Brewed By: Pipeworks Brewing in Chicago, IL
Purchased: 22oz bottle (Batch #284-285) bought at West Lakeview Liquors in Chicago, IL; 2014 (bottled ??.??.2014)
Style/ABV: Imperial Stout/American Double, 10.5%
Reported IBUs: ?
It's Thursday, so that means it is an Unofficial Pipeworks Thursday™....I'm really excited to try tonight's beer, which is Pipeworks' Abduction Stout base brewed with coconuts and almonds. About Pipeworks:
"Aw man, I got this one guy. He's an alien. I was in this one place, real tropical, real cool, real classy, and he just scooped me up. He gave me this beer, it was savemylife good. These aliens were seriously killin' it ALL DAY! Is it wrong for a grown man to kiss an alien full-on the lips? Somebody check my pressure. DONE. It's cool to be cool." We love Nick, and we love this beer too. Done."
Rating: Divine Brew (4.5/5.0 Untappd)
I'm feeling a Light Divine Brew on this literal interpretation of an Almond Joy. At least, that's what it tastes like. An Almond Joy in a bottle. It's fantabulous, and I wouldn't pair this beer with anything except for maybe some dry chocolate cake, coconut cake, Almond Joys, or nothing. You can probably sip on this for dessert. This probably isn't my favorite of the Abduction series (that might go to the coffee or raspberry), but this is just a fun, over-the-top, in your face beer. It's worth checking out if you like coconuts and Almond Joys.
Random Thought: So I bought a Randall Jr.
It's basically a fancy travel mug that you can put loose leaf tea into, and those are basically riffs on the classic French Press. The idea is novel and worth marketing, but it's not original. Anyway, who cares. The point is that the Randall Jr. seems like a quality product in terms of what you get. I like Dogfish Head, so I was happy to part with my money and support them.
Since regular Bourbon County Stout is just sitting on shelves in Chicago (such #shelfturd, so #Midwest), I decided it would be fun to pick up a couple of extra bottles and buy a coconut and some berries. My life is average.
Part of my motivation to Randall coconut and berries into Bourbon County is because I missed the Black Friday release and didn't pick up any Proprietors or Backyard Rye. It's no biggie, but there you have it. So I shredded a coconut, which was a fucking pain in the ass. I've never broken down a coconut before. My weapon of choice was a hammer, a knife, and lots of patience. After punching a hole in the top of the coconut with a screwdriver to drain the delicious juice, I went to town with the hammer. Let me tell you something: coconuts are like the Adamantium of tropical fruits. Like, I used to think that if I was ever stranded on a deserted island, I would just live off of coconuts. Maybe I should opt for an island with bananas instead. After you break the coconut in half, you want to break the halves into fourths or eighths. Basically you want to break the shell into as many pieces as you can, exposing the white, fleshy pulp. From there you take a knife, and pry apart the pulp from the shell. The white pulpy fruit stuff (the coconut) has two layers: a brown skin layer, and then the actual coconut shell. I found this to be the hardest part of the process, removing the shell from the brown skin layer. Once you have the shell off, you can peel the brown skin layer off with a knife or a potato peeler.
DOES THIS SOUND LIKE FUN YET!?!?!?
After all this bullshit, you still have to pull out your shredder, and shred the coconut. Then you have to preheat your oven (I went with 375), prepare a baking tray, and put the coconut on the tray. Before baking the shredded coconut, I rehydrated it with the coconut juice from the coconut.
Was it worth it?
Surprisingly...maybe? Once you have your toasted coconut, life is easy. I filled the Randall Jr. most of the way up with toasted coconut, and then poured in the beer. I let it sit for about an hour at room temp (the beer was cold from the fridge). The beer poured easy enough from the Randall without any serious blockage or clogging, though I wish there was a way to press the beer out of the coconut pulp.
The result was mostly fantastic (3.5/5.0 Untappd). The coconut added serious protein and density to the beer’s body. Coconut, chocolate, vanilla, and big nuttiness were POPPING off the beer's aroma, and the beer tasted like chocolate, vanilla, coconut, and nutty. The coconut dialed up the beer's sweetness, but it was more of a natural sweetness. The barrel character took a back seat. It was good, and maybe worth the trouble to try again.
On the other hand....the base beer is really fucking good. I love Bourbon County Stout. I really do. And in my totally honest opinion, the base beer has subtle complexities that might get lost when you layer in the coconut.
How about the berries?
The berries were easy. You just buy some fucking berries and Randall them. I went with raspberry and blackberry. Mmm. I put too many berries in the Randall, not accounting for the moisture the berries contain. I ended up pressing the berries in the Randall to get some of those berry juices flowing...I'm not sure if this is preferred or not, who fucking cares this isn't Cantillionaire shit. I ended up Randalling about 8oz of beer for about an hour, and pouring that into the remaining 4oz.
Unlike the toasted coconut, the berries totally clogged up the Randall's filter. The beer did not want to pour out. I ended up doing a hack job, removing the berries from the Randall and squeezing out some of the juice and beer into a bowl. I then strained that through the Randall. It was a mess to say the least. Was it worth it?
Well, yeah. I really liked this. Probably (4.0/5.0 Untappd) or whatever. The fruit mixed with the Bourbon County base adds a TON of jammy berry notes. I was getting jammy raspberries and blackberries off the hook. The raspberries also added a slightly tart and funky character to the beer. The berries compliment Bourbon County's chocolate notes, and they also play well with the bourbon, barrel, and vanilla. The berries also gel well with the beer’s alcohol.
However, you lose a lot more beer going the berry route...and that shit is sweet. Unlike the toasted coconut which adds nutty density (bust a nut, yo), the fruit just adds juicy juice. If you like juicy juice you'll be in good company, but fruity stouts seem to offend a lot of people. You also lose a good amount of beer when you Randall fruit...next time I'm going to go with two bottles of Bourbon County. I'll Randall one with fruit (and I'll use less fruit), and then pour it into the beer that hasn't been Randall'd.
tl;dr - The Randall Jr. is pretty fucking cool, even though it is a novelty.
Addendum: I like the Randall, and I'm already thinking about picking up a stout to mess with this weekend. I still have a second, unopened coconut to experiment with. I enjoy the novelty of the Randall...but adding fruit or coffee or coconut post-production actually can take away from a beer. I like the subtle nuances and hints of flavor you get from the regular Bourbon County Stout. It doesn't need fruit or coconut. But at the same time, adding fruit and coconut is fun, and it tastes good. So it works but it is unnecessary. And this isn't some Ding-rant or anything like that. I'm all for adding coconut and fruit to stouts, and I hope more breweries do it. The point is: you can still enjoy the base beer, especially when the base beer is as good as Bourbon County Stout.
Reported IBUs: ?
It's Thursday, so that means it is an Unofficial Pipeworks Thursday™....I'm really excited to try tonight's beer, which is Pipeworks' Abduction Stout base brewed with coconuts and almonds. 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. The goal is to release a new beer every week. You can read more about the brewery at their website HERE.
Tonight's beer is big, coming in at 10.5% ABV. It's also brewed with cacao nibs, vanilla bean, toasted coconut, and almond. The back of the bottle reads:
"Aw man, I got this one guy. He's an alien. I was in this one place, real tropical, real cool, real classy, and he just scooped me up. He gave me this beer, it was savemylife good. These aliens were seriously killin' it ALL DAY! Is it wrong for a grown man to kiss an alien full-on the lips? Somebody check my pressure. DONE. It's cool to be cool." We love Nick, and we love this beer too. Done."
 |
| Pipeworks Toasty Nut Abduction |
The Toasty Nut pours like your typical Imperial Stout: an opaque, black body, a finger or two of thick, bready, dark brown head, and yeah. The head retention is nice, with a sea foam coating on top of the beer, and a thick brown ring along the edge. You can kick up some head when you swirl this. There is glossy alcohol legs, and thick, paint-like lacing.
On the aroma: a fucking shitload of coconut. There is a ton of coconut in this. I say that with confidence, as I just bought a Randall and dumped an entire roasted coconut into a bottle of Bourbon County Stout. This beer smells like coconut, with huge toasted coconut and meaty coconut goodness. I'm also getting a ton of coffee, espresso, earthy dirt, roast, and some woody chocolate-vanilla. There's some nutty aromas, but mostly nutty in the realm of toasted coconut (which has a nutty aroma and taste).
Wowza...the taste...is dense, rich, and coconut. This is a big, hearty, Imperial Stout. Very much in line with a sweeter Russian Imperial Stout. I'm happy to report that there is quite a bit of roast, coffee, and earthy bitterness in this beer. I'm a bit surprised. Up front though: sweet cacao, vanilla bean, huge almond and coconut, roasted coconut, epic nuttiness, and Almond Joy/Mounds bar. This beer probably won't escape the Almond Joy description, which is completely applicable. I should mention the front of the beer is loaded with some sticky, boozy alcohol as well. Beneath all the coconut, nuttiness, and chocolate is some serious but subtle roast, coffee, espresso, and grungy Stout stuff. It's good.
This is an impressive display of Imperial Stout stuff. The mouthfeel is full-bodied, but the carbonation is perfect and supportive. You get the booze up front, but it is kind of welcomed for a 10.5% beer. I would treat this beer like a sipper. Palate depth is really good, but this could have slightly longer duration, and the complexity is okay as well. To be honest, this mostly tastes like a boozy Almond Joy. There are some layers though. Up front is cacao, chocolate sweetness, and almond/coconut sweetness, and booze; that rolls into huge coconut, vanilla bean, more booze, nuttiness; the back end dials up rich chocolate and some roast/espresso. The finish is sticky and dry. There is roast, coffee, and espresso abound, mostly found in the mid and back palate.
I'm feeling a Light Divine Brew on this literal interpretation of an Almond Joy. At least, that's what it tastes like. An Almond Joy in a bottle. It's fantabulous, and I wouldn't pair this beer with anything except for maybe some dry chocolate cake, coconut cake, Almond Joys, or nothing. You can probably sip on this for dessert. This probably isn't my favorite of the Abduction series (that might go to the coffee or raspberry), but this is just a fun, over-the-top, in your face beer. It's worth checking out if you like coconuts and Almond Joys.
It's basically a fancy travel mug that you can put loose leaf tea into, and those are basically riffs on the classic French Press. The idea is novel and worth marketing, but it's not original. Anyway, who cares. The point is that the Randall Jr. seems like a quality product in terms of what you get. I like Dogfish Head, so I was happy to part with my money and support them.
Since regular Bourbon County Stout is just sitting on shelves in Chicago (such #shelfturd, so #Midwest), I decided it would be fun to pick up a couple of extra bottles and buy a coconut and some berries. My life is average.
Part of my motivation to Randall coconut and berries into Bourbon County is because I missed the Black Friday release and didn't pick up any Proprietors or Backyard Rye. It's no biggie, but there you have it. So I shredded a coconut, which was a fucking pain in the ass. I've never broken down a coconut before. My weapon of choice was a hammer, a knife, and lots of patience. After punching a hole in the top of the coconut with a screwdriver to drain the delicious juice, I went to town with the hammer. Let me tell you something: coconuts are like the Adamantium of tropical fruits. Like, I used to think that if I was ever stranded on a deserted island, I would just live off of coconuts. Maybe I should opt for an island with bananas instead. After you break the coconut in half, you want to break the halves into fourths or eighths. Basically you want to break the shell into as many pieces as you can, exposing the white, fleshy pulp. From there you take a knife, and pry apart the pulp from the shell. The white pulpy fruit stuff (the coconut) has two layers: a brown skin layer, and then the actual coconut shell. I found this to be the hardest part of the process, removing the shell from the brown skin layer. Once you have the shell off, you can peel the brown skin layer off with a knife or a potato peeler.
DOES THIS SOUND LIKE FUN YET!?!?!?
 |
| I like doin' fun things. |
After all this bullshit, you still have to pull out your shredder, and shred the coconut. Then you have to preheat your oven (I went with 375), prepare a baking tray, and put the coconut on the tray. Before baking the shredded coconut, I rehydrated it with the coconut juice from the coconut.
Was it worth it?
Surprisingly...maybe? Once you have your toasted coconut, life is easy. I filled the Randall Jr. most of the way up with toasted coconut, and then poured in the beer. I let it sit for about an hour at room temp (the beer was cold from the fridge). The beer poured easy enough from the Randall without any serious blockage or clogging, though I wish there was a way to press the beer out of the coconut pulp.
The result was mostly fantastic (3.5/5.0 Untappd). The coconut added serious protein and density to the beer’s body. Coconut, chocolate, vanilla, and big nuttiness were POPPING off the beer's aroma, and the beer tasted like chocolate, vanilla, coconut, and nutty. The coconut dialed up the beer's sweetness, but it was more of a natural sweetness. The barrel character took a back seat. It was good, and maybe worth the trouble to try again.
On the other hand....the base beer is really fucking good. I love Bourbon County Stout. I really do. And in my totally honest opinion, the base beer has subtle complexities that might get lost when you layer in the coconut.
How about the berries?
The berries were easy. You just buy some fucking berries and Randall them. I went with raspberry and blackberry. Mmm. I put too many berries in the Randall, not accounting for the moisture the berries contain. I ended up pressing the berries in the Randall to get some of those berry juices flowing...I'm not sure if this is preferred or not, who fucking cares this isn't Cantillionaire shit. I ended up Randalling about 8oz of beer for about an hour, and pouring that into the remaining 4oz.
Unlike the toasted coconut, the berries totally clogged up the Randall's filter. The beer did not want to pour out. I ended up doing a hack job, removing the berries from the Randall and squeezing out some of the juice and beer into a bowl. I then strained that through the Randall. It was a mess to say the least. Was it worth it?
Well, yeah. I really liked this. Probably (4.0/5.0 Untappd) or whatever. The fruit mixed with the Bourbon County base adds a TON of jammy berry notes. I was getting jammy raspberries and blackberries off the hook. The raspberries also added a slightly tart and funky character to the beer. The berries compliment Bourbon County's chocolate notes, and they also play well with the bourbon, barrel, and vanilla. The berries also gel well with the beer’s alcohol.
However, you lose a lot more beer going the berry route...and that shit is sweet. Unlike the toasted coconut which adds nutty density (bust a nut, yo), the fruit just adds juicy juice. If you like juicy juice you'll be in good company, but fruity stouts seem to offend a lot of people. You also lose a good amount of beer when you Randall fruit...next time I'm going to go with two bottles of Bourbon County. I'll Randall one with fruit (and I'll use less fruit), and then pour it into the beer that hasn't been Randall'd.
tl;dr - The Randall Jr. is pretty fucking cool, even though it is a novelty.
Addendum: I like the Randall, and I'm already thinking about picking up a stout to mess with this weekend. I still have a second, unopened coconut to experiment with. I enjoy the novelty of the Randall...but adding fruit or coffee or coconut post-production actually can take away from a beer. I like the subtle nuances and hints of flavor you get from the regular Bourbon County Stout. It doesn't need fruit or coconut. But at the same time, adding fruit and coconut is fun, and it tastes good. So it works but it is unnecessary. And this isn't some Ding-rant or anything like that. I'm all for adding coconut and fruit to stouts, and I hope more breweries do it. The point is: you can still enjoy the base beer, especially when the base beer is as good as Bourbon County Stout.
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