Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergsø, the founder and man behind Evil Twin Brewing, was a physics and English teacher in his native Denmark before starting Copenhagen’s Ølbutikken, a highly regarded beer store. He’s also an evil twin himself. His brother, Mikkel Borg Bergsø, brews under the Mikkeller label. Jarnit-Bjergsø, however, has done his best to outshine the good twin. He founded Evil Twin in 2010 as a nomadic brewery. Like his brother Mikkel, Jarnit-Bjergsø would concocts a recipe for his beer and hand it to another brewery with some extra capacity. This contracted brewing partner brewed, bottled, priced and sold the beer, then cut Jarnit-Bjergsø a check. Evil Twin beers were brewed everywhere from South Carolina and Scotland to Holland and Denmark. In 2012, Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergsø moved it to Brooklyn and relocated there with his family, opening the beer bar TØRST the same year. Today, Peaks and Pints presents a flight of Evil Twin craft beer in what we like to call Craft Beer Crosscut 5.24.17: A Flight of Evil Twin.
Evil Twin Sour Bikini
3% ABV
Throw on a bikini top, drop the beads around your neck and toss back Evil Twin’s cross between a hop cone and a lemon. The aromatics are a truly beautiful blend of straight-up citrus, primarily lemon and tangerine, backed up by very fresh, green, grassiness. Sour Bikini tastes, in the most marvelous way, like Tang gone tipsy, or perhaps liquid Flintstones vitamins for the beer-drinking set. Low in alcohol, spritzy, tart, refreshing, citrusy and chuggable, it’s suited for IPA die-hards looking to escape a bitter rut, or intrepid drinkers eager to explore the sour waters, an accomplice to good times as endless as summer sunshine.
Evil Twin Imperial Mexican Biscotti Cake Break
10.5% ABV, 60 IBU
Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergsø contract brewed at Westbrook Brewing in South Carolina before moving Evil Twin to New York City. As he brewed his Biscotti Break imperial stout with vanilla, almond and coffee he drank Westbrook’s Mexican Cake imperial stout with cocoa nibs, vanilla beans, cinnamon sticks, and fresh habanero peppers. Then one day Biscotti Break met Mexican Cake and they knew it was much more than a hunch. Soon they became the Imperial Mexican Biscotti Cake Break, an imperial stout brewed with coffee, cinnamon, almonds, cocoa nibs, vanilla and habanero peppers. The result? An even bigger beer. Two dessert beers meeting in one glass could be overwhelming. Not in this case. As the beer warms, cinnamon chocolate and vanilla start to pop. Subtle elements of the two beer threads are far from a challenge to find in each sip. The only thing subtle here is the pepper.
Evil Twin Falco
7% ABV, 70 IBU
You may have noticed Evil Twin’s products gracing our shelves, most likely because the packaging is gorgeously eye-catching and impossible to ignore. The blocky, geometric bird design of the label isn’t just a ruse to trick you into buying it — this beer is delicious. The Falco IPA is crisp, floral, and refreshingly hoppy, everything you want from an IPA. A first whiff brings a mild grapefruit and freshly squeezed citrus fruit aroma. Mild toasted and grainy malts blend rather well with the citrus fruits and a hint of pine needle. The finish is moderately bitter.
Evil Twin Molotov Lite
8.5% ABV, 90 IBU
Seeing a beer with “Lite” on the label and 8.5 percent ABV would seem to be a contradiction in terms. Evil Twin Molotov Lite is actually a scaled-down version of the brewery’s 13 percent ABV Molotov Cocktail. Originally brewed at Two Roads Brewing in Connecticut, this double IPA pours a dull yellow with a tight white collar. The smell of citrus assails the nose before rich malt rides the tongue from beginning to end, with a slight vanilla or birthday cake flavor on the back end. Pineapple, peach, pear and grapefruit are all prominent — akin more to hard candy rather than juice. There’s an intense sensation of bitterness as well; it’s slightly dry but nothing the average hophead can’t handle.
Evil Twin Yin & Yang
10% ABV, 100 IBU
The Tantric philosophy states there is nothing more fundamental in the Universe than the two types of energy YIN(-) and YANG(+). The whole Universal Manifestation is subject to the two opposed but complementary forces, lunar and solar, the centrifugal force and the centripetal force, the feminine and the masculine. We have no idea what that means, but we do know what Yin & Yang means. Evil Twin Yin arrived first in the Universe, a 10 percent ABV roasty, chocolate-heavy imperial stout. Yang arrived next, a 10 percent, hoppy imperial IPA. Yin & Yang is Jarnit-Bjergsø’s version of a traditional black and tan, with 33 percent Yin and 67 percent Yang, for the perfect balance.
