Two Roads Brewing Co.
Dear Replicator, A few years ago, in the cold winter months in Vermont, I came across Route of All Evil from Two Roads Brewing Co. It was in one of the coolest and creepiest cans ever, with a clown on a tricycle, outside an asylum. The beer was delicious, hoppy and dark, the perfect companion for Vermont winters. Unfortunately, the beer hasn’t been around the last couple years so Replicator can you please help me recreate this amazingly hoppy, dark brew?
Andy Jadrnak
Colchester, Vermont
Great request Andy! And the thought of sipping this beer with a roaring fire crackling in the hearth and snow falling outside during a winter evening in Vermont certainly has a ring of appeal. Although I’m glad that Two Roads Brewing Co. is located in Stratford, Connecticut and not in Derry, Maine, especially with the presence of a creepy clown on the front of the can; cool but certainly creepy.
Entrepreneurship is about looking behind shabby facades and seeing the potential of a space or idea. For Two Roads, that meant repurposing a chemically-contaminated manufacturing warehouse into a powerhouse brewery. To this end, the brains behind Two Roads, Phil Markowski, Brad Hittle, Peter Doering, and Clem Pellani were awarded a grant from the Department of Economic and Community Development for $500,000 towards the remediation and refurbishment of the derelict warehouse to convert it into a modern brewhouse. The four credited the Stratford, Connecticut legislative delegation and specifically former Mayor John Harkins for the aid in securing the funds.
Furthermore to their plan, they sought to bring 70+ jobs to the area while providing a space to tour, sample, and buy high-quality craft beer. One of the many obstacles they needed to hurdle was a state law prohibiting breweries from selling pints of beer on-site to patrons who declined a tour. Once again, it was the local politicians on both sides of the proverbial aisle who rose to the challenge to aid Two Roads. And as a result, Two Roads is now situated in Stratford on ten acres featuring the brewing facilities, a wetland preserve, the Hopyard (which is an open, grassy field for hosting events), and a botanical garden where a variety of fruits are grown to be used in fermented beverages.
One of the hallmarks of Two Roads is their creativity of which their beer is merely a result. Unlike many start-up breweries, they decided against the philosophy of starting small and expanding the business as needed. As Robert Frost penned, “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” They indeed took the road less traveled and built brewery operations that far exceeded anything they personally needed (~190,000 BBLs/year), which opened the door for contract brewing by first intent. Evil Twin, Stillwater, and Lawson’s Finest Liquids have all brewed beer at Two Roads’ facilities. In 2018, Two Roads brewed 63,000 BBLs of their own brand while producing 72,000 BBLs of contracted beer; the venture seems to have paid off.
Another aspect of their inventiveness is wholly centered on their beer. Phil desired to produce sours but didn’t want to run the risk of contaminating the brewery while having them take up valuable fermenter space. And voila! The Tanker Truck Sour Series was born. Several kettle-soured Goses are fermented in a repurposed milk tanker truck that resides outside of the brewery’s walls, thereby removing the risk of contamination with airborne, souring bacteria.
But the human imagination knows no bounds and Phil wanted to craft sours the Belgian way. With the campus situated on 10 acres and free space available next door, the next evolution at Two Roads could become a reality. The 25,000-square-foot, $15 million expansion called Area Two Experimental Brewing opened its doors on March 11, 2019. As Phil succinctly put it, “Area Two will be a brewery of boundless experimentation . . . we will continue to innovate, redefine, and stretch the definition of beer.” It features a 50-BBL coolship that will harness the microflora from the wetlands on site, an inventory of 1,500 barrels from wineries and distilleries including tequila, Bourbon, and Calvados barrels, and numerous lambics and other sour beers such as Sour’d Whiskey.
Now onto the beer! Route of All Evil is a hoppy, roasty beer in a similar vein as a black IPA or Cascadian dark ale, depending on your location and persuasion. It is significantly hoppier than an American stout if you’re following the 2015 Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) guidelines. Production of the beer is currently “On Sabbatical” at Two Roads even though it won a Gold medal at the 2015 Great International Beer Festival (GIBF). The description of the beer direct from Two Roads is, “Neither stout nor porter, this beer is full-bodied, bold and black with flavor characteristics of dark chocolate, mocha, molasses and dark fruits balanced by piney citrusy notes of Pacific Northwest hops.” And if you’re feeling a bit adventurous like two of Two Roads brewers, Roger and Colin, go ahead and add a dose of chopped chipotle and ghost peppers to this brew followed by aging in a rye whiskey barrel. Happy experimenting!
Two Roads Brewing Company’s Route of All Evil clone
(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.072 FG = 1.012
IBU = 30 SRM = 37 ABV = 7.9%
Ingredients
11 lbs. (5 kg) 2-row pale ale malt
0.75 lb. (0.34 kg) dark Munich malt
0.75 lb. (0.34 kg) crystal malt (65 °L)
0.75 lb. (0.34 kg) black malt
0.38 lb. (0.17 kg) crystal malt (25 °L)
0.38 lb. (0.17 kg) Special B malt
0.38 lb. (0.17 kg) flaked barley
0.38 lb. (0.17 kg) flaked rye
0.25 lb. (0.11 kg) blackstrap molasses (15 min.)
6 AAU Magnum hops (60 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g at 12% alpha acids)
4.25 AAU Centennial hops (10 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g at 8.5% alpha acids)
2.25 AAU Crystal hops (10 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g at 4.5% alpha acids)
20 AAU Chinook hops (0 min.) (1.5 oz./43 g at 13.3% alpha acids)
2.25 AAU Crystal hops (0 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g at 4.5% alpha acids)
2.13 AAU Centennial hops (0 min.) (0.25 oz./7 g at 8.5% alpha acids)
1.5 oz. (43 g) Crystal hops (dry hop)
0.75 oz. (21 g) Cascade hops (dry hop)
0.75 oz. (21 g) Columbus hops (dry hop)
Wyeast 1056 (American Ale) or White Labs WLP001 (California Ale) or SafAle US-05 yeast
¾ cup corn sugar (if priming)
Step by Step
Mill the grains, then mix with 4.6 gallons (17.5 L) of 169 °F (76 °C) strike water to achieve a single infusion rest temperature of 154 °F (68 °C). Hold at this temperature for 60 minutes. Mashout to 170 °F (77 °C) if desired.
Vorlauf until your runnings are clear before directing them to your boil kettle. Batch or fly sparge the mash to obtain 6.5 gallons (25 L) of wort. Boil for 60 minutes, adding hops at the times indicated above left in the boil. At 15 minutes left in the boil, you can add either Irish moss or Whirlfloc as fining agents as well as the blackstrap molasses.
After the boil, add the flameout hops into the wort and whirlpool for 15 minutes before rapidly chilling the wort to 66 °F (19 °C). Pitch yeast. Maintain fermentation temperature and do not exceed 70 °F (21 °C) for this beer.
Once primary fermentation is complete, add the dry hops indicated and let them extract for 4 days. Bottle or keg the beer and carbonate to approximately 2.5 volumes.
Two Roads Brewing Company’s Route of All Evil clone
(5 gallons/19 L, extract with grains)
OG = 1.072 FG = 1.012
IBU = 30 SRM = 14 ABV = 7.8%
Ingredients
6 lbs. (2.27 kg) extra light dried malt extract
0.5 lb. (0.23 kg) Munich dried malt extract
0.75 lb. (0.34 kg) crystal malt (65 °L)
0.75 lb. (0.34 kg) black malt
0.38 lb. (0.17 kg) crystal malt (25 °L)
0.38 lb. (0.17 kg) Special B malt
0.38 lb. (0.17 kg) flaked barley
0.38 lb. (0.17 kg) flaked rye
0.25 lb. (0.11 kg) blackstrap molasses (15 min.)
6 AAU Magnum hops (60 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g at 12% alpha acids)
4.25 AAU Centennial hops (10 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g at 8.5% alpha acids)
2.25 AAU Crystal hops (10 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g at 4.5% alpha acids)
20 AAU Chinook hops (0 min.) (1.5 oz./42 g at 13.3% alpha acids)
2.25 AAU Crystal hops (0 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g at 4.5% alpha acids)
2.13 AAU Centennial hops (0 min.) (0.25 oz./7 g at 8.5% alpha acids)
1.5 oz. (43 g) Crystal hops (dry hop)
0.75 oz. (21 g) Cascade hops (dry hop)
0.75 oz. (21 g) Columbus hops (dry hop)
Wyeast 1056 (American Ale) or White Labs WLP001 (California Ale) or SafAle US-05 yeast
¾ cup corn sugar (if priming)
Step by Step
Bring 6.5 gallons (25 L) of water to roughly 150 °F (66 °C). Steep all the specialty malts for 15 minutes before removing and draining. Add both malt extracts, while stirring, before heating to a boil. Boil for 60 minutes, following the remainder of the all-grain instructions.
Tips for Success:
One of the hurdles in crafting this beer will be mash pH management and how you handle the black malt if you’re an all-grain brewer. Personally, my well water is a bit on the hard side so the acidity that it brings allows me to hit a proper mash pH of 5.2–5.5 and so I add them right in the beginning of the mash. For others, you may want to consider adding the black malt during the vorlauf process (recirculation). The other sticking point will be dry hopping the beer as oxygen is the enemy of fresh, hoppy beer. Keg-to-keg transfers under CO2 atmospheres is probably your best bet. Don’t let the dry hopping go longer than 4 days for fear of extracting plant matter into the brew. But the option of performing a single, massive dry hop vs. dry hopping with individual varietals sequentially is completely up to you.
