And by extravaganza, I mean Brian Gallow and I will compare our respective versions. I’d like to hope that there will be a surprise third or even fourth person, but I’m not holding my breath. Any-whoo, this is our first beer from Evil Twin, and I will note that their website is certainly a step up on Mikkeller’s website, which is still disappointing more than a full month later. Ah, the novelty of discussing your beer on your website. So crazy! Still, Evil Twin does get demerits for the poor copy-editing work on the bottle (see below). But I am forgetting the point, which is Brettanomyces and IPAs, and not my many and varied disappointments. So on to the beer! Femme Fatale pours a lightly hazy golden straw with a thin white creamy head. When first out of the bottle, the nose features pine from the hops, but as the beer opened, the musty earthiness of the Brettanomyces started taking over. The citrus hop aromas make it through the earthiness—there is lemon and orange, along with some floral aromatics.
Flavors start with a soft grainy sweetness, followed by orange and pine resin. The middle is dry, with cracker from the malt, musty earth, and hop bitterness that turns towards pine in the finish. The carbonation is bright and sharp, accentuating the thin, dry body. There is lingering spicy pine bitterness along with some mineral flavors, as well as the earthy gaminess that I connect to Brettanomyces, B. bruxellensis specifically. An interesting beer, one that improved the farther we got into the bottle; the yeast sediment added a creamy consistency that helped round the beer on the palate, cleaning the finish and giving it a pleasant lemon-y brightness. I like this beer, but I liked the brighter, more vibrant hop flavors in both the Rockit Cup versions I tried in conjunction with this beer. Still, it will be interesting to compare how the two Rockit beers age in comparison to this beer: how will the Brettanomyces flavors shift and develop in the 
bottle? Time will certainly provide us an answer. Hopefully I will like that answer. From the bottle: “To take up the challenge and make a 100% true Brett beer can very easily become a fatal attraction for the Brewmaster. Ones [sic] you get acquainted with Bretts [sic] irresistible, seductive, alluring and very charming nature, it will ensnare you and drive you to the point of obsession to create the desirable tangy, funky, tart flavors in ya mouth.”
Ahem. Copy-editing, yo. Oh, and it does note on the bottle that this beer was “produced and bottled for Evil Twin Brewing at Westbrook Brewing Co., Mount Pleasant, SC.”
ABV: 6.0%
(10/10/2013)
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