Beer Review: Evil Twin Big Ass Money Stout
photo by Kevin Gibson
Yes, it’s craft beer made with frozen pizza and Norwegian currency
As craft beer was in the process of exploding, we saw quite a few novelty beers and other brews that were just plain weird. Rogue Ales created a beer using yeast grown in the brewer’s beard, Sapporo made a beer using barley that spent time on the International Space Station, and Wynkoop Brewing made a beer brewed with bull testicles. You can’t make this stuff up, and there’s really no reason you would want to. But sometimes breweries look for out-of-the-box ways to get noticed, for better or worse.
One day as I was bottle-and can-shopping, I came across a lone can of Big Ass Money Stout from Evil Twin Brewing sitting amongst some stray bottles. The can beckoned to me thanks to the illustrations of pizza and legal tender on the label. I thought, “Surely not,” but I never should have doubted it—Big Ass Money Stout really is brewed with frozen pizza and money in the mash.
The beer was brewed as a collaboration with Norway’s Lervig Aktiebryggeri, in an experiment with Evil Twin’s Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergsø, who is not new to brewing experimental beers.
When the beer was first brewed, in 2015, the key goal was to brew “something really stupid.” A secondary aspiration was to make it the biggest beer ever brewed in Norway, with the goal of hitting 20% alcohol by volume. The first goal certainly was achieved, while the version of the beer I found topped out at 17.2%. (Admittedly, 17% alcohol is stupid-high in its own right.)
I cracked the can and poured it into a tulip glass, and my first thought was, of course, motor oil. A thick, dark tan head erupted briefly, but quickly melted away into jet black darkness. The aroma was just as beastly as I expected, as the opaque beer oozed big aromas of chocolate, dark fruit (is that black cherry I smell?), raisins, hints of vanilla and an odd spicy flavor I couldn’t quite pinpoint. Quite a bouquet.
One drink, then, is all it takes to know what you’ve gotten yourself into, and that’s 16 ounces of some of the biggest, baddest beer you’ll taste most days. Or years. Folks, 17.2% alcohol isn’t easy to hide, and it’s clear Lervig and Evil Twin had no intentions of really trying. The thick, rich chocolaty flavor of the beer nods to the aforementioned fruit and perhaps a bit of caramel and spice, but the boozy body in Big Ass Money Stout is on full display from the get-go, and it doesn’t let up. Literally, after two drinks, I had a burning finish in my throat and chest that was part pleasant and part, well, ridiculous. Almost alarming. Big-ass finish, if you will.
I searched hard for the pizza in the flavor, which in the original batch was a frozen Grandiosa-brand pizza topped with ham and peppers. I searched with no success for any saltiness that resembled ham, or any sharpness of a green pepper. I would have settled for a hint of tomato and garlic from the sauce, but the beer is just way too big with its other flavors.
(Note: Since I don’t know what Norwegian currency tastes like, I didn’t bother trying to detect that in the beer. Although since it was added after fermentation, there may have been more of a shot there. I guess I’ll never know.)
Now, as silly as it sounds to put frozen pizza and money into a beer, I’m not going to lie: While it’s over the top, the beer is actually pretty damn tasty. At worst, it’s worth trying simply because the experience is so overwhelming and stimulating to the palate. And if you find yourself on frigid winter evening, teeth chattering, with a can of this in the fridge? Get it out. Immediately. You won’t be cold a second longer, I promise.
Best I can tell, the version I found was from the 2018 batch of the beer, so it had a year-plus in the can to age, which I’m sure only enhanced its characteristics. How I got lucky enough to find this one rogue can, I’ll never know, but it was worth the money I spent on it. Do I necessarily want more? Maybe as a conversation starter to share with friends at a bottle share. Being the guy that brought that one to the party would make a lasting impression.