Evil Twin Imperial Biscotti Break

Brewed By: Evil Twin Brewing (Westbrook Brewing) in Copenhagen/Brooklyn

Purchased: 22oz bottle bought at Walgreens in Chicago, IL; 2013 

Style/ABV: Imperial Stout, 11.5%

Reported IBUs: ?

Tonight I'm reviewing a beer from Evil Twin. 

Evil Twin is a Gypsy Brewery founded by founded by Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergsø (brother of Mikkel Borg Bjergsø) in 2010. Like his twin brother Mikkel, Jeppe is a teacher, and a homebrewer who was tired of the mainstream offerings. In 2004, Mikkel went off to pursue brewing, while Jeppe opened up a bottle shop. In 2010, while teaching a homebrewing, Jeppe decided to sell and distribute the beer he was brewing via his bottle shop. Jeppe moved to New York in 2012. For more info, check out this interview/history here. 

Tonight's beer, the Imperial Biscotti Break, is a big-ass Imperial Stout, brewed with coffee beans, clocking in at 11.5% ABV. The bottle reads: "The Roman Empire had a certain ‘je ne sais quoi’ – festive food culture, extravagant architecture and spectacular live entertainment. Some might argue the Emperors where brutal, mad and hungry for power, and the people vain when taking baths and working out all day. Listen – that’s still all part of the secret Imperial ingredient – keep it cool, clean, confident, arrogant and flamboyant. Forza Imperiale."

Evil Twin Imperial Biscotti Break

WOW. This beer pours out with syrupy and viscous consistency. This one is opaque, squid-ink black, and probably towards the upper bound on the SRM. This one kicked up a finger's worth of dark, coffee/brown head. The head is bready, thick, and sustaining nicely for an 11.5% beer.

As if the appearance on this wasn't enough, the aroma is everything you want in a crazy beer. I'm getting huge coffee notes, big nuts/almonds, chocolate/vanilla/molasses and hints of sweet dark fruits (namely raisin), some bread/biscuit, and sludgy, chocolaty booze.

This reminds me quite a bit of Souther Tier's imperial offerings...this is a huge, chewy beer. It's rich and heavy, and is very much reminiscent of dessert. You get big coffee, chocolate/vanilla, raisins and molasses, and boozy cream/coffee liquor in this. There's nice roast in the mix as well, along with the bitter coffee, and you get tons of buttery almonds and bread/biscuit. 

This one is basically motor oil. This is full-bodied, chewy, thick, syrupy, sugary...it's a sipper for sure. And yet, the bitter coffee and roast help ground things, so it's a far cry from being as sweet as Southern Tier's Creme Brulee, and it might even be more drinkable than the 2012 Bourbon County Coffee. Palate depth is outstanding, with each sip coating your tongue and lips; the beer lingers on your palate for 30 seconds plus per sip. Complexity is nice too, albeit the balance of this beer is coffee, boozy Imperial Stout, and sugary sweetness. You get a blast of biscotti/biscuit/bread up front, followed by huge coffee and almonds; this rolls into raisins, fruits, molasses, sticky sweetness, booze; the back end is where the roast shows up, with some burnt sugars, roast, more coffee, more booze, more lingering biscuit/bread. The finish is sticky, sweet, and boozy. 

Rating: Divine Brew (5/5 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Strong Divine Brew on this. This is pretty much perfect. That huge coffee, chocolate, boozy chocolate-covered-raisins, bread/biscuit...yeah, this kind of reminds me of a Biscotti dipped in coffee. This is also one of the best coffee-infused Stouts I've had, and I've had many of them. And as if this beer couldn't get any better, 22oz bombers were going for a reasonable price. I want to say this one was around 13 or 14 bucks, maybe less. This would pair well with a scoop of ice cream, a cigar, bready desserts (think: Biscotti), maybe a citrus/orange dessert, and possibly with red meats. Honestly though, pour this into a snifter and drink this for dessert. This one is pretty intense, so you can split a bomber with a friend or two.

Random Thought: There's something in the water in Denmark, because between Evil Twin and Mikkeller, there's some good shit being made.