Brewery: Evil Twin Brewing (brewed at Two Roads Brewing Co.)
Beer: Ryan and the Beaster Bunny
Style: Saison/Farmhouse Ale
ABV: 7.0%
Character: n/a
Ratings: BeerAdvocate: 3.8/5 | Untappd: 3.68/5
Metal Connection: PORTRAIT – Black Easter
BeerMetalDude Rating: 4/5
It’s been a while since I have posted a written out beer review ever since we have been focusing on putting the beer reviews on our newly created podcast. If you haven’t check it out yet, do so now! We have 8 episodes up as of today. It’s pretty funny shit to hear the chemistry between the wife and I as we discuss beer and other crazy shit! We are on a short break from the podcast due to some serious family stuff that has been going on over the past couple of weeks, so instead of leaving the content here dormant, I drank and reviewed this amazing beer called Ryan and the Beaster Bunny by Evil Twin Brewing.
Before we get into the beer itself, let’s talk a bit about the brewery who created this monster. Evil Twin Brewing is the creation of Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergsø, an actual twin brother of Mikkeller owner, Mikkel Borg Bjergsø, who is also another gypsy brewer. What? You ask. A gypsy brewer is a brewer who doesn’t actually have an actual brewery. They have their beers brewed at different breweries around the world. Pretty cool, if you ask me. They get to put out beer under their name, and not really have to worry about some of the headaches that come with owning a brewery. So besides Mikkeller and Evil Twin, another gypsy brewer that I really enjoy is Stillwater Artisanal. To give a little more detail on this beer we’re about to drink, it is a Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergsø recipe that was brewed at Two Roads Brewing Company from Connecticut from what I read.
Let’s talk about the label work. Evil Twin Brewing has a similar theme throughout their labels. Either there is a wallpaper-like pattern or a weird pixelated photo or artwork usually with the beer name written out in a large font layered over the image. In this case, the label is a pattern of diamond shapes alternating between a light peach color and a burnt orange on top of an overall light orange label. The beer name is in a large bold black font that is draped over the pattern. Very simple, but I would expect nothing more from Evil Twin.
I poured this beer into a bell shaped tulip glass by Ranger Creek Brewing and Distilling. This beer’s appearance was a bright copper-like color that had a bit of a haze (no, don’t go getting your Haze Craze hard on, you tools). The initial pour left a large 1.5 inch white foamy head, which would leave excellent lacing down the glass as I drank this beer.
The aroma was a bit perfumy. It had a nice floral and grass-like aroma, mixed in with a large farmhouse funk element that was a bit like hay and or straw. There was a small hint of banana, citrus and lemon. The 7% ABV isn’t hidden in this one, as it had a nice burn in the nose with each whiff.
The flavor matched the aroma. The floral and grass flavors combines with the farmhouse funk makes a great perfume-like flavor. There is a nice hay or straw taste making up the body of this beer. The trailing end flavor is all fruity with the notes of banana, citrus and lemon. I love the combination of all these flavors together, making this whole drinking experience an excellent one. Again, like the aroma, the 7% ABV is not hidden. It is a bit burning going down.
Ryan and the Beaster Bunny had a medium body, and a pretty smooth mothfeel. There was a mild carbonation with a small bite, but mostly smooth overall. The finish was semi-dry. The smoothness kept going and them a slight dry feeling rolled in, but not taking over.
This was a fantastic beer overall. Usually Evil Twin beers don’t disappoint, so I wasn’t expecting this one to suck. Saisons or Farmhouse Ales are definitely one of my favorite styles of beer. I love the overall flavor and aroma of this style, when they are brewed right. Of course, over time the style has developed many different variants. Some make them tat, sour, fruity, hoppy, or just traditional. I could not find any character info on this beer anywhere on the interwebs, so I just assume this one was a more traditional style Saison, as I did not catch any weird flavors going on here.
Metal Connection: Portrait is a Swedish Heavy Metal band who’s lyrical themes are based around Satanism and Darkness. This band has been around since 2005, and have released 4 full length albums to date. The thing about Portrait though, is that they have more of a n old school feel to it or early Heavy Metal, rather than playing what the kids are now doing these days. The song I chose for this Metal Connection is called “Black Easter” from their 3rd full length album, Crossroads, which was released in 2014 on Metal Blade Records. I chose this song cause to me, it bared a similarity to the name of this beer. I mean the beer has the fucking word Bunny in it, so a song with the word Easter in it is a perfect fit in my fucking opinion. This damn song heavily makes me think of Don’t Break the Oath by Mercyful Fate. Black Easter could easily be a track off that album. The influences are evident here with Portrait. If you are in the mood for some old school Heavy Metal, then please check out Portrait. You won’t be disappointed.
Beer Metal Media 