In their seemingly ceaseless campaign to create bigger and bolder versions of their beers – see: Imperial Doughnut Break, BBL Imperial Biscotti Break – Evil Twin has once again created another beast of a brew, this time taking their Even More Jesus imperial stout, dumping it in bourbon barrels and then blending the result.
Tag Archives: gypsy
Evil Twin bottling Imperial Doughnut Break
If you’ve followed Westbrook or Evil Twin‘s social media presence recently, you knew this was coming … but it’s still pretty awesome to know it’s happening: Brewvival 2013 favorite Imperial Doughnut Break is coming to bottles.
Last year, Evil Twin’s Jeppe stuffed whole donuts into a keg of Imperial Biscotti Break and tapped it for the masses. It was well received, and the brewer recently returned to Westbrook to brew the beer on a much larger scale, cramming more than 1,000 donuts into the brew.
Get your insulin shots ready, and expect to see this one on shelves soon.
CBX owners featured on new Evil Twin brew
No strangers to being featured on Evil Twin label artwork, Scott Shor and Rich Carley of the Charleston Beer Exchange will again be front-and-center on a new brew from the Danish gypsy brewer.
Bozo Beer – there’s probably some inside joke there – is a gargantuan 17.2% ABV imperial stout brewed with coffee and features a mosaic of the CBX duo on the label. It’s not clear what other adjuncts went into the beer, but the label says you can expect notes of chilies, marshmallow, vanilla bean, muscovado sugar, cinnamon and more.
The beer was brewed and bottled at Westbrook. Look for it on shelves soon.
Evil Twin begins brewing Even More Jesus at Westbrook
Evil Twin and Westbrook seem to have a good thing going. The gypsy brewer has made a sort of second home out of the coastal brewery, which has produced an increasing number of Evil Twin beers including Femme Fatale Brett/Noir/Blanc, Hop Flood, Lil B and The Cowboy.
Lately, there’s been one big new addition to that list: Even More Jesus, Evil Twin’s gargantuan 12% imperial stout. Previously brewed in Denmark – and limited to a reasonable 12 oz. bottle – 22 oz. bombers of the beer branded with “Produced at Westbrook” have begun popping up on store shelves across the Palmetto State.
Even More Jesus has a perfect 100 on RateBeer and a “world-class” ranking on BeerAdvocate, and from personal experience I can say that it’s a mighty fine imperial stout. Think boozy fudge brownie with a coffee back.
No word on if variants of the beer – Aún Más a Jesús or the bourbon and port barrel-aged versions – will also be brewed in at Westbrook.
Evil Twin earns best brewery, best beer awards
This week has been a big one for Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergø and his Evil Twin Brewing brainchild. After just two years of production, the gypsy brewer’s brand has landed in the Top 10 of RateBeer’s list of best breweries in the world for 2013, earning a spot amongst best-ever stalwarts such as Three Floyds, Cigar City, Bell’s and Russian River.
Earlier in the week, Imperial Biscotti Break also charted on RateBeer’s radar, earning the No. 7 spot in the Top 50 best new beers of 2012. Other than New Glarus’ Serendipity – which is amazeballs – IBB was the only non-Hill Farmstead beer to earn a Top 10 spot.
So, why does this warrant a mention on a blog dedicated to promoting South Carolina beer? Because Mt. Pleasant’s Westbrook has become something of a second home for Evil Twin. Imperial Biscotti Break was birthed there, as were plenty of other excellent beers including Lil’ B, The Cowboy and Mini Growler Imperial Stout. And there are likely more in the works for 2013.
Evil Twin will be in full effect at this year’s Brewvival, bringing along a brandy barrel-aged sour version of Lil’ B; Femme Fatale (La Fleur), a version of their 100% Brett IPA Femme Fatale with an addition of dry flowers; and Imperial Doughnut Break, a takeoff off Imperial Biscotti Break with more vanilla and coffee and doughnuts. (Yes. Doughnuts used as an ingredient.)
Cheers to Evil Twin and all the recognition, which they rightly deserve.
Evil Twin The Cowboy
Evil Twin Brewing
Valby, Denmark/Brooklyn, NY
The Cowboy Smoked Pilsner
5.5% ABV
One of the other newer Evil Twin beers brewed at South Carolina’s Westbrook is The Cowboy, which continues the gypsy brewer’s style-twisting ways with a smoked pilsner. While I’m a big fan of smoked beers, pilsners are … well, they’re pilsners. Generally nothing special in my opinion.
To start, it’s extremely hazy for a pilsner. It’s a murky, fuzzy brownish orange color. There was about a finger of a light bubbly head that dissipated fairly quickly along with some light lacing and alcohol legs.
The smoke on the nose is a bit lighter than other smoked beers I’ve had. It’s that sweeter campfire smokey smell. There’s a sort of sweeter tropical fruit note on the back and a very mild hoppiness. The malts are also really strong, lending a sweet cereal or biscuit note. There’s a little mango, papaya and pineapple as well. It’s a nice balance overall.
The smoke is also lighter on the palate as well. The taste is very rich and juicy to begin with, and those juicy fruit notes are very prevalent. There’s a lot of an orange juice flavor and richness to it. The smoked flavors pop up on the back of the palate again. It’s like a sweet BBQ smokiness that lingers nicely. Not overpowering or too strong. Really unique.
I liked how the smoked malts didn’t overpower the rest of the beer. It would have been easy to just make this a smoke bomb, but the smoke was a compliment if anything. And the juicy fruit flavors from the pilsner malts helped bring out the richness of the smoked malts.
Evil Twin Lil’ B
Evil Twin Brewing
Valby, Denmark/Brooklyn, NY
Lil’ B Imperial Porter
11.5% ABV
I’ve generally been happy with the stuff Evil Twin – the gypsy brewing pseudonym of Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergø – has been putting out for the past couple years. While it’s sometimes hard to get past the sticker shock when it comes to prices, the beer is solid and at times – in cases such as Soft Dookie, Imperial Biscotti Break and Femme Fatale Brett – stellar.
Even better, Evil Twin’s been setting up shop in Mt. Pleasant recently, brewing up a growing number of beers at Westbrook, including Lil’ B, the 11.5% imperial porter you see pictured above. I’d had the chance to try a nip before, but after getting a bottle of my own and sitting down to really break it down, it’s one of those beers I think joins the “stellar” ranks of their catalog.
It shouldn’t be surprising that the beer pours black as night, with absolutely no light getting through. The pour was that great thick, viscous motor oil consistency. The head is more like a film of a foamy brown that gravitates toward the edges of the glass fast. Some slight lacing but epic alcohol legs that go for weeks.
The nose is anything but lil’. Massive bitter coffee and espresso, dark chocolate, vanilla, hints of cherry, plums, caramel, black licorice, nuts, even a sort of cookie sweetness to it as well. There’s almost a bourbon-like quality to it from the booze. Epic is the only way to describe how this thing smells.
There’s just a very mild bitterness on the front of the tongue but it’s canceled out quickly as it’s smooth as velvet across the palate. In the middle of the mouth is a big dark cherry tartness the tingles on the tongue. On the back, there’s a giant sweeter dark chocolate and a bitter black coffee taste. It’s balanced nicely and works well to keep everything in check. The tartness pops up again on the end with a black cherry kind of quality to it. The alcohol is certainly there but it’s masked with the abundant sweetness of everything else.
Lil’ B is a certainly a sipper and a sharer. At times, it’s a bit overly sweet, especially as it warms. But at the same time, the little hints of all the flavors that go into it pop up more and more as you drink it. The sweetness gives way to the tartness gives way to the roasted qualities and so on. It’s unique and more than lives up to the “imperial” tag. Anything but lil’ in every way.
