Brewed By: Pipeworks Brewing in Chicago, IL
Purchased: 22oz bottle (Batch #79) bought at Binny's in IL; 2013 (bottled 01.22.2013)
Style/ABV: Imperial Red Ale/American Barleywine, 10.0%
Reported IBUs: ?
It is hard to believe that it has been over one year since I began reviewing Pipeworks' beers. Back in the January of 2013, I reviewed the Pipeworks Santa vs. Unicorn. I found the beer to be superbly underwhelming. For fun, I thought, "why the hell not, I'll age a bottle."
So I bought another bottle. If you are a keen reader/observer, you'll note that the beer I am reviewing tonight is from the Batch #79 release. The beer I reviewed back in January 2013 was from Batch #64. The two batches were brewed close enough together that I doubt it matters much, plush this shitty blog is far and away from a perfect science. You've been warned.
About Pipeworks:
I'm feeling a Light Above-Average...I'll toss this a bone for just being a fun experiment. This isn't quite as refined or complex as a Sierra Nevada Bigfoot or whatever classic Barleywine comes to your mind, but at the same time it's not really far behind. I found this beer to be really disappointing fresh, but what I have here now is drinking really good. I'd pay $10.99 to age one of these again. Food pairings here: anything with pine nuts, including stuffed mushrooms, risotto, nutty desserts, and maybe even chicken and waffles.
Random Thought: I don't understand American Barleywines. I have such a love/hate relationship with the style.
Reported IBUs: ?
It is hard to believe that it has been over one year since I began reviewing Pipeworks' beers. Back in the January of 2013, I reviewed the Pipeworks Santa vs. Unicorn. I found the beer to be superbly underwhelming. For fun, I thought, "why the hell not, I'll age a bottle."
So I bought another bottle. If you are a keen reader/observer, you'll note that the beer I am reviewing tonight is from the Batch #79 release. The beer I reviewed back in January 2013 was from Batch #64. The two batches were brewed close enough together that I doubt it matters much, plush this shitty blog is far and away from a perfect science. You've been warned.
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.
I have some serious reservations about aging Pipeworks' beers, especially their early batches. BUT, to the credit of Pipeworks, the beers I have held on to for extended periods of time did hold up well. Specifically the Raspberry Truffle Abduction, which was a delight half a year later.
Tonight's beer was brewed for the Winter, but has made several appearances with possible recipe tweaks and slightly different names. A much improved version of this beer was released in July of 2013; the Sam Vs Unicorn found Pipeworks channeling their inner Lagunitas. The Sam Vs Unicorn was a fantastically hoppy, spicy, malty, Imperial Red...the type of shit that I salivate over. I do love my Imperial Reds. Imperial Reds flirt with American Barleywines, but are so much better. I'm really curious to see how this one has held up to age.
Without further ado. And if you care what is on the back of this bottle, go read my review for Batch #64. The print is identical.
As I kind of anticipated, this one gushed on the pour. That's what happens when you age a conditioned beer for a year and then open it up on the warmer side of cellar temps. This one pours into an absolutely swampy orange-red-brown haze. This one is practically opaque, with big juicy brown/orange tones in bright light. It's like a Ween album, weirdly appealing and off-putting at the same time. This one also kicked up a finger of caramel-tinted head that is sustaining quite nicely with a centimeter coating. There's some lacing as well.
How about that aroma though! Wow, this thing has improved with age. At least per my previous tasting notes. I'm getting huge cakey malts, pine sap, maple syrup, waffle house, pine, and pine tar. There is some big hop resin lurking beneath, with resinous grapefruit and lemon making an appearance on the nose. There's good sweetness on the aroma, with caramel, brown sugar, and balanced treacle goodness ala a well-crafted, aged, American Barleywine.
The taste fails to live up to the awesome aroma, but it's a big improvement over the beer that I reviewed back in 2013 and said "meh" to. This one has a nice body, especially for the style. American Barleywines can be quite heavy-handed, but this has lots of carbonation, with a full-bodied thinness, and just a touch of oxidation. The balance here has shifted from hop-forward into deep caramel sugars, but there are still plenty of hops present. I'm getting big pine, pine sap, maple syrup, treacle sweetness, nuttiness, pine nuts, brown sugars, burnt caramel, more burnt caramel, even more burnt caramel...serious up-thumbs for the dark sugars in here, it's almost Belgian-esque and that is fucking awesome. I don't even know how or why, but I like it. There's some resinous and sappy lemon and citrus hanging around in the taste, but this one mostly dials in that pine-maple-caramel trifecta.
To reiterate, this is full-bodied but on the thinner and more drinkable side, especially for the style. I think this beer toes the line of a true American Barleywine, where the Sam Vs Unicorn is more of an Imperial Red. Palate depth here is good, and this one has good duration. Complexity is low to average, or maybe not. I'm not a huge fan of American Barleywines, but I'm digging this. You don't pick up any of the 10%. There's a lotta pine sap, maple syrup, and caramel sugars up front; that rolls into nuttiness, pine nuts, more pine sap, resinous lemon, bitterness, burnt caramel; the back end continues to layer the dark sugars and burnt caramel, and the finish is surprisingly bitter and piney. Picture the Canadian woods: cabins, brown bears, stalking sorority chicks. That's this beer.
Tonight's beer was brewed for the Winter, but has made several appearances with possible recipe tweaks and slightly different names. A much improved version of this beer was released in July of 2013; the Sam Vs Unicorn found Pipeworks channeling their inner Lagunitas. The Sam Vs Unicorn was a fantastically hoppy, spicy, malty, Imperial Red...the type of shit that I salivate over. I do love my Imperial Reds. Imperial Reds flirt with American Barleywines, but are so much better. I'm really curious to see how this one has held up to age.
Without further ado. And if you care what is on the back of this bottle, go read my review for Batch #64. The print is identical.
 |
| Pipeworks Santa vs. Unicorn (Vintage 2013) |
As I kind of anticipated, this one gushed on the pour. That's what happens when you age a conditioned beer for a year and then open it up on the warmer side of cellar temps. This one pours into an absolutely swampy orange-red-brown haze. This one is practically opaque, with big juicy brown/orange tones in bright light. It's like a Ween album, weirdly appealing and off-putting at the same time. This one also kicked up a finger of caramel-tinted head that is sustaining quite nicely with a centimeter coating. There's some lacing as well.
How about that aroma though! Wow, this thing has improved with age. At least per my previous tasting notes. I'm getting huge cakey malts, pine sap, maple syrup, waffle house, pine, and pine tar. There is some big hop resin lurking beneath, with resinous grapefruit and lemon making an appearance on the nose. There's good sweetness on the aroma, with caramel, brown sugar, and balanced treacle goodness ala a well-crafted, aged, American Barleywine.
The taste fails to live up to the awesome aroma, but it's a big improvement over the beer that I reviewed back in 2013 and said "meh" to. This one has a nice body, especially for the style. American Barleywines can be quite heavy-handed, but this has lots of carbonation, with a full-bodied thinness, and just a touch of oxidation. The balance here has shifted from hop-forward into deep caramel sugars, but there are still plenty of hops present. I'm getting big pine, pine sap, maple syrup, treacle sweetness, nuttiness, pine nuts, brown sugars, burnt caramel, more burnt caramel, even more burnt caramel...serious up-thumbs for the dark sugars in here, it's almost Belgian-esque and that is fucking awesome. I don't even know how or why, but I like it. There's some resinous and sappy lemon and citrus hanging around in the taste, but this one mostly dials in that pine-maple-caramel trifecta.
To reiterate, this is full-bodied but on the thinner and more drinkable side, especially for the style. I think this beer toes the line of a true American Barleywine, where the Sam Vs Unicorn is more of an Imperial Red. Palate depth here is good, and this one has good duration. Complexity is low to average, or maybe not. I'm not a huge fan of American Barleywines, but I'm digging this. You don't pick up any of the 10%. There's a lotta pine sap, maple syrup, and caramel sugars up front; that rolls into nuttiness, pine nuts, more pine sap, resinous lemon, bitterness, burnt caramel; the back end continues to layer the dark sugars and burnt caramel, and the finish is surprisingly bitter and piney. Picture the Canadian woods: cabins, brown bears, stalking sorority chicks. That's this beer.
Rating: Above-Average (3.5/5.0 Untappd)
I'm feeling a Light Above-Average...I'll toss this a bone for just being a fun experiment. This isn't quite as refined or complex as a Sierra Nevada Bigfoot or whatever classic Barleywine comes to your mind, but at the same time it's not really far behind. I found this beer to be really disappointing fresh, but what I have here now is drinking really good. I'd pay $10.99 to age one of these again. Food pairings here: anything with pine nuts, including stuffed mushrooms, risotto, nutty desserts, and maybe even chicken and waffles.
Random Thought: I don't understand American Barleywines. I have such a love/hate relationship with the style.
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