Brewed By: Pipeworks Brewing in Chicago, IL
Purchased: 22oz bottle (Batch #64) bought at Binny's in IL; 2012
Style/ABV: Barleywine, 10.0%
Reported IBUs: ?
I suppose I'm rooting for the Unicorn. Into the pink elephant glass...
The beer pours a dark red/brown color, with a pinky's worth of reddish/grey head. The head doesn't hang around for long, but leaves behind a cauldron effect. There's a ton of visible carbonation, in the form of very tiny bubbles. In bright light, this one is a dark red/orange color; the head picks up that red/orange color. This is slightly hazy, but cleaned up nicely for being bottle conditioned.
The aroma on this features a lot of sweet citrus, zesty orange, and sugary backbone. Right now...this is really hoppy. This beer is certainly a candidate for aging, and the hops will probably drop off this nicely. This smells quite bitter, with big grapefruit, rind, slight wood, pine, that sweet citrus, orange, and a hint of elusive malt sweetness (maybe toffee?).
If you like hoppy Barleywines, this is quite nice. This blasts your mouth with fat citrus, pine, grapefruit, and wood up front. This is quite bitter, and rolls into a spicy mid-palate, and then a bitter and dry finish. The lingering flavors on this are dry, booze, and then -- surprisingly -- brown sugar and light spice. The hops in this are zesty, citrus, grapefruit, pine, slight wood/bitter, and slightly resinous. There's a lot of malt sweetness, with caramel, toffee, hints of fruitcake or bready alcohol, and definite spice.
This has the makings of a Barleywine...only time will tell. Actually, there's a nice malt sweetness and spice backbone to this, I think the hops will drop off leaving some lingering pine and wood, and this will really open up. Right now, 'dis shit is hoppy. At 10.0% ABV, this is pretty smooth, and supported by light carbonation. Palate depth is a bit thin between front and mid palate, and complexity is moderate to low for the style (even as an Imperial Red). I would say the mouthfeel here is medium-full, slightly sticky, and pretty dry. Up front is malt sweetness, and then woody hops; the middle rolls into bitterness, wood, grapefruit, rind, pine; the back end features brown sugar, dryness, lingering hops, and boozy bread/caramel/toffee.
Rating: Average
I'm feeling a Strong Average here. I think I've been a bit spoiled with my Imperial Reds and Barleywines. This beer has a lot of potential, but it's not dialing up the complexity, and that front to mid-palate leaves me wondering what this beer will taste like in 1 to 3 years. I may have to pick up another bottle of this to age...because why the fuck not. This beer has a lot of aging potential, I think. There's some malt complexity in the back of this. As far as food pairings...anything burger, steak, strong cheese, BBQ, or even something spicy. I'd pair this beer with some wings, to be honest. I could go for some wings. Mmm...wings.
Random Thought: I understand that Pipeworks is turning out an insane amount of beer (it's really impressive seeing all their new stuff on the shelves!), but at some point...it would be nice to see their website up and running. I mean, it's up...and sort of running. But I guess they are trying to win me over with their beer, not their website.
Reported IBUs: ?
Even though it's winter in Chicago, it has been incredibly mild (it's currently like 37 degrees out) and there hasn't been much snow. As such, I'm not quite feeling the Imperial Stouts and big winter Belgian Ales. So tonight is the perfect night for a hoppy "Imperial Red Ale/American Style Barleywine." About Pipeworks:
"Father Christmas, Head Beardo, St. Nicholas Cage, a man of many names he may be, yet he has but one true foe... This Holiday Season, the Unicorn is back bearing his mantle of rainbowed chaos, and this time, it's seasonal bitches. An Imperial Red Ale, American Style Barleywine or Red Double IPA call it what you will, grab one and get your Jollies while the holiday fight is on..."
Pipeworks has humble roots. The brewery was founded in Chicago in 2011 by Beejay Oslon and Gerrit Lewis. The duo were both homebrewers that met while while working at West Lakeview Liquors. In 2011, they began to raise money for their brewery using the online Internet site, Kickstarter. Olson and Lewis were both educated at De Struise Brewery in Oostvleteren, Belgium. With that knowledge, and the money from their kickstarter, Olson and Lewis created a unique brewery that is smaller in size, and intended to brew smaller batches of beer. The company's motto is "small batches, big beers." And indeed, since the brewery has been around, they've been releasing a lot of one-offs and small batch releases. At one point - and maybe still - the goal was the release a new beer every week. You can read more about the brewery at their website HERE.
As per usual, Pipeworks gives a brief description of the beer on the back:
"Father Christmas, Head Beardo, St. Nicholas Cage, a man of many names he may be, yet he has but one true foe... This Holiday Season, the Unicorn is back bearing his mantle of rainbowed chaos, and this time, it's seasonal bitches. An Imperial Red Ale, American Style Barleywine or Red Double IPA call it what you will, grab one and get your Jollies while the holiday fight is on..."
I suppose I'm rooting for the Unicorn. Into the pink elephant glass...
 |
| Pipeworks Santa vs. Unicorn |
The beer pours a dark red/brown color, with a pinky's worth of reddish/grey head. The head doesn't hang around for long, but leaves behind a cauldron effect. There's a ton of visible carbonation, in the form of very tiny bubbles. In bright light, this one is a dark red/orange color; the head picks up that red/orange color. This is slightly hazy, but cleaned up nicely for being bottle conditioned.
The aroma on this features a lot of sweet citrus, zesty orange, and sugary backbone. Right now...this is really hoppy. This beer is certainly a candidate for aging, and the hops will probably drop off this nicely. This smells quite bitter, with big grapefruit, rind, slight wood, pine, that sweet citrus, orange, and a hint of elusive malt sweetness (maybe toffee?).
If you like hoppy Barleywines, this is quite nice. This blasts your mouth with fat citrus, pine, grapefruit, and wood up front. This is quite bitter, and rolls into a spicy mid-palate, and then a bitter and dry finish. The lingering flavors on this are dry, booze, and then -- surprisingly -- brown sugar and light spice. The hops in this are zesty, citrus, grapefruit, pine, slight wood/bitter, and slightly resinous. There's a lot of malt sweetness, with caramel, toffee, hints of fruitcake or bready alcohol, and definite spice.
This has the makings of a Barleywine...only time will tell. Actually, there's a nice malt sweetness and spice backbone to this, I think the hops will drop off leaving some lingering pine and wood, and this will really open up. Right now, 'dis shit is hoppy. At 10.0% ABV, this is pretty smooth, and supported by light carbonation. Palate depth is a bit thin between front and mid palate, and complexity is moderate to low for the style (even as an Imperial Red). I would say the mouthfeel here is medium-full, slightly sticky, and pretty dry. Up front is malt sweetness, and then woody hops; the middle rolls into bitterness, wood, grapefruit, rind, pine; the back end features brown sugar, dryness, lingering hops, and boozy bread/caramel/toffee.
Rating: Average
I'm feeling a Strong Average here. I think I've been a bit spoiled with my Imperial Reds and Barleywines. This beer has a lot of potential, but it's not dialing up the complexity, and that front to mid-palate leaves me wondering what this beer will taste like in 1 to 3 years. I may have to pick up another bottle of this to age...because why the fuck not. This beer has a lot of aging potential, I think. There's some malt complexity in the back of this. As far as food pairings...anything burger, steak, strong cheese, BBQ, or even something spicy. I'd pair this beer with some wings, to be honest. I could go for some wings. Mmm...wings.
Random Thought: I understand that Pipeworks is turning out an insane amount of beer (it's really impressive seeing all their new stuff on the shelves!), but at some point...it would be nice to see their website up and running. I mean, it's up...and sort of running. But I guess they are trying to win me over with their beer, not their website.
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