Heretic Brewing Company Evil Cousin Imperial IPA and Evil Twin Blood Red West Coast Amber

Hello beer lovers and welcome to another edition of the NorCal Beer Blog's brew review.

Tonight’s featured beers are Heretic Brewing Company Evil Cousin Imperial IPA and Evil Twin Blood Red West Coast Amber. When I heard that Heretic was planning to have their first pint night (ever) at Handles Gastropub in Pleasanton, CA I knew I had to get over there since I had yet to try the beer. Little did I know that I was going to see my good friends from HopTech Homebrewing Supplies (Jade and Roberto), see Mike McDole again and say “Hello” to Jamil Zainasheff, Chief Heretic at Heretic Brewing Company. I needed to pick up a Heretic pint glass for the collection (much to my wife’s chagrin).

From the Heretic Brewing Company Website: “Evil Cousin is Heretic's take on a West coast imperial IPA. This beer is a bold, in-your-face hop monster. It has a light, easy drinking malt character that allows the hops to stand out. The hop character in this beer is intentionally on the dank side; big, sticky, and aggressive. This beer is for those of you who can't get enough hops. Join us on the dank side.”

Let’s get started! First up, Heretic Brewing Company Evil Cousin Imperial IPA…

Appearance: Pours an excellent amber caramel color with a great white head and nice lacing.

Aroma: Citrus (grapefruit and orange) and pine hops followed with a nice sweet caramel malt presence. Very nice!

Taste: Upfront grapefruit followed by pine with a sweet caramel malt and biscuit backend. Extremely tasty and addictive!

Overall: Well balanced, extremely drinkable and at 8% ABV a beer I could drink this for a little while. I look forward to seeing this all over the place and hopefully someday in bottles. A VERY solid beer!

Next up, Heretic Brewing Company Evil Twin Blood Red West Coast Amber …

From the card at Handles Gastropub…”This blood-red ale may not be what you might expect from a malty and hoppy craft beer. Evil Twin has a rich malt character, without being overly sweet. It has a huge hop character, without being overly bitter. It is a great example of a bold, rich, balanced craft bee, without being heavy and hard to drink in quantity. Our Evil Twin is only bad because it is too good to resist.”

Appearance: Pours a very dark amber with a nice off-white and thick head and excellent lacing.

Aroma: Citrus (grapefruit), tropical fruit and pine hops with sweet caramel, toffee and toasted malts. Smells great!

Taste: Grapefruit, lemon, tangerine, pine with sweet malts, bread and toffee to perfectly balance this hoppy red. SO GOOD!

Overall: Incredible balance, incredible drinkability and at 6.8% ABV Heretic Brewing Company Evil Twin Blood Red West Coast Amber is amazing. I highly recommend Evil Twin and I look forward to their other offerings.

After these two I wanted to try Tafelbully, Heretic’s Belgian-inspired table beer, but my wife needed me to finish her Maui Brewing Company CoCoNut Porter so I had to hold back. Most certainly next time.

If you have a chance to check out Heretic Brewing Company’s offerings, DO!

Cheers!

Mark Harvey