EPCOT’s New Beverly Challenge: Spicy Style

Honestly, I’ve never been a fan of the Beverly Challenge at Club Cool in EPCOT. I don’t really “get” it. For me, the novelty of Beverly is the surprise–a subversion of expectations. After tasting a bunch of sweet and sugary drinks, Beverly is like a gut punch out of nowhere. It’s shocking.

That’s the fun thing about Beverly–the surprise. Introducing new people to the drink and watching their slow-motion grimace as the bitter flavor takes hold. It’s incredibly amusing and memorable. But it’s also a bell that you can’t really unring. The first reaction is everything. Adding more Beverly results in diminishing–or frankly, nonexistent–returns. At best, it’s a once-per-trip type of deal.

When it comes to “challenges” at Club Cool, my personal take is that just about any other drink would be more difficult. At least, for me. It’s not my taste buds that would eventually reject the rest, it’s my stomach–due to the sugar overload. Challenges like this are a young person’s game, so I’m not 100% certain about this and have no intentions of finding out. Regardless, I’ve stumbled upon a dumb new challenge at EPCOT…

This new spicy-style Walt Disney World food challenge can be undertaken by the brave and/or foolish at the Brew-Wing Lab food booth in the former Odyssey restaurant during the 2024 EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival. For those unfamiliar with the Odyssey, it’s the over-the-water building between Test Track and the Mexico pavilion. It’s become one of the more popular EPCOT festival spaces for one reason: air-conditioning.

Brew-Wing Lab is also home to, as the name suggests, a laboratory. Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and his faithful assistant, Beaker, appear throughout the venue via videos from Muppet Labs. There are also some props and fun visual gags that make for fun photo ops.

Although it’s not sold here, the best 2024 EPCOT Food & Wine Festival merchandise is the Muppet Labs stuff. Please buy it all as a “show of support” in order to save MuppetVision 3D from Monsters. While emailing Walt Disney World is nice, there’s nothing quite like voting with your wallet. (I’m only half-joking, sadly.)

Anyway, the madcap Muppet scientists welcome you to their taste-testing headquarters via video. It’s here at the Brew-Wing Lab that Dr. Honeydew and Beaker are busy creating scientific snacks and mind-blowing beverages. At the Brew-Wing booth featuring Muppet Labs, you’ll have a chance to sample some of the duos kooky concoctions like the Unnecessarily Spicy Yet Extremely Tasty Wings or the Pickle Milkshake. Consider it a flavor experiment in the name of science.

Here’s the food menu for the Brew-Wing Lab booth at the 2024 EPCOT Food & Wine Festival:

Now our photos and reviews of items from the Brew-Wing Lab Global Marketplace at the EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival.

Unnecessarily Spicy Yet Extremely Tasty Carolina Reaper Pepper Curry Wings ($7.75) – These wings are new for the 2024 EPCOT Food & Wine Festival, although they’re similar (at least in name) to last year’s “Unnecessarily Spicy, Yet Extremely Tasty Scotch Bonnet Pepper-Curry Wings.” Those were spicy, but nothing like this. The Carolina Reaper pepper definitely lived up to its name.

I’m honestly shocked that there hasn’t been more ‘discourse’ about these online, which makes me wonder whether people are actually trying them or just assuming they’re the same as last year–but with a new name. They most definitely are not.

Without question, these wings are the spiciest thing I’ve ever had at Walt Disney World. It’s not even a remotely close call. Last year’s incarnation were spicy by Disney standards, these are spicy by real world standards. They’re easily among the spiciest foods I’ve ever had anywhere, and–like Beverly–part of the experience was the initial shock at just how spicy they were. Unlike Beverly, that didn’t wear off quickly.

A friend took the first wing and was visibly overcome with just how spicy these wings are. Not knowing anything about his tolerance for spiciness, I just sort of assumed it was low. After all, I had these last year and they weren’t that bad. So I took one bite, nothing hit me immediately, and then I took a second, bigger bite–essentially finishing off my wing. Biggest mistake of the day, and it was a day that also involved eating a half-dozen hot dogs.

What I didn’t realize was that the spiciness was entirely in the curry sauce, and my first bite didn’t have much of that. The second bite had a lot of it. My mouth was on fire, my lips were throbbing, my tongue felt like it was about to explode, and I could feel my face ‘heating up.’ In the video, Beaker tries these ‘volcano-level’ wings on accident and breathes fire. That’s exactly accurate.

I was thankful we ordered the Pickle Milkshake at that moment, as I drank over half of it just trying to cool down my mouth. (10/10 drink in that moment–highly recommended!) I’m flabbergasted that Walt Disney World would serve up something like this, especially since a huge segment of guests likely finds cinnamon rolls to be about as spicy as they can handle.

I’ll be surprised if this version of the Unnecessarily Spicy wings last for the duration of the 2024 EPCOT Food & Wine Festival. These simply aren’t going to comport with the average guest’s expectations of what’s incredibly spicy and they won’t be a fun experience. Either the dish will change or they’ll dramatically reduce or dilute the Carolina Reaper pepper curry sauce being used.

In the meantime, it should be a fun challenge to see if you can finish a single wing or multiple. My biggest pieces of advice would be to eat everything else first (so you can actually taste it) and have plenty of Pickle Milkshake on hand to put out the fire in your mouth afterwards. If you’re not trying to challenge yourself, I don’t recommend these wings at all–the heat overwhelms everything else flavor-wise.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Sticky Wings ($7.75) – I’m not going to review every type of other wings on the menu because, frankly, I’ve learned over the last few years that Brew-Wing is largely a substitute for a simple counter service restaurant in this area of the park, and people wanting wings aren’t particularly concerned with how they review.

What I will say is that if you want another interesting option, the PB&J sticky wings foot the bill. They’re certainly sweet, so we’d recommend sharing them. But the flavor works surprisingly well. I’m also a sucker for the Garlic Parmesan Wings, and have found the Brew-Wing version can scratch that itch. They’re nothing to write home about, but they get the job done.

Fried Pickle Spears ($5.75) – These are another ‘what you see is what you get’ dish. If you like fried pickle spears and want a very basic version of them, go for it.

Just know that these are nothing you couldn’t make for yourself from something found in the freezer aisle at the grocery store. With that said, the price is right and these are reasonably satisfying–especially if you’re looking for something to round out your order and want to justify a potentially long wait in line.

Frozen Pomegranate & Raspberry Tea ($5) – This is Twinings Pomegranate & Raspberry Herbal Tea infused with orange ice cream molecules. For something that might sound adult (herbal tea), this is decidedly not that.

The predominant flavors here are artificial ‘orange’ and ‘red.’ I guess I could make out notes of raspberry herbal tea, but this is basically just a glorified orange/red slushy, but in a smaller cup and with a fancier name and presentation. If you want a slushy, fine, but this just seems like a missed opportunity.

Pickle Milkshake ($6) – This was last year’s viral drink at the EPCOT Food & Wine Festival, prompting strong reactions. My take on it is much more vanilla. Literally. It’s a vanilla milkshake with dill seasoning plus green food coloring. The end result is something that has an interesting interplay of sweet and creamy, and semi-sour, savory, tart and tangy. More than anything else, the Pickle Milkshake is tasty, cooling and refreshing. I actually really like this!

The ice cream in the shake tastes shockingly high quality, the portion is sizable, and the price is relatively reasonable. It also comes in a plastic mason jar, which I suppose you could take home as a keepsake? Regardless, this is not the most inventive, ambitious, or even weird dish at the 2024 EPCOT Food & Wine Festival, but it is an economical ice cream delivery vehicle. It’s worth giving a shot.

Ultimately, the biggest surprise at the 2024 Brew-Wing Lab is those “Unnecessarily Spicy” wings. If you want a new food challenge at EPCOT, trying to eat as many of those as possible–or even just one–is it. Of course, the intensity could–and probably will–change, in which case you might have an entirely different experience, ridiculing my timid Midwestern taste buds. (While from Michigan, I’ve also lived in the South and less than 75 miles from the US-Mexico border.)

Even if those wings do become less spicy, there’s still enough of interest at the Brew-Wing booth to make it worth a stop. Just temper your expectations and don’t order too much. This is basically just a glorified counter service restaurant serving standard theme park fare plus a few novelties. It’s certainly not a ‘foodie’ booth, and isn’t worth your time/attention/money/stomach space if you only have a single day or two for the 2024 EPCOT Food & Wine Festival.

Check out our Global Marketplace Booth Menus & Photos for the EPCOT Food & Wine Festival Booth Menus post if you want to see and read more about every menu this year! You’ll also want to read our full 2024 EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival Guide before you go to get an idea of what to do, strategy for the festival (yes, you will need a strategy), and much more!

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Your Thoughts

Have you tried the Unnecessarily Spicy Yet Extremely Tasty Carolina Reaper Pepper Curry Wings? What did you think of the spiciness level? What about the Pickle Milkshake? If you’ve tried anything else at the Brew-Wing Lab Booth, what did you think? Portion-size or quality-wise, did you have better or worse luck than us with what you ordered? What was or was not worth the money? Do you agree or disagree with our food reviews? Questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!