Evil Twin "Old Fashioned Lemonade" IPA

Evil Twin has their issues. They've become so unpredictable that I tend to shy away from picking up their beers when I see them on the shelf. That's not to say that they can't produce good beer, it's just that I don't know what I'm getting whatever I buy one. And they have so many different varieties that it really feels like every time I grab a new one I'm just rolling the dice. And when it comes to paying as much money for a craft brew as they like to charge, it just doesn't seem worth it. For some reason, I changed my mind the last time I went to the store, and that gave me this beer.

As you can see from the picture, this beer is no slouch in carbonation. The head is considerably voluminous, and it takes more than a few pauses to fill the glass. The bottom of the glass eventually contains fairly large chunks of sediment that seem incongruous with the thick yet smooth texture of the rest of the beer. Bearded Iris would be proud of the juice-like nature of the texture of this beer, and the orange color only furthers that assessment. The white head is large and very large bubbles, and they do take a while to go down leaving no lacing in their trail. The aroma is sweet lemons, bread malt, and what smells like coriander.

First sip is definitely lemon heavy. The lemon tartness mixes into the sweetness of the bread malt that has a lot more crust in it than I had expected. The resulting mixture is a not unpleasing version of lemonade that really puts me more in mind of a shanty. Basically, it tastes like they've added a bunch of lemon to a fairly decent regular beer. Looking at the label, it appears that is exactly what they did.

Tip-in is tart lemons with some coriander, pine, and almost no carbonation beyond a very faint tingle. The middle eases into higher carbonation as the sweetness of the malt cuts into the tart and lightens everything up into a smooth mix of fruits and grains that pleases significantly. The finish is a bit bitter and a touch tart as the lemons join oranges for the trail-off.

Bottom Line: This would be a good beer for drinking while mowing the lawn or the like.

3.5/5