Brewed By: Pipeworks Brewing in Chicago, IL
Purchased: 22oz bottle (Batch #330-332) bought at Binny's in Chicago, IL; 2014 (bottled ??.??.2014)
Style/ABV: Imperial IPA, 9.5%
Reported IBUs: ?
Who doesn't love Amarillo and dat flowery, citrus-spice goodness. About Pipeworks:
"Amarillo is not to be underestimated!! Amarillo has been known to sabotage and infiltrate the Bland Clan, unleashing citrus and floral notes. Legend has it that Amarillo has both bittering and aroma powers, and the ability to summon drinkers from far and wide when working harmoniously with Delicious Malt and Clean Yeast Character. Other special abilities include the power to like cats a lot."
Oh lawdy, that aroma. As I pour this beer, I'm getting bombarded with huge floral citrus, tropical fruits, and grass. This is gun be good. The beer pours into what looks like a transparent body in low light. The beer is amber/bronze in lower light, and kicks up three fingers of dense, bready, amber-tinted head. Bright light confirms the amber-orange body, which is probably semi-hazy thanks to the bottle conditioning. Head retention is fantastic, with a finger-plus hanging around, and there is already nice lacing forming. There's also good carbonation in here.
But that aroma. Gosh darn. There's a huge mix of floral hops and hop spice on the nose. I'm getting grass, sweet hops, tropical fruit, orange, guava, Mandarins, pineapple, and some slightly resinous lemons. There's quite a bit of peppery hop spice on the aroma as well, with white pepper, lemon zest, rye, and some resin spice.
This is fantastic, with big Amarillo dominating the taste. The beer is a blend of giant hop spice (rye, white pepper, lemon zest, resin) with big sweet hop character. The hop character touches citrus, grass, pineapple, guava, tropical fruits, orange. The malt backbone is quietly present, with hints of caramel sugars and biscuit, some light bread and rye bread as well. The rye spice note is my favorite part of this beer...just a wonderful character that adds so much depth.
This is another dinger from the ever-expanding portfolio of Pipeworks' Imperial IPAs. The mouthfeel is medium-full to full-bodied, which you kind of expect at 9.5%. Pipeworks tends to dial up the malt body on their DIPAs, and as a consequence their beers aren't as bitter as say a....Stone Grapefruit Slam IPA. Nevertheless, this has vibrant hop character and it's super drinkable. Palate depth is fantastic, and the beer has good duration. Complexity is very good...it's really all about the sweeter hop notes and the big hop spice. Up front: citrus, orange, and big rye, white pepper, lemon zest, resin; the mids roll into more rye, white pepper, guava, pineapple, tropical fruits; the back end is lingering spice and some nice bitterness. There's some rye/biscuit/caramel on the malt backbone. This one is resinous and spicy, but never reaches pithy or scorched earth levels of bitter. The finish is dry and spicy.
Rating: Above-Average (4.0/5.0 Untappd)
I'm feeling a Strong Above-Average on this. This is fucking delicious. I'm almost tempted to bump this to the world-class, divine brew status...but I feel like the ceiling has potential to be higher. I dunno, who cares. I would not pass up on this, especially at around $10 a bottle. The sweeter hop character in here will pair well with a chicken sandwich, barbecue sauce, mango salsa, and fruit salad. You could also pair this with chicken wings, American bar food, and pulled pork or fish tacos.
Random Thought: It's been a long 24 hours.
Reported IBUs: ?
Who doesn't love Amarillo and dat flowery, citrus-spice goodness. 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.
The Amarillo Ninja is brewed to 9.5% and features Amarillo hops, and whatever ingredients Pipeworks will eventually list on their website. The back of the bottle states:
"Amarillo is not to be underestimated!! Amarillo has been known to sabotage and infiltrate the Bland Clan, unleashing citrus and floral notes. Legend has it that Amarillo has both bittering and aroma powers, and the ability to summon drinkers from far and wide when working harmoniously with Delicious Malt and Clean Yeast Character. Other special abilities include the power to like cats a lot."
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| Pipeworks Amarillo Ninja |
But that aroma. Gosh darn. There's a huge mix of floral hops and hop spice on the nose. I'm getting grass, sweet hops, tropical fruit, orange, guava, Mandarins, pineapple, and some slightly resinous lemons. There's quite a bit of peppery hop spice on the aroma as well, with white pepper, lemon zest, rye, and some resin spice.
This is fantastic, with big Amarillo dominating the taste. The beer is a blend of giant hop spice (rye, white pepper, lemon zest, resin) with big sweet hop character. The hop character touches citrus, grass, pineapple, guava, tropical fruits, orange. The malt backbone is quietly present, with hints of caramel sugars and biscuit, some light bread and rye bread as well. The rye spice note is my favorite part of this beer...just a wonderful character that adds so much depth.
This is another dinger from the ever-expanding portfolio of Pipeworks' Imperial IPAs. The mouthfeel is medium-full to full-bodied, which you kind of expect at 9.5%. Pipeworks tends to dial up the malt body on their DIPAs, and as a consequence their beers aren't as bitter as say a....Stone Grapefruit Slam IPA. Nevertheless, this has vibrant hop character and it's super drinkable. Palate depth is fantastic, and the beer has good duration. Complexity is very good...it's really all about the sweeter hop notes and the big hop spice. Up front: citrus, orange, and big rye, white pepper, lemon zest, resin; the mids roll into more rye, white pepper, guava, pineapple, tropical fruits; the back end is lingering spice and some nice bitterness. There's some rye/biscuit/caramel on the malt backbone. This one is resinous and spicy, but never reaches pithy or scorched earth levels of bitter. The finish is dry and spicy.
Rating: Above-Average (4.0/5.0 Untappd)
I'm feeling a Strong Above-Average on this. This is fucking delicious. I'm almost tempted to bump this to the world-class, divine brew status...but I feel like the ceiling has potential to be higher. I dunno, who cares. I would not pass up on this, especially at around $10 a bottle. The sweeter hop character in here will pair well with a chicken sandwich, barbecue sauce, mango salsa, and fruit salad. You could also pair this with chicken wings, American bar food, and pulled pork or fish tacos.
Random Thought: It's been a long 24 hours.
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