Evil Twin Yin and Yang

Tonight I give a review of not one beer but two. Why two, because they were meant to be to be together. Tonight is Evil Twin Yin and Yang from Evil Twin Brewing. One is an imperial stout, the other is an imperial IPA. I bought these on a whim for the novelty and that was all. I have had the classic black and tan with Guiness and Harp and although it is not bad, it is still just a novelty.

I have tried to make other black and tans (or whites) from carbonated beers and they just never seem to work: I swear that you need the stout to be nitrogenized for the separation to work and as both Yin and Yang were carbonated I was left with a more transparent stout in the end. Failure there and not just on my part as I tried my best and when I fail at a Guiness/Harp pint, like missing the ball in tee ball, the result is still a gradient rather than a mixture. Eh, I’ll let that go I guess.

Before I tried the two brews on there own, I had the mixture and I must say that it worked really well. Both are 10%, strong like a gorilla, bold like a bear that misplaced its cubs and palatable like something from the French Laundry. When mixed the campfire smoke, hops, malt and weight have a perfect storm that would make George Clooney wish he had picked a different boat. It was damn good, something I would really recommend.

First I had the Yin on it’s own. Good, yes, as a strong stout it better be flavorful and assault my tongue like an artillery of smoke infused malt. It did that well. It also gave me some heartburn but that may happen after a pint of blackish-tan following a 12-hour work shift. Yin will not go down as my favorite, or even top five stouts but it is damn tasty.

Yang on the other hand was wicked good. It might be that as the weather gets warmer, I avoid stouts and prefer beer that I can see through but I really liked this IPA. It might also be that it was not a west coast style IPA (witch are the bee’s knees to me) but was not overpowered by the hoppy-dandelion bitterness that east of the Rockies breweries use so often and was really well rounded: good malt and the hops shared the spotlight.

I will rate these beers Paul Rudd’s beard. Eh, what else could I choose, he is awesome and so is the combination of these beers.

If you want to find these, my boys have them in 4-packs which are kind of expensive but they have been know to break them down into singles.

New Belgium Lips of Faith Transatlantique Kriek

Sour Dessert Beer

This beer was one that I got in my beer club package and when I picked it up I was told that I could swap it out for some thing more…conventional since many people are not a fan of something to do with this beer. I replied with a “of course not” since the whole reason for joining a beer club was to try things I would never buy. Lips of Faith is something that I have passed up many other times since I have a bone to pick with New Belgium. Their Fat Tire was my training-wheel beer: it has flavor other than corn and whatever rat crawled into the mash tun that big three like to market as “crisp and refreshing.” The flavor in Fat Tire is lacking, a lot, as much as top ramen without the seasoning packet. As much as I want to love the brewery since they have a commitment to hippy crap like trying to be off the grid as much as possible and unloading their used grains to cattle farmers so I have enjoy a belly full of cow, their beer generally lacks palate like a pigeon lacks table manners, enough with the past though.

The warning my dealer gave me skipped my mind when I decided to crack the cap. I started to fill my glass and first reaction was something along the lines of “turdhats, it has been a long day at work, Fluffy was an donghuffer and all I wanted a good beer to relax with.” The beer was pink, the last pink beer I had was over priced, disappointing since it had raspberries or something in it (I bought said beer because all profit went to breast cancer research) and I liked it as much as head lice. I finished pouring the pint and read the label “45% ale with cherries added and 55% ale.” My head hung low and I knew before my first taste I was in for some sort of sour disappointment. Alright, it was pink beer, I’ll give it a shot and see if it as disappointing as Tim Lincecum has been as a starter. It was not nearly as sour/fruity as the Russian River Consecration but I was still as comfortable as the South Koreans were when Kim Jong-il was in charge. It tasted like the cherries you would find on a nice tart at an fancy restaurant and the beer flavor was on par with Gary Coleman’s strength. There was not a hint of hops so hopheads beware (ha ha). It is 8% so one bottle might be enough but if you are like me you will still be able to throw back something to rejoin for the safe zone after.

So rating this beer is tough: on one hand it beat my incoming perception like I would love to do to a cat that likes to use the area right in front of his litter box rather than THE BLASTED LITTER BOX but on the other I am going to find something to wash it away. That is why I must rate it the bearded lady, it was much more enjoyable than I had anticipated but I was left want wanting something from my comfort zone to paint over it. While going over this review another aspect has been noticed: it leaves a dry-like feeling in my mouth kinda like tannin heavy wine does. Not a deal breaker, just something I noticed.