and for beer. Despite stumbling into writing this column, I’m a relative newcomer to both worlds. If you can’t contain your urge to school my ignorant ass, go ahead and leave a comment. And thanks!