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Hazelnut Archives - BEER AWESOME

Take a Chili Biscotti Hazelnut Break with BeerAwesome

Evil Twin
Imperial Biscotti Chili Hazelnut Break
Imperial Stout
11.5% 16oz Can

 

The …break from Evil Twin starts by pouring a crazy dark color with a great, dark head. But before you even get to that point, you’ll smell some interesting stuff right from the can. I could immediately tell it was going to have a little spice to it, along with strong imperial stout alcohol and malt. I can’t wait to take a break myself so let’s get right to it.

Hops – 1.1 Of the hodgepodge of flavors, this one is not there.
Malts – 7.9 Yes, this made the cut. They are there and you’ll know it.
Carbonation – 6.6 A little surprising but I think the bubbles add a little punch to the spice and break up the festival of taste happening.
Character – 9.2 The name of this beer might be longer than the review, and it shows. There’s a good chili spice that plays well with the chocolate and hazelnut notes, and then you get slammed with delicious malt, vanilla, some alcohol and a roasted…something.
Palate – 9.0 It blends just enough spicy kick with everything else. Well done.
Overall – 9.0 It’s smooth, it has bite, it’s sweet and roasty but you also get a great (not overpowering) booze finish with it.

I had held on to this one and it survived many alcohol induced fridge raids because I thought it was going to be worth writing about, and at the price point I didn’t want it to be just another beer I had. You might think that chocolate, vanilla, hazelnut, chili spice, malt, coffee and alcohol sounds like an alcoholic Peruvian librarian’s fever dream but it comes together so well. There’s a small lingering heat (which I like), everything that’s sweet isn’t SO sweet that it seems to choke you, and the booze finish helps with the heat and is a delightful touch at the end.