It appears that most companies take a serious approach towards brewing and naming their beers. This makes perfect sense, as a mature process towards selecting nomenclature would naturally appeal to an adult audience. Occasionally a brewery will make an interesting hop pun in the name, or a creative malt play-on-words will present itself, but rarely does a company utilize pop culture references and bizarre tagging to highlight all of their beers.
It seems that Evil Genius Brewing Company has no interest in adhering to the system norm. Most of the names this company selects for its intriguing, and on the whole, very tasty beers, I recognize from various movie quotes, music lines, and cultural references.
“Ma! The Meatloaf!” is a reference to the movie Wedding Crashers.
“I Love Lamp!” points to Anchorman.
“Chickity China, The Chinese Chicken” pays homage to an immensely popular song by the band The Bare Naked Ladies.
“Purple Monkey Dishwasher,” I admittedly can’t place. Though the Evil Genius beer by the same name is a damn good peanut butter porter.
As most of the offerings Evil Genius has presented have been pleasing, I anxiously snatched up a six-pack of the ELF movie influenced “Santa! I know him!” and subsequently offer my humble opinions.
Santa! I know him! – Evil Genius Brewing Company – Pouring this fills the glass with clear copper/rosegold beer with a head that dissipates in an instant. It smells of candied apples with a subtle cotton candiness to the nose. Belgian yeastiness can be perceived, and this hints at being a quad or triple while oddly being advertised as a saison. Currants and plums are discernible as well with some pleasant herbal notes rounding out the olfactory experience. This thinly carbonated brew sadly follows its lack of bubbles with dearth of intriguing taste elements and resembles an light, malt deficient, amber ale with minute elements of spice, and a pseudo-saison flavored finish. While I most often find the taste and body to be the more favorable element over smell in a beer, this one happens to be the inverse of that norm. I couldn’t wait to taste this beer upon smelling it but after one or two sips, I can’t wait to move on to the next one. 3/10
Unfortunately, I must refer to one of my favorite holiday movie quotes to properly evaluate this beer. This one comes from the majestic film Bad Santa, with the line delivered by Billy Bob Thornton. The scene involves a boy, Thurman Merman, upon discovers an aspirin/pain pill in his mangled, and sloppily repaired, advent calendar.
“They can’t all be winners, can they!”
Maybe the next Evil Genius beer can be named “Atonement.” Or perhaps a more creative option might be to emulate another Will Ferrell movie quote and create a “And bring your green hat too!” pale ale. Maybe we’ll get a “Honey, you think KFC is still open?” braggot or mead from Evil Genius.
I will certainly keep trying Evil Genius’s creatively named offerings. But from “Santa” on I will have tempered expectations of the smile inspiring names leading to an equally satisfactory draught.
Humbly yours,
J