Brewed By: Pipeworks Brewing in Chicago, IL
Purchased: 1 Pint 9.4oz (750ml) bottle (Batch #94 - Purple Wax) bought at Binny's in IL; 2013
Style/ABV: Imperial Stout (Spice/Herb/Vegetable), 10.5%
Reported IBUs: ?
I am excited for tonight's beer. Why? Because Pipework's Abduction Stout is awesome. And their Coffee Break Abduction Stout was just a stellar beer in every regard. About Pipeworks:
"It is a shame human, that we must wipe from your memory the rich chocolate delight that is Raspberry Truffle Abduction. Its soft raspberry flavor blossoming like frivolous human emotion, both subject to dissection during your galactic absconce at the long fingered hands of we cosmic plumbers."
This giant stout is brewed with raspberries and cacao, and should age with the rest of them. Let's get this into a glass.
This one pours a reasonably dark black color, with a finger's worth of coffee-brown head. The head is thin and apathetic, and quietly dissolved into a nice cauldron effect. There's a few bubbles popping away in the middle of the glass. There's some aggressive lacing on this, and the head coats the glass like paint. There's also some nice legs. In bright light, you catch some brown on the edges...but that head. It reminds me of the Ten FIDY.
For a beer brewed with raspberries and cacao, the nose is really refined. I'm getting a lot of coffee, roast, orange, and raspberry. If you drink a lot of coffee, you'll know that coffee has a very astringent/bitter/earthy flavor that is kind of similar to orange or berries. I'm getting a lot of that in the nose of this. Earthy coffee, light cacao, big roast, elusive booziness, and assorted chocolates: dark chocolate with cherry fruit in the center; and that chocolate you get in the assorted Fannie May packs that has orange/marmalade in the center. You definitely get raspberry truffle on the nose, or similar smells. Good stuff.
On my first sip, I would say this is surprisingly fruity up front. The fact that this is slightly thinner and lighter helps give that impression too. This has long palate duration, as the fruit turns into intense roast and coffee, and then fades into really complex booziness and raspberry. You get a ton of bitter/earthy cacao dancing around in here, and the whole thing has strong coffee flavors. I'm getting canned coffee, spent coffee in the filter, chicory, and fruity/bitter/astringency that you find in really dark coffee blends. I know the base beer is THE TITS with coffee, but the base beer works really well with the tart/acidic fruitiness of the raspberries as well.
But seriously, if you don't know what I'm talking about. Go get some extra dark, black (no milk/sugar/cream) coffee from Starbucks. Let it cool down a bit so you can actually taste it. Take a sip and appreciate it like a good beer. There are fruity notes in coffee, with that tangy, bitter/astringent berry-citrus thing.
This beer is medium-full to full-bodied, with some fruity acidity/astringency driving the mouthfeel, and a ton of roast and boozy complexity dropping in to keep things in check. This is maybe slightly oily, and has thin, non-assertive carbonation. This is uber complex, and has solid palate depth for the style. Up front is a blast of cacao, coffee, and raspberry (with raspberry truffle); the middle rolls into raspberry truffle, truffle, and earthy coffee/chicory and big roast/elusive smoke; the back fades to lingering roast, and awesome boozy/fruity complexity. I'm belching straight up raspberry truffle, so this beer is doing something right.
Rating: Divine Brew
Oh man, I gotta go with a Light Divine Brew on this. You know, I love coffee...and I'm a big fan of that fruity note you get in super dark coffee. So there's that. The raspberry note in this beer is kept in check by the big coffee and roast flavors. But you definitely get raspberry in this, and you do get waves of "raspberry truffle." I don't know if this is quite as good as the Coffee Break Abduction, but for 11 or 12 dollars a bottle, this beer right here is a steal. I would pair this with raspberry cheesecake, dry chocolate cake, ice cream, or a nice medium-rare steak. The slightly lighter mouthfeel might work well with a burger too, and I'm sure this beer could stand up to some strong cheeses. If you can snag a bottle of this, do it.
Random Thought: I don't really listen to music on the radio anymore...but I do occasionally dabble. Back in the 90s, I spent hours everyday listening to the radio. Is this a generation thing? A people thing? Do most people pick a decade and declare it their wheelhouse? Since the 90s, I've continued to pursue music, but mostly on my terms. The obscure hip-hop, metal, and other shit I listen to likely won't be seen on mainstream radio for a long time, if ever. But 90's radio...we could jam.
Reported IBUs: ?
I am excited for tonight's beer. Why? Because Pipework's Abduction Stout is awesome. And their Coffee Break Abduction Stout was just a stellar beer in every regard. About Pipeworks:
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.
The back of the bottle states:
"It is a shame human, that we must wipe from your memory the rich chocolate delight that is Raspberry Truffle Abduction. Its soft raspberry flavor blossoming like frivolous human emotion, both subject to dissection during your galactic absconce at the long fingered hands of we cosmic plumbers."
This giant stout is brewed with raspberries and cacao, and should age with the rest of them. Let's get this into a glass.
 |
| Pipeworks Raspberry Truffle Abduction |
This one pours a reasonably dark black color, with a finger's worth of coffee-brown head. The head is thin and apathetic, and quietly dissolved into a nice cauldron effect. There's a few bubbles popping away in the middle of the glass. There's some aggressive lacing on this, and the head coats the glass like paint. There's also some nice legs. In bright light, you catch some brown on the edges...but that head. It reminds me of the Ten FIDY.
For a beer brewed with raspberries and cacao, the nose is really refined. I'm getting a lot of coffee, roast, orange, and raspberry. If you drink a lot of coffee, you'll know that coffee has a very astringent/bitter/earthy flavor that is kind of similar to orange or berries. I'm getting a lot of that in the nose of this. Earthy coffee, light cacao, big roast, elusive booziness, and assorted chocolates: dark chocolate with cherry fruit in the center; and that chocolate you get in the assorted Fannie May packs that has orange/marmalade in the center. You definitely get raspberry truffle on the nose, or similar smells. Good stuff.
On my first sip, I would say this is surprisingly fruity up front. The fact that this is slightly thinner and lighter helps give that impression too. This has long palate duration, as the fruit turns into intense roast and coffee, and then fades into really complex booziness and raspberry. You get a ton of bitter/earthy cacao dancing around in here, and the whole thing has strong coffee flavors. I'm getting canned coffee, spent coffee in the filter, chicory, and fruity/bitter/astringency that you find in really dark coffee blends. I know the base beer is THE TITS with coffee, but the base beer works really well with the tart/acidic fruitiness of the raspberries as well.
But seriously, if you don't know what I'm talking about. Go get some extra dark, black (no milk/sugar/cream) coffee from Starbucks. Let it cool down a bit so you can actually taste it. Take a sip and appreciate it like a good beer. There are fruity notes in coffee, with that tangy, bitter/astringent berry-citrus thing.
This beer is medium-full to full-bodied, with some fruity acidity/astringency driving the mouthfeel, and a ton of roast and boozy complexity dropping in to keep things in check. This is maybe slightly oily, and has thin, non-assertive carbonation. This is uber complex, and has solid palate depth for the style. Up front is a blast of cacao, coffee, and raspberry (with raspberry truffle); the middle rolls into raspberry truffle, truffle, and earthy coffee/chicory and big roast/elusive smoke; the back fades to lingering roast, and awesome boozy/fruity complexity. I'm belching straight up raspberry truffle, so this beer is doing something right.
Oh man, I gotta go with a Light Divine Brew on this. You know, I love coffee...and I'm a big fan of that fruity note you get in super dark coffee. So there's that. The raspberry note in this beer is kept in check by the big coffee and roast flavors. But you definitely get raspberry in this, and you do get waves of "raspberry truffle." I don't know if this is quite as good as the Coffee Break Abduction, but for 11 or 12 dollars a bottle, this beer right here is a steal. I would pair this with raspberry cheesecake, dry chocolate cake, ice cream, or a nice medium-rare steak. The slightly lighter mouthfeel might work well with a burger too, and I'm sure this beer could stand up to some strong cheeses. If you can snag a bottle of this, do it.
Random Thought: I don't really listen to music on the radio anymore...but I do occasionally dabble. Back in the 90s, I spent hours everyday listening to the radio. Is this a generation thing? A people thing? Do most people pick a decade and declare it their wheelhouse? Since the 90s, I've continued to pursue music, but mostly on my terms. The obscure hip-hop, metal, and other shit I listen to likely won't be seen on mainstream radio for a long time, if ever. But 90's radio...we could jam.
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