Brewed By: Pipeworks Brewing in Chicago, IL
Purchased: 22oz bottle (Batch #411/412) bought at Binny's in IL; 2014 (bottled 05.22.2014)
Style/ABV: Imperial Pale Ale, 8.0%
Reported IBUs: ?
Tonight's Unofficial Pipeworks Thursday™ is a little bit more kinky that usual. Based on the bottle artwork and back label for the Guavanatrix, you might get the impression that this is part of their Berliner series: apparently not. But who doesn't love a big Pale Ale spiked with fruit? About Pipeworks:
"This kinky lady is very confident that this consensual pairing of hopped up pale ale and juicy, tropical guava is about to slap you across the face, and give your tastebuds a tart whipping. It's BDSMmmmm so good. This femme submits to no one. It'd be pure torture not to release the pressure under this cap. Now, be a good slave and put this in your glass."
This one pours into an unimpressive amberish, yellow-gold body that is kind of stagnant and "meh." The beer also produces a finger of white head which recedes into a nice cauldron effect/sea foam, and leaves lacing. Some of this is my fault for choosing a wide glass, but whatever. Do people actually care about the appearance? In bright light, the beer takes on a radiant and juicy golden-yellow color with orange tones. The best thing going on here is all that clingy lacing.
The aroma here is outstanding, and is reminiscent of Laguintas' more hoppy offerings, and the early Ninja vs. Unicorn beers. Namely, the Galaxy Unicorn. I'm getting hugely dank and resinous guava, apricot, peach, mango, and oily hemp. This aroma is dank as hizzy. The guava totally comes over the top, and you get some agave, and juicy hop resin. This is ridiculous.
Wow. This tastes amazing. This is something special...with giant agave, guava, apricot funk, hemp oil, and huge hop resin coming over the top to punch your mouth in the mouth-dick. This conjures up tasting notes of nondescript tropical fruits; namely peach, mango, apricot, and pineapple; but it's all very subtle and subdued. There's a nice soapy, resinous finish here, and right now (at slightly cooler temps) the hops are crushing any malt presence.
This is medium-bodied with just enough carbonation, but things move along thanks to the awesome hop profile. I'm not getting any of the quoted 8.0%. As this warms up, some caramel and bready malts start to peak through, but this is still a dank, resinous, hop show. This has fantastic palate depth and duration, but the complexity is admittedly simple. Or simple enough. Up front is a big blast of guava, dank tropical fruit suggestions, apricot funk; the mids roll into more hops, more guava/agave, more tropical fruit suggestions; the back end gives way to some caramel/bread and malty hints, and the finish is hoppy and dank and bitter and resinous. It's pretty, pretty good.
Reported IBUs: ?
Tonight's Unofficial Pipeworks Thursday™ is a little bit more kinky that usual. Based on the bottle artwork and back label for the Guavanatrix, you might get the impression that this is part of their Berliner series: apparently not. But who doesn't love a big Pale Ale spiked with fruit? 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 Guavanatrix is an "Imperial Pale Ale with guava added." The back of the bottle reads:
"This kinky lady is very confident that this consensual pairing of hopped up pale ale and juicy, tropical guava is about to slap you across the face, and give your tastebuds a tart whipping. It's BDSMmmmm so good. This femme submits to no one. It'd be pure torture not to release the pressure under this cap. Now, be a good slave and put this in your glass."
This one pours into an unimpressive amberish, yellow-gold body that is kind of stagnant and "meh." The beer also produces a finger of white head which recedes into a nice cauldron effect/sea foam, and leaves lacing. Some of this is my fault for choosing a wide glass, but whatever. Do people actually care about the appearance? In bright light, the beer takes on a radiant and juicy golden-yellow color with orange tones. The best thing going on here is all that clingy lacing.
The aroma here is outstanding, and is reminiscent of Laguintas' more hoppy offerings, and the early Ninja vs. Unicorn beers. Namely, the Galaxy Unicorn. I'm getting hugely dank and resinous guava, apricot, peach, mango, and oily hemp. This aroma is dank as hizzy. The guava totally comes over the top, and you get some agave, and juicy hop resin. This is ridiculous.
Wow. This tastes amazing. This is something special...with giant agave, guava, apricot funk, hemp oil, and huge hop resin coming over the top to punch your mouth in the mouth-dick. This conjures up tasting notes of nondescript tropical fruits; namely peach, mango, apricot, and pineapple; but it's all very subtle and subdued. There's a nice soapy, resinous finish here, and right now (at slightly cooler temps) the hops are crushing any malt presence.
This is medium-bodied with just enough carbonation, but things move along thanks to the awesome hop profile. I'm not getting any of the quoted 8.0%. As this warms up, some caramel and bready malts start to peak through, but this is still a dank, resinous, hop show. This has fantastic palate depth and duration, but the complexity is admittedly simple. Or simple enough. Up front is a big blast of guava, dank tropical fruit suggestions, apricot funk; the mids roll into more hops, more guava/agave, more tropical fruit suggestions; the back end gives way to some caramel/bread and malty hints, and the finish is hoppy and dank and bitter and resinous. It's pretty, pretty good.
Rating: Above-Average (4.0/5.0 Untappd)
I'm feeling a Strong Above-Average on this. This is solid, and it reminds me of the early Ninja vs. Unicorn stuff. I'm almost picking up a menthol note in this as I go in for the rest of the bomber...I'm pairing this with a salad and lunch meat sandwich, but this super dank and resinous IPA would go well with ribs, pork chops, chicken sandwiches, and chicken wings. If I see this on shelves again, I may need to grab another bottle.
Random Thought: I'm excited to kick back and watch some hockey on Saturday, and basketball on Sunday. I have me a 32oz bottle of Laguintas Sucks laying around, so hopefully I'll get to that sometime soon.
I'm feeling a Strong Above-Average on this. This is solid, and it reminds me of the early Ninja vs. Unicorn stuff. I'm almost picking up a menthol note in this as I go in for the rest of the bomber...I'm pairing this with a salad and lunch meat sandwich, but this super dank and resinous IPA would go well with ribs, pork chops, chicken sandwiches, and chicken wings. If I see this on shelves again, I may need to grab another bottle.
Random Thought: I'm excited to kick back and watch some hockey on Saturday, and basketball on Sunday. I have me a 32oz bottle of Laguintas Sucks laying around, so hopefully I'll get to that sometime soon.
Popping this one soon! I hope to post my thoughts on it as well!
ReplyDeleteCheers!