Lucky Bucket - Certified Evil

Tonight I'm drinking Certified Evil.  I've been eyeing this beer on the stores shelves for a while now but never pulled the trigger.  Partially because of the price point (it's over $10 for a four pack here in MN) but also because I'm not familiar with Lucky Bucket.  Duns has reviewed their IPA and Lager and found them both to be good, not great, just good.  Now that I have a bottle of my own I think its time I familiarize myself with this new player to the brewing field.

Lucky Bucket opened their doors in 2008 with three guys, a dream and too much beer.  Wait, can you have too much beer?  I'll set that argument aside for another time.  The name Lucky Bucket originates from the days before bottles and kegs when beer lovers were forced to lug a bucket to the brewery, fill it up, and take it back home without spilling any of it!  The brewmasters at Lucky Bucket named their brewery after their admiration for the work their early predecessors had to do in order to enjoy a fresh beer.  Cheers!

Certified Evil has it's own story too.  The description on their site says it best - "Certified Evil is the result of a 2008 collaboration project with Todd Ashman of Fifty Fifty Brewing in Truckee, California and Matt Van Wyk of Oakshire Brewing in Eugene, Oregon.  Each brewer set out to create a dark Belgian strong ale with their own unique spin on the style.  Since the first collaboration, six new breweries have been added to the project to invent a truly unique beer".  This years iteration is a blend of Certified Evil aged in Cabernet barrels for one year and a younger batch of Certified Evil aged in oak barrels.  Can you say "Mega Flavor Bomb"?

As for the beer itself?  It's very dark.  A little glimmer of ruby red light can be detected when held to the light. The aroma is roasty with a dark cherry undertone.  Not as complex as I had anticipated.  The flavor is, well, just ok.  I was expecting a malty, hoppy base with some vanilla oak and dark fruit to liven up that party but ended up with a somewhat bland flavor profile that's a touch too sweet and too thin.  The CE aged in wine barrels shows up the most as a tinny, dried fruit flavor that I'm not too keen on.  Everything else just falls to the wayside to never reappear again.  At 12% ABV, though, the alcohol hardly shows up.

Overall - I'm a bit disappointed.  With so many different flavors coming together in this beer I would have figured Certified Evil to have a nice complexity to it.  Instead, they all mesh together to form one unified bland bomb with a stand-out flavor that doesn't really make me come back for more.  I'm happy I only bought this as a single bottle.