Brewed By: Pipeworks Brewing in Chicago, IL
Purchased: 22oz bottle (Batch #96) bought at West Lakeview Liquors in Chicago, IL; 2013
Style/ABV: Imperial IPA, 10%
Reported IBUs: ?
Continuing with the Pipeworks' IPA train....About Pipeworks:
Reported IBUs: ?
Continuing with the Pipeworks' IPA train....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 bottle states:
"The assassin of the east may have drawn first blood, but the mythical horned beast is back for UNICORN'S REVENGE. Grazing on fruity and floral New Zealand hops, this vindictive double IPA drives a horn through straight through the heart of any Ninja brazen enough to stand in the way of its peerless flavor. Behold! Beyond the piles of lifeless Ninja bodies a rainbow will rise, and on its breast, this rampaging beast of a beer will have its revenge!"
As with the Ninja vs. Unicorn, the bottle art is done by Jason Burke from "Ink & Lead Designs". Clocking in at 10.0% ABV, this one is slightly bigger than last night's beer. Let's glass it up.
This one pours a little darker than the Ninja vs. Unicorn, but not by much. Typical Double IPA stuff here: golden yellow/orange, with honey and orange tones in low light. This kicked up 4-finger's worth of foamy, sticky, slightly amber, off-white head. This one seems to be a little more murky/hazed than the Ninja vs. Unicorn. In bright light, the beer takes on a lovely golden-orange color, with lazy, mid-sized carbonation bubbles at the bottom, and vibrant streams of tiny bubbles up top. A pinky's worth of wispy, white/off-white head has settled in, and there is nice lacing.
This is very much reminiscent of the Ninja vs. Unicorn, only with the malts kicked up. I'm getting a ton of woody citrus, grapefruit, orange, orange rind, and tropical fruits. There is also more high-acid hop bite in this, reminiscent of the Daisy Cutter/Double Daisy Cutter. I'm getting some grass, bread, spice, and biscuit as well.
This is a sweet, malty, bready, and then hoppy Imperial IPA. I'm getting big sugary oranges, tropical fruits ala mango, honey, biscuit, white bread, and then big hoppy citrus. There's some noticeable booze on the back end for sure. There's also some nice grapefruit, and woody hop bite in this. Hints of lemon zest, salt, and brown sugar.
At this point, this is becoming an interesting experiment in how malts + ABV can change a beer. This beer is sweeter, maltier, and more dense than the Ninja vs. Unicorn. We aren't quite at a Barleywine, but this has a full-bodied mouthfeel, and is sticky, dense, and dry. As such, this is drinkable for 10.0% (and for the style), but the big palate depth makes you want to slow down. While this has great palate depth, the complexity is moderate for the style. Up front is malt sweetness, sweet citrus, bready hops; this rolls into spice, hoppy citrus, hoppy tropical fruits, some woody grapefruit; the back end is hop bitterness, dryness, slightly sticky. I'd be curious to see the reported IBUs for this.
Rating: Above-Average
I gotta go with a Decent Above-Average on this. I think I might like this better than the Galaxy vs. Unicorn, in that this has a bigger mouthfeel, better palate depth, and sort of straddles that Barleywine line. The woody grapefruit in this is REALLY NICE, and the malt sweetness is excellent. Straight up honey, sweet biscuit, pine sap, and orange candies. As with last night's beer, I would pair this with strong Americanized food, bar food, Americanized Mexican food..or you could get all classy and shit and mull over this in a tulip snifter.
Random Thought: Since St. Patrick's Day is coming up, how about a little known fact about Guinness:
...during The Great Barley Famine of 1823, Guinness almost went out of business. They had to improvise, so they substituted various ingredients for Barley, like brown rice, buckwheat groats, quinoa, and even potatoes. Of course, people noticed a discernible decline in quality, and started to preference other drinks like Light Porter and Single Porter. Naturally, this is where confusion around the term "Potato Porter" comes from. True, the term is often used as a derogatory to refer to an Irishman handling your luggage, but the term originated from the Irish peasants that would drink Guinness' Stout -- as brewed with potatoes -- during The Great Barley Famine. Thankfully, the famine was largely fatal, killing thousands of the Irish. As a result, breweries had less patrons to serve, and were able to cut back on their production (saving the Guinness brewery!!!). Many people focus on the negatives of large famines, but they rarely focus on the benefits. For example, when a brewmaster accidentally added the amounts of malt called for when Guinness was being brewed for the pre-famine Irish population, he created what we now call today the "Strong Porter" or "Stout." This is because that brewmaster's name was Fitzpatrick Kilheny Strong, and the Irish wanted to honor him (before stoning him to death with potatoes).
There's a lot of great history around Guinness. I recommend checking out this great source: wikipedia.com.
"The assassin of the east may have drawn first blood, but the mythical horned beast is back for UNICORN'S REVENGE. Grazing on fruity and floral New Zealand hops, this vindictive double IPA drives a horn through straight through the heart of any Ninja brazen enough to stand in the way of its peerless flavor. Behold! Beyond the piles of lifeless Ninja bodies a rainbow will rise, and on its breast, this rampaging beast of a beer will have its revenge!"
As with the Ninja vs. Unicorn, the bottle art is done by Jason Burke from "Ink & Lead Designs". Clocking in at 10.0% ABV, this one is slightly bigger than last night's beer. Let's glass it up.
 |
| Pipeworks Unicorn’s Revenge |
This one pours a little darker than the Ninja vs. Unicorn, but not by much. Typical Double IPA stuff here: golden yellow/orange, with honey and orange tones in low light. This kicked up 4-finger's worth of foamy, sticky, slightly amber, off-white head. This one seems to be a little more murky/hazed than the Ninja vs. Unicorn. In bright light, the beer takes on a lovely golden-orange color, with lazy, mid-sized carbonation bubbles at the bottom, and vibrant streams of tiny bubbles up top. A pinky's worth of wispy, white/off-white head has settled in, and there is nice lacing.
This is very much reminiscent of the Ninja vs. Unicorn, only with the malts kicked up. I'm getting a ton of woody citrus, grapefruit, orange, orange rind, and tropical fruits. There is also more high-acid hop bite in this, reminiscent of the Daisy Cutter/Double Daisy Cutter. I'm getting some grass, bread, spice, and biscuit as well.
This is a sweet, malty, bready, and then hoppy Imperial IPA. I'm getting big sugary oranges, tropical fruits ala mango, honey, biscuit, white bread, and then big hoppy citrus. There's some noticeable booze on the back end for sure. There's also some nice grapefruit, and woody hop bite in this. Hints of lemon zest, salt, and brown sugar.
At this point, this is becoming an interesting experiment in how malts + ABV can change a beer. This beer is sweeter, maltier, and more dense than the Ninja vs. Unicorn. We aren't quite at a Barleywine, but this has a full-bodied mouthfeel, and is sticky, dense, and dry. As such, this is drinkable for 10.0% (and for the style), but the big palate depth makes you want to slow down. While this has great palate depth, the complexity is moderate for the style. Up front is malt sweetness, sweet citrus, bready hops; this rolls into spice, hoppy citrus, hoppy tropical fruits, some woody grapefruit; the back end is hop bitterness, dryness, slightly sticky. I'd be curious to see the reported IBUs for this.
Rating: Above-Average
I gotta go with a Decent Above-Average on this. I think I might like this better than the Galaxy vs. Unicorn, in that this has a bigger mouthfeel, better palate depth, and sort of straddles that Barleywine line. The woody grapefruit in this is REALLY NICE, and the malt sweetness is excellent. Straight up honey, sweet biscuit, pine sap, and orange candies. As with last night's beer, I would pair this with strong Americanized food, bar food, Americanized Mexican food..or you could get all classy and shit and mull over this in a tulip snifter.
Random Thought: Since St. Patrick's Day is coming up, how about a little known fact about Guinness:
...during The Great Barley Famine of 1823, Guinness almost went out of business. They had to improvise, so they substituted various ingredients for Barley, like brown rice, buckwheat groats, quinoa, and even potatoes. Of course, people noticed a discernible decline in quality, and started to preference other drinks like Light Porter and Single Porter. Naturally, this is where confusion around the term "Potato Porter" comes from. True, the term is often used as a derogatory to refer to an Irishman handling your luggage, but the term originated from the Irish peasants that would drink Guinness' Stout -- as brewed with potatoes -- during The Great Barley Famine. Thankfully, the famine was largely fatal, killing thousands of the Irish. As a result, breweries had less patrons to serve, and were able to cut back on their production (saving the Guinness brewery!!!). Many people focus on the negatives of large famines, but they rarely focus on the benefits. For example, when a brewmaster accidentally added the amounts of malt called for when Guinness was being brewed for the pre-famine Irish population, he created what we now call today the "Strong Porter" or "Stout." This is because that brewmaster's name was Fitzpatrick Kilheny Strong, and the Irish wanted to honor him (before stoning him to death with potatoes).
There's a lot of great history around Guinness. I recommend checking out this great source: wikipedia.com.
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