Brewed By: Pipeworks Brewing in Chicago, IL
Purchased: 22oz bottle (Batch #379/382) bought at West Lakeview Liquors in Chicago, IL; 2014 (bottled 04.19.2014)
Style/ABV: Imperial English Style IPA, 9.0%
Reported IBUs: ?
It's not Thursday, so obviously it's not an Unofficial Pipeworks Thursday™. But my Thursday night is going to be busy, and I'm in the mood for a big, juicy IPA. I figure you can't go wrong here. About Pipeworks:
"Fresh from an overseas adventure, the ceaselessly curious companions Bunny and Bird combined an English malt and yeast with East Kent Golding, El Dorado, and Nelson Sauvin hops to create a delightfully clean, malty English IPA with vinous character. We brewed this ale for Ryan, an intrepid friend who has been with us along our adventure and who can always count on Bunny and Bird to inspire him to live life to the fullest. Cheers to loved ones, full lives and full glasses! Cheerio!"
This one pours into a dark gold, amber color, and kicks up three fingers of gold/amber-tinted head. The body is hazy and looks like gold pennies. In bright light the beer takes on a deep orange color, and you can see spotty carbonation dancing around. The head is fluffy, creamy, and sustaining nicely. Overall it looks the part of an IPA.
The aroma here is huge. Pipeworks has always had a knack for making big IPAs and Stouts, but they've really brought their A-game the past few hoppy beers I've had from them. The aroma of this beer is exploding with Nelson Sauvin grape, grape leaf, and big passion fruit. There's a ton of mild spice and earthy hop goodness, with citrus-pepper, fennel, and coriander...but all the spice is backed by gentle and pleasant citrus, probably courtesy of the East Kent Golding and El Dorado hops. I'm getting citrus, tangerine, passionfruit, and juicy hop goodness to the Nth degree on the aroma.
This is surprisingly earthy and wonderful...I don't even think I've had a beer like this before. I'm getting a lot of grape leaf, earthy grape pit, and resinous passionfruit. There's also big sweet hop character in here, with tangerine, melon, orange, and bright tropical fruits. But the tropical fruits never blossom...this is not a "bright" beer, if that makes any sense. There's definitely a candy sweetness element to the hop character in this beer, but the beer retains a darker, leafy edge. Kind of like a London fog. /dadjokes
This is one of the most refined Imperial IPAs I've had from Pipeworks, with an appropriate medium body mouthfeel. There's plenty of carbonation to smooth things out, and although this has some backing caramel malts, it retains a nice hoppy edge. You wouldn't know this was 9.0%, so don't boof and drive. Palate depth is above-average, and this is moderately complex. This isn't a world destroyer, but it's no slouch either. Up front: big Nelson Sauvin grape leaf, grape pit, and bitter passion fruit wrapped up in a nice malty sweet body; the mids continue with some mildly resinous and grapey hops, adding layers of tangerine, orange, and melon sweetness; the back end finishes bitter with lingering hops and some lingering malt goodness. Well executed and tasty.
I'm feeling a Decent Above-Average...a very enjoyable offering from the Pipeworks crew, I don't feel bad about picking this one up @ around $10 a bomber. Food pairings here lean towards leafy burgers, anything with cilantro, strong cheeses, and anything that gels well with bright, candy-like hops that have a dark green approach.
Random Thought: Gotta hand it to Pipeworks for having this IPA thing down.
Reported IBUs: ?
It's not Thursday, so obviously it's not an Unofficial Pipeworks Thursday™. But my Thursday night is going to be busy, and I'm in the mood for a big, juicy IPA. I figure you can't go wrong here. 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 Bunny and the Bird's bottle reads:
"Fresh from an overseas adventure, the ceaselessly curious companions Bunny and Bird combined an English malt and yeast with East Kent Golding, El Dorado, and Nelson Sauvin hops to create a delightfully clean, malty English IPA with vinous character. We brewed this ale for Ryan, an intrepid friend who has been with us along our adventure and who can always count on Bunny and Bird to inspire him to live life to the fullest. Cheers to loved ones, full lives and full glasses! Cheerio!"
This one pours into a dark gold, amber color, and kicks up three fingers of gold/amber-tinted head. The body is hazy and looks like gold pennies. In bright light the beer takes on a deep orange color, and you can see spotty carbonation dancing around. The head is fluffy, creamy, and sustaining nicely. Overall it looks the part of an IPA.
 |
| Pipeworks Bunny and the Bird English Style IPA |
The aroma here is huge. Pipeworks has always had a knack for making big IPAs and Stouts, but they've really brought their A-game the past few hoppy beers I've had from them. The aroma of this beer is exploding with Nelson Sauvin grape, grape leaf, and big passion fruit. There's a ton of mild spice and earthy hop goodness, with citrus-pepper, fennel, and coriander...but all the spice is backed by gentle and pleasant citrus, probably courtesy of the East Kent Golding and El Dorado hops. I'm getting citrus, tangerine, passionfruit, and juicy hop goodness to the Nth degree on the aroma.
This is surprisingly earthy and wonderful...I don't even think I've had a beer like this before. I'm getting a lot of grape leaf, earthy grape pit, and resinous passionfruit. There's also big sweet hop character in here, with tangerine, melon, orange, and bright tropical fruits. But the tropical fruits never blossom...this is not a "bright" beer, if that makes any sense. There's definitely a candy sweetness element to the hop character in this beer, but the beer retains a darker, leafy edge. Kind of like a London fog. /dadjokes
This is one of the most refined Imperial IPAs I've had from Pipeworks, with an appropriate medium body mouthfeel. There's plenty of carbonation to smooth things out, and although this has some backing caramel malts, it retains a nice hoppy edge. You wouldn't know this was 9.0%, so don't boof and drive. Palate depth is above-average, and this is moderately complex. This isn't a world destroyer, but it's no slouch either. Up front: big Nelson Sauvin grape leaf, grape pit, and bitter passion fruit wrapped up in a nice malty sweet body; the mids continue with some mildly resinous and grapey hops, adding layers of tangerine, orange, and melon sweetness; the back end finishes bitter with lingering hops and some lingering malt goodness. Well executed and tasty.
Rating: Above-Average (3.5/5.0 Untappd)
I'm feeling a Decent Above-Average...a very enjoyable offering from the Pipeworks crew, I don't feel bad about picking this one up @ around $10 a bomber. Food pairings here lean towards leafy burgers, anything with cilantro, strong cheeses, and anything that gels well with bright, candy-like hops that have a dark green approach.
Random Thought: Gotta hand it to Pipeworks for having this IPA thing down.
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