Brewed By: Pipeworks Brewing in Chicago, IL
Purchased: Big ass 750ml bottle (Batch #173) bought at West Lakeview Liquors in Chicago, IL; 2013
Style/ABV: Witbier/Fruit Beer, 7.5%
Reported IBUs: ?
It's thirsty Thursday, and also Unofficial Pipeworks Thursday™. They keep brewing them...I feel like tonight's beer is going to be all sex, unlike last night's tepid Date Sugar Yeast Magik. Oh yeah, and I guess today was IPA day. Because that's cool. To celebrate IPA day, I'm going to not be drinking an IPA. So anarchy. So anti-conforming. So fucking brave. About Pipeworks:
"A last rite for spring, born under a black sun. Part collaboration, part tribute, and all Balance. An alchemical brew, we've taken our Amchur and Sumac spiced Foolish Wit past its threshold by adding fresh Kiwis and Strawberries to create Paradisiac, a beer to stake your thirst during the hottest months, or when you're out collecting desert roses. The sun is coming, soon to drown us in astral fire...are you prepared?"
I'm curious how the kind-of-high ABV is gonna work out here. Anyway, the beer pours into a hazy straw/yellow/cloudy urine color, and kicks up a nice finger of white head. Huzzah! No carbonation problems here. The head is also sustaining quite nicely, with a centimeter of Witbier-esque haze on top. There's some nice lacing on this, and the beer looks much the same in bright light. As an aside...the artwork on the Duvel glass almost obstructs the appearance, but this isn't some classy DraftMag blog.
The aroma on here is subtle but really nice. I'm getting dense orange, orange peel, lemon, and some unknown fruit denseness (I'm assuming the strawberry/kiwi). Honestly, I wouldn't place the strawberry or kiwi on the aroma in a blind tasting, so yeah. There's some mild wheat, straw, and malt density on the nose...maybe a touch of honey. Overall, it actually smells like a legit Belgian Wit.
Woah...this is creamy, with buttery wheat, and has some serious density. It almost reminds me of a cross between a Witbier and a Belgian Pale Ale. You get dense wheat and bubble gum, big mango...lots of mango and tropical fruit...bready malt thickness, orange peel, some lemon, straw...also, I swear I'm tasting some strawberry in this. Like fresh, cut up, in yo' mouth strawberries. Would I be able to pull out strawberries in a blind tasting? Probably not. But still.
This is dense, with a medium body supported by lots of welcomed carbonation and creamy wheat. The alcohol is well-hidden, and this is very drinkable (maybe too much so) for 7.5%. Palate depth is good while complexity is so-so. The addition of the strawberries and kiwis is perhaps evident in the aroma and body, but that could just be the dense malt bill. You do pick up some hints of strawberry in the taste, but you also get a lot of other typical Witbier trappings. I'm getting big wheat up front, with orange peel, hints of lemon, light Belgian funk, and some clove; the middle rolls into more clove, tropical fruits and lingering peel; the back end is wheat, malt thickness, and some nice lingering biscuit/orange.
Rating: Above-Average (4.0/5.0 Untappd)
This is a Decent Above-Average, and I would buy this again. I would also recommend this, especially in place of the current batch of Date Sugar Yeast Magik. I'm about to pair this beer with pizza, but this would go well with your usual Witbier trimmings. I actually really enjoy Belgian Witbiers in the Fall/Autumn. I find the big orange peel character to pair well with fall weather, whereas I associate the more banana/bubble gum flavors of a Hefeweizen with summer. The fact that this beer has a such a dense body and is somewhat warming leads me to believe I would really enjoy drinking it in late September or early October, preferably with some football. That said, you can't go wrong at around 10 dollars a bottle (I think), and the 750ml bottle is awesome.
Random Thought: I'm so ready for Friday. Oh, too cliche? Okay, fuck. This weekend I will be in the boonies for a bachelor/bachelorette party, which means I'm going to be downgrading and most likely drinking something like Blue Moon. It's all fun in games up in here but the bar is about to get lowered. Don't take good beer for granted.
Reported IBUs: ?
It's thirsty Thursday, and also Unofficial Pipeworks Thursday™. They keep brewing them...I feel like tonight's beer is going to be all sex, unlike last night's tepid Date Sugar Yeast Magik. Oh yeah, and I guess today was IPA day. Because that's cool. To celebrate IPA day, I'm going to not be drinking an IPA. So anarchy. So anti-conforming. So fucking brave. 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.
Tonight's beer is a Witbier brewed with strawberries and kiwis. These are like three of my favorite things, so I have some high expectations here. The back of the bottle reads:
"A last rite for spring, born under a black sun. Part collaboration, part tribute, and all Balance. An alchemical brew, we've taken our Amchur and Sumac spiced Foolish Wit past its threshold by adding fresh Kiwis and Strawberries to create Paradisiac, a beer to stake your thirst during the hottest months, or when you're out collecting desert roses. The sun is coming, soon to drown us in astral fire...are you prepared?"
 |
| Pipeworks Paradisiac |
I'm curious how the kind-of-high ABV is gonna work out here. Anyway, the beer pours into a hazy straw/yellow/cloudy urine color, and kicks up a nice finger of white head. Huzzah! No carbonation problems here. The head is also sustaining quite nicely, with a centimeter of Witbier-esque haze on top. There's some nice lacing on this, and the beer looks much the same in bright light. As an aside...the artwork on the Duvel glass almost obstructs the appearance, but this isn't some classy DraftMag blog.
The aroma on here is subtle but really nice. I'm getting dense orange, orange peel, lemon, and some unknown fruit denseness (I'm assuming the strawberry/kiwi). Honestly, I wouldn't place the strawberry or kiwi on the aroma in a blind tasting, so yeah. There's some mild wheat, straw, and malt density on the nose...maybe a touch of honey. Overall, it actually smells like a legit Belgian Wit.
Woah...this is creamy, with buttery wheat, and has some serious density. It almost reminds me of a cross between a Witbier and a Belgian Pale Ale. You get dense wheat and bubble gum, big mango...lots of mango and tropical fruit...bready malt thickness, orange peel, some lemon, straw...also, I swear I'm tasting some strawberry in this. Like fresh, cut up, in yo' mouth strawberries. Would I be able to pull out strawberries in a blind tasting? Probably not. But still.
This is dense, with a medium body supported by lots of welcomed carbonation and creamy wheat. The alcohol is well-hidden, and this is very drinkable (maybe too much so) for 7.5%. Palate depth is good while complexity is so-so. The addition of the strawberries and kiwis is perhaps evident in the aroma and body, but that could just be the dense malt bill. You do pick up some hints of strawberry in the taste, but you also get a lot of other typical Witbier trappings. I'm getting big wheat up front, with orange peel, hints of lemon, light Belgian funk, and some clove; the middle rolls into more clove, tropical fruits and lingering peel; the back end is wheat, malt thickness, and some nice lingering biscuit/orange.
Rating: Above-Average (4.0/5.0 Untappd)
This is a Decent Above-Average, and I would buy this again. I would also recommend this, especially in place of the current batch of Date Sugar Yeast Magik. I'm about to pair this beer with pizza, but this would go well with your usual Witbier trimmings. I actually really enjoy Belgian Witbiers in the Fall/Autumn. I find the big orange peel character to pair well with fall weather, whereas I associate the more banana/bubble gum flavors of a Hefeweizen with summer. The fact that this beer has a such a dense body and is somewhat warming leads me to believe I would really enjoy drinking it in late September or early October, preferably with some football. That said, you can't go wrong at around 10 dollars a bottle (I think), and the 750ml bottle is awesome.
Random Thought: I'm so ready for Friday. Oh, too cliche? Okay, fuck. This weekend I will be in the boonies for a bachelor/bachelorette party, which means I'm going to be downgrading and most likely drinking something like Blue Moon. It's all fun in games up in here but the bar is about to get lowered. Don't take good beer for granted.
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