Craft Beer Review #6 - Evil Twin Brewing/Lervig: Big Ass Money Stout 3
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| Figure 1: Big Ass Money Stout 3 |
The Brewery
Okay, so this beer is a collaboration between two breweries: Lervig from Norway and Evil Twin Brewing from the United States[1]. In the interest of brevity, and since it was brewed in the US, I'll only talk about Evil Twin (Brewing), but I'll definitely find an excuse to review a Lervig brew soon.Evil Twin Brewing has one of the more interesting histories, given how short their history is! The brewery was founded in 2010 in Copenhagen by Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergsø, as a gypsy brewery[2]. If his name looks at all familiar, it's because Jeppe is the brother of Mikkeller founder Mikkel Borg Bjergsø. Specifically, Jeppe is the identical twin brother of Mikkel. The brothers are definitely not on good terms since Jeppe started his own brewery, competing directly with Mikkeller in Copenhagen in the beginning, and for this reason he calls his brewery Evil Twin Brewing.
In 2012, Evil Twin moved their operations to Queens, New York, and began gypsy brewing in the United States. In January of 2019 Evil Twin opened their own brick and mortar brewery, and a tap room at the same location followed later in the year[3]. While Mikkeller is the larger, more financially successful of the two operations, both Mikkeller and Evil Twin are both held in high regard by connoisseurs, and if you haven't tried Evil Twin, you definitely should.
Evil Twin produce a lot of unique beers. In fact, they've produced (to date) 396 different beers in only the nine years they've been open[4]. They're known for producing innovative beers, and using interesting adjuncts such as: matcha tea, olives, yuzu+chilli, and cherries. However, they are prolific in their production of barrel-aged stouts; in fact 19 of their top 20 beers are listed as some sort of stout[5].
I like Evil Twin, but strangely, out of the 9 beers I've had from them, only one has been a stout, but it had chilli in it, and was 12% ABV, but I only gave it a 3/5. I've had mainly sours from Evil Twin, which I've liked, but I've enjoyed their NEIPAs most, with "Lost Souls" being a particular highlight with a score of 4.25/5. I am both nervous and excited to try this big stout though.
First Impressions
Okay, the can looks cool. It's an aluminium tall boy, but the label is black with minimalistically drawn green bank notes with dollar signs, and pizza slices with oddly hexagonal pepperoni. It's simple, chic, and eye-catching. There's a small story about how they chose to make this beer, and where it was brewed[6], and it's all very charming. While there is a government warning about not drink driving and pregnancy risks, which is great, there is absolutely no warning next to the 17.2% ABV statement about how your life is about end.
The colour is engine oil black. The deepest of deep space blacks. Nearby colours fled the room in panic, and light screamed as it was sucked into the darkness of the colour of this beer. The head, of which there was practically none, was a deep wooden brown.
The nose is coffee and dark chocolate, but with a thick, molasses sweetness. There's a grain note there too, but it's hard to notice over the impending 17.2% doom. Overall, it noses like a really complex, coffee stout, but with everything turned up to eleven.
The colour is engine oil black. The deepest of deep space blacks. Nearby colours fled the room in panic, and light screamed as it was sucked into the darkness of the colour of this beer. The head, of which there was practically none, was a deep wooden brown.
The nose is coffee and dark chocolate, but with a thick, molasses sweetness. There's a grain note there too, but it's hard to notice over the impending 17.2% doom. Overall, it noses like a really complex, coffee stout, but with everything turned up to eleven.
The Tasting
I tasted this beer in steps to see how the flavour changed over time. Taste one: sweet, heavy roasted malt, and dark chocolate and coffee notes dominate. The beer has a thick mouthfeel, like (I imagine) engine oil. The finish relents on the sweetness[7], and you're left experiencing the beautiful roasted malt flavours, until......taste two: This time I'm noticing a little more bitterness than last time, but otherwise it's coffee and dark chocolate, however, the sweetness this round is more maple syrup than molasses or treacle. Taste 3: I can see through time, and am starting to believe I could be a pretty good dancer.
The amazing thing here is I'm not getting knocked over by the taste of the booze. I'm in no doubt that this is a heavy, high ABV beer, but unlike almost every barley wine I've had so far, the booze in this is just another dimension to the beer, but not the point of the beer. It's seriously enjoyable, and "easy to drink", in the same way that bungee jumping is "a little exciting", and could "wake you up a bit". But this really is a more-ish beer, and I couldn't have predicted that.
Professional tasting notes that I found online largely agreed with what I described with: coffee, chocolate and sweetness being the common themes, however I missed the "basil" and "oregano"[8]. In my defence, they were easy to miss since they weren't present at all, and the reviewer must have accidentally mixed up his beer with a pizza. Easy to do, and we've all done it. I also love that one reviewer stated that there was a "bit of alcohol"[9].
The amazing thing here is I'm not getting knocked over by the taste of the booze. I'm in no doubt that this is a heavy, high ABV beer, but unlike almost every barley wine I've had so far, the booze in this is just another dimension to the beer, but not the point of the beer. It's seriously enjoyable, and "easy to drink", in the same way that bungee jumping is "a little exciting", and could "wake you up a bit". But this really is a more-ish beer, and I couldn't have predicted that.
Professional tasting notes that I found online largely agreed with what I described with: coffee, chocolate and sweetness being the common themes, however I missed the "basil" and "oregano"[8]. In my defence, they were easy to miss since they weren't present at all, and the reviewer must have accidentally mixed up his beer with a pizza. Easy to do, and we've all done it. I also love that one reviewer stated that there was a "bit of alcohol"[9].
Final Thoughts
To be honest, I expected to enjoy trying this beer, but I wasn't necessarily expecting to like this as a beer. It's brutal, sweet and roasty, and I think it's everything I want from a massive ABV stout. I know I'm critical of big stouts, and I think that they definitely get way too much credit on Untappd with respect to their ratings, but this is definitely not only a great beer but a great experience too[10]. It might be a good idea to share this with a friend though, as it is 6.35 standard drinks on its own.
Deciding who to recommend this beer to is a difficult one, except for steering people who don't like any dark beers/stouts clear away from this one. It's everything a stout can be, as it is an über stout of sorts, and so if you don't like stouts, you'll hate this beer.
However, for everyone else, it's a bit more tricky. On one hand, it's just a fascinating beer to have tried, and everyone should try that, even just for a sip, and maybe not the whole beer. On the other hand, if you even kind of like big stouts, this is astonishing. It's balanced to the point of not being a chore to drink, and yet I'm fairly certain it could end a drinker's night, it's that booze heavy. It is sweet, but not cloying, and it is coffee driven, not never overbearing. So I'd honestly recommend this to anyone that doesn't immediately hate dark beers.
In my opinion, this is the best beer I've ever had that came in at over 12% ABV, but I really wish I was sharing it with someone, and not drinking the whole thing myself[11]. However, in about three mouthfuls, and then ten minutes, I won't even remember drinking it on my own.
| Brewery | Evil Twin Brewing |
|---|---|
| Beer | Big Ass Money Stout 3 |
| Style | International IPA |
| Alcohol | 17.2% |
| IBU | 120 IBU |
| Price | 14.50€ |
| Untappd Global Score | 4.13 |
| My Untappd Score | 4.20 |
Footnotes
[2] I talked about gypsy breweries a little more in a previous review, but just quickly, gypsy brewers are brewers that do not own their own physical brewery, but instead travel around and use the equipment of established physical breweries.
[3] It looks super classy. I'm pretty sure that even though I've never been there, I'm already on the "banned list" for just not being good enough as a person to step foot in the tap room.
[4] As an unreasonable comparison, Schlenkerla have been brewing for (a minimum) of 515 years, and have only produced 8 different beers. Well, if it ain't broke.....
[5] And all 19 have average ratings that range from 4.26/5 to 4.56/5!
[6] It's brewed at Westbrook Brewing Co, in Mount Pleasant, SC if you were wondering. I bet you weren't.
[7] Note that the sweetness is not a bad thing, and kind of needs to be there to counteract the booze and roasted characters. If it were sweet the whole way through, this would be harder to drink.
[8] One must assume that the poor reviewer had already had one of these tactical nuclear alcohol bombs before trying to review it.
[9] Yes, there was a "bit of alcohol" in the same way that Pol Pot was a "bit of a knob", or Tori Spelling's career had a "bit of help" from her father.
[10] The experience isn't over either. I still have a few beers to try tonight, and I'm fairly certain that I can already feel an increased effect from gravity here.
[11] Not because it's bad though. Mainly because I've lost the ability to blink with both eyes at once.
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