Evil Twin Brewing - Imperial Doughnut Break

Let's say you told me that there was a beer out there brewed with doughnuts. Lots of them. My first inclination would be the word "Yes." But then, if you gave me a second to think about it, you'd notice my expression change a bit as I slowly and painfully recalled my last experience with the words "beer" and "doughnut" together- Rogue's Voodoo Doughnut Bacon Maple Ale. That monster of a beer briefly had me contemplating quitting beer altogether. So I'd probably turn down your doughnut beer offer and possibly run the other direction. "But wait," you'd say, "This isn't any doughnut beer and it's DEFINITELY not a Rogue beer. It's from Evil Twin. You know, those crazy Danish guys who made that Imperial Biscotti Break beer you liked so much. They made another like that one. But this time, they added over 1,000 doughnuts to the beer." "Fine," I'd say. "But if this is anything like the Rogue one, I'm not talking to you for a while." And then I'd take a sip.


Imperial Doughnut Break pours a rich black color with a light brown head. At 11%, I expected it to look a tad thicker, but it looked pretty tasty, nonetheless. The smell brings together a nice blend of dark chocolate and espresso notes. There are freshly ground coffee notes here, galore, with some almond meal and just a touch of doughnut cake. There's an overlying sweet aroma that definitely smelled like doughnut glaze. I could tell right away, fortunately, that this was going to be nothing like that horrid Rogue beer.

Similar to the smell, the first things you taste here are dark chocolate and espresso. There's some nuttiness in the middle, coupled with some chocolate cake and roasted malt notes. The doughnuts are surprisingly absent here, just barely creeping into the finish alongside some day old coffee notes and a light touch of char. Overall, this was a pretty nice beer, and far less diabetes-inducing than the name makes it sound. The espresso and roast notes here shine way more than the doughnuts do. And it tastes absolutely nothing like Rogue's Voodoo Doughnut Bacon Maple Ale. So it's got that going for it. Which is nice.

Final Grade: B+

Top 250 Beers Tasted: 129

Evil Twin Brewing - Justin Blåbær

I've been doing this blog thing for over three years now and over that time I've seen and tasted some ridiculous things. Whether it's been beer made with pizza, beer made with oysters or a Hanson themed beer, a lot of strange things have popped up on my radar these last few years. But as far as labels go, I don't know if I've ever seen anything stranger than Evil Twin's beer, Justin Blåbær. 

As you can see above, the label features an overexposed creepy dude with slight resemblences to Justin Bieber surrounded by goofy comments from the brewers and a caption that reads: "Justin Flashes His Istedgade Eyes." (For those of you, like me, who have no idea what Istedgade means, it's a street that runs through Copenhagen that goes directly through Copenhagen's hipster neighborhood.) If all that wasn't enough, we have this on the side of the bottle:

OMG! It's JUSTIN BLABAER!!! If you have "Blabaer fever," then this is the only cure. 

We stuffed so many blueberries into this beer--it's going to make you shout, "Oh Baby!"

Well played, Evil Twin. Very well played. I'll keep looking, but I doubt anything is topping this beer on the ridiculous meter. Now we move on to the more important question: Is the beer any good?

  

Justin Blåbær pours a hazed lavender color with a slightly purple-tinged two finger head that recedes fairly quickly. I really liked the smell, which opened with a nice acetic tartness full of blueberry pie filling, a light funk, lemongrass, red cherry and some faint oak. 

 The flavor opens with some acetic tartness right off the bat, full of lemon. The blueberries show up big time in the middle with a nice amount of sweetness and just a touch of underripe tartness. The beer finishes off a touch heavy with some wheat notes, lemon zest and blueberry fruit leather. 

 I have to say, I was really buying this for the label, but the beer inside is actually quite good. It's probably the first blueberry beer that hasn't blown me away with huge amounts of artificial sweetness. You get a lot of blueberry flavor here, but there's nothing about it that feels artificial. The label may be goofy as hell, but there is a very serious beer inside. I may just have the Blabaer fever.

  

Final Grade: A-

 Top 250 Beers Tasted: 130 

Evil Twin Brewing - Imperial Biscotti Break

Since it's Halloween, I felt it would be appropriate to talk about about something a little different- phantom breweries. I don't think I've talked about phantom breweries on here before, so here's the rundown. Basically, a phantom brewery is run by a brewer who doesn't own an actual brewery. Instead, they contact breweries that have extra brewing space, and brew their recipes at those breweries. To me, the most famous phantom brewery (or at least the one I see around the most) is Mikkeller, run by Danish brewer Mikkel Borg Bjergsø. What I didn't realize is that Bjergsø has a brother, Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergsø, who runs his own phantom brewery, Evil Twin. I had noticed some of Evil Twin's beers on shelves for a while, but I didn't really think much of them until I noticed that one of their beers, Imperial Biscotti Break, had quietly snuck into the Top 100. This beer is a double stout that was brewed at a brewery in South Carolina using coffee beans from Charleston Coffee Roasters. At #66- Imperial Biscotti Break.

Imperial Biscotti Break pours a viscous black color the consistency of motor oil. A dark brown head starts off small, and then gradually grows as bubbles of carbonation slowly reach the surface, almost like they're crawling through molasses. The smell started faint, getting stronger as the beer warmed. I picked up some heavy roasted malt, chocolate covered raisin, sugar cookie, espresso, molasses, and straight dark chocolate. There was something in the smell that hinted at a bourbon character as well.

The taste opens with a huge mix of roasted malt and molasses with a sticky coffee hard candy undertone. The middle featured flavors of chocolate cake, chocolate covered black cherry and vanilla. The finish brings new flavors of mocha and milk chocolate. The mouthfeel is big, chewy and mouth coating, with just a hint of warmness to it. This is dessert beer at its finest and one of the best stouts I've had.

Final Grade: A

Top 100 Beers Tasted: 42