To begin- Happy Holidays to those celebrating any variation. I'd break it down and give a holiday-by-holiday greeting, but for sake of my fingers, let's just all give praise to Hopsus and agree to disagree on the rest of it.
This is the first Evil Twin beer we've reviewed. This came from a suggestion from Jay at one of our favorite bottle shops. The last IPA he guided us to was Smashbomb Atomic (which we try and purchase when able [Jennie edit: every chance we get]). I've read different things about Evil Twin, one being that the brewmaster is the twin brother of the brewmaster at Mikkeller. Apparently, there's some sibling rivalry. I guess that would explain the name.
So, the Falco, the only thing I can really find out about it online is what's on the label. 7% ABV. There are a couple of pages saying it has Falconer's Flight hops, other reviews are saying Mosaic. Nothing found on a search of the ol' Google for the IBU on this. If I were to guess the IBU, it would be between 1 and 500. With the 'technical' aspect of this beer covered, I think it's safe to say that we should delve nose first on this.
The color on this is a hazy yellow orange color. The carbonation is clearly visible while staring at it, imagining that I didn't have to use Falco's "Rock Me Amadeus" for the music pairing... It's a terrible song! Fuck it... I'm not going to use it, but something from the same era that I can actually listen to without wanting to stick a red hot soldering iron in my fucking ears.
The aroma on this is a nice bouquet orange, grapefruit, some earthy notes and some faint sweetness. The initial sip is... like a hoppy orange juice. Huh... There's a predominant orange flavor that stays in the back through out the first blast through the end. There's a grapefruit zest/pine blast up front that mellows out as the orange flavor rides into a weird backend. The backend is weird with a dank and almost dusty like flavor. The malt does not really appear in the flavor profiles, letting the hops shine through. There's a nice bitter and mouth puckering finish on this that I expect/love out of IPAs.
Not bad, worth checking out, especially for $3 a 12 oz bottle.
Fuck you Falco (the musician, not the beer).
4.3/5 caps
-Nathan-
Wow, I am a little surprised to hear such derision over one of the best Eurotrash electronica bands of the 80's. I still chuckle a little bit every time I hear "Rock Me Amadeus".... just me? Perhaps it helps that I don't speak German, no matter how much my parents encouraged me. It was one language that never triggered wanderlust. I speak two other languages (French and Russian, natch), but I can merely count to three in German and give a functional toast as well as "Hello", "Good Morning", and "Good Night". That's it. I know more about German beer than I do the language. Oops. Perhaps I should, um, brush up before I aspire to attend my first authentic Oktoberfest. Don't worry, it won't be next year. There is time. Don't fear.
Really, I'm listening to "Der Kommissar" and wondering how this doesn't pair with this beer... That's a real head-scratcher there. Perhaps I should actually delve into this beer before the song ends and find out what is so offensive about that pairing. I mean, it practically pairs itself, doesn't it??? Shall we find out what it is about this beer that caused Nathan to be so reticent about pairing the two?
This is a lovely light golden color with a modicum of white head gracing the top of my glass. The aroma is beautiful pine, grapefruit, some mango floating in there with some cracker-y malts. When I drink it, though, a completely different set of flavors arrive. Freshly dug earth, faint grapefruit, pine resin, and eventually tropical fruits come through. This beer is weird: it has a wonderful aroma that I could spend in forever, but the taste is so different it's a little off-putting. I taste Falconer's Flight, Amarillo, and some Mosaic hops that could have been better utilized. What makes me so sad is that this is a great base IPA for some wonderful hops. Indeed, there are some wonderful hops in here, but they aren't used in the showcase manner that my nose had desired and even presumed. In more layman's terms, this has a killer body, like Gisele before she had a kid, and yet it is an actual hop mess. There is a slight stickiness on my lips as the earthy notes prevail the end of this taste.
It's definitely not terrible, yet like Santa Claus, it disappoints a smidgen. I would consider it an interesting experiment into some hops that I don't always love. It's nothing against the brewery or the hops, it's more of a bizarre jumble that has me scratching my head again. Kinda like hearing "Maschine Brennt" again from Falco, which I haven't heard since, well, I can't remember. A long time. Let's just leave it at that, please.
4.1/5 caps
- Jennie
Food Pairing: Cheese danish. Because just yum.
Cheese Pairing: A rather sharp Havarti, no dill required this time.
Music Pairing: "Broken Wings" by Mr. Mister
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