Off Color Dino S'Mores

Breewed By: Off Color Brewing in Chicago, IL

Purchased: 12oz bottle from a 4-pack bought at Bottles & Cans in Chicago, IL; 2014

Style/ABV: American Stout, 10.5% 

Reported IBUs: 40

Tonight's beer is a certified shelf turd. I literally walked into the store, and found this turd sitting on shelves. AMA. About Off Color Brewing:

Off Color Brewing is a brewery founded in 2008 according to their Facebook, or 2014 according to their website, or 2013 if you follow their release party and the logical timeline. It really doesn't matter, I suppose. What you need to know is that this brewery is the brainchild of former Goose Island barrel guru, John Laffler, and former Two Brothers brewer, Dave Bleitner. The duo are both graduates of Siebel, and share a passion for brewing exotic, off-color beer. For more info, check out the brewery's ABOUT page.

The Dino S'Mores is another S'mores inspired imperial stout, which is a trend that I can get behind. I'm quite partial to Pipeworks' S'More Money, S'More Problems. The Dino S'Mores is brewed with Pale, Vienna, Wheat, Cara II, Extra Special, Flaked Oats, Dark Chocolate, Black, and Roasted Barley malts. This features only Nugget hops (a little Goozie Island inspiration?), and a bunch of adjuncts. The extra ingredients include: marshmallow, vanilla beans, molasses, graham flour, and cocoa nibs. My goodness, this sounds amazing. 

Off Color Dino S'Mores

If you need me to describe the appearance, you probably won't be able to track down this beer. Just sayin'. Black, opaque, brown head. OH NOES. There's legit lacing and alcohol legs tugging and glossing on my glass, and this smacks of chocolate bukkake. 

The aroma is surprisingly roasty and smokey. It actually -- and I know this is going to be some sacrilegious shit to say -- it actually kind of smells like the same roasted malts used in Rogue's Voodoo Doughnut series. As I dig into the aroma some more, I'm getting some of that graham cracker, chocolate, and vanilla. This does not scream S'Mores to me on the aroma, and to be honest, I think the Pipeworks' S'More Money, S'More Problems had a more S'more-forward aroma. 

This gets a lot better as it warms up, but try as I might I cannot find the direct S'Mores flavor. I'm getting a lot of nice roast (which is still reminiscent of the roast found in Rogue's Voodoo series), big vanilla bean, big cocoa, and lots of hints of campfire, complex roast, hints of roasted coffee, and some nice graham notes. It's GOOD. I really like this beer. The sweetness isn't ratcheted high enough to match that of a proper S'More, but in some respects I like that. This really grounds itself in that earthy roasted note...it's a note that when done well tastes really good, and again reminds me of coffee and complex dirt. 

At 10.5%, I'm not tasting any alcohol here. This is not overly sweet at all. That's both a good thing and bad thing. When I think of S'Mores, I think of layers upon layers of sugar. Even if you add that burnt marshmallow flavor to the mix, the S'More dessert is all about the sugar. The complex roasted notes in here are reminiscent of a campfire, dirt, and coffee...and I like it. But S'Mores? I don't think so. Still, this is fairly complex, and the palate depth is great. This is medium-bodied, and starts off with roast, dirt coffee; the mids roll into cocoa, vanilla, sugars, graham; the back end finishes with roast, dirt, ash, coffee, and lingering vanilla sugars. 

Rating: Above-Average (4.0/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Light Above-Average on this. I'm surprised to say that I prefer the S'More Money, S'More Problem if you are looking for that S'More flavor. In terms of a complex, roasty Imperial Stout...you could do much worse than this beer right here. I think this is very tasty, but the sugar needs to be ratcheted up to hit that dessert note. But some people (like myself) prefer less sugar....so for that crowd, this is going to be a certified hit.

Random Thought: I'm curious to see if future batches of this will taste different, and I'm happy to see this just sitting on shelves. 

Pipeworks S'More Money, S'More Problems

Brewed By: Pipeworks Brewing in Chicago, IL  

Purchased: 22oz bottle (Batch #294-295) bought at West Lakeview Liquors in Chicago, IL; 2014 (bottled ??.??.2014)

Style/ABV: Imperial Stout/American Double, 10.0%
Reported IBUs: ?

It's an Unofficial Pipeworks Thursday™, so you know the drill. I'm going to type up a crappy review for a Pipeworks beer, and complain about the weather. Seriously though, this weather is ridiculous.

This is just....fuck.

The only silver lining is that it is peak Stout/Strong Ale/Barleywine season. There are no other silver linings. 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 unqiue in that it was brewed with one of Pipeworks' Friends With Benefits (aka donor) members, Keith Lonergan. This beer is brewed with "copious amounts of chocolate malt, roasted barley, golden naked oats and crushed graham crackers." Cocao nibs, vanilla bean, and "marshmallow flavor" are added after primary. The back of the bottle states::

"This is about to get campy... Boys and girls scoutin' for an ale that's s'more than a feelin' for the next jamboree or just looking to mallow out with something tasty, this is s'more like it. Crafted in collaboration with Kickstarter supporter Keith Lonergan, this chocolatey stout is brewed with graham crackers, and has an in-tents marshmallow flavor. Get s'more for you and all your friends, because s'more the merrier. Only you can prevent forest fires, by drinking s'more."

Oh my the puns. This beer pours very much like every other opaque, inky black Imperial Stout. That is to say: thick and viscous with a black body, and producing a finger's worth of brown head. There is some tight lacing, alcohol legs, and glossy brown beer sticking to the side of the glass. In bright light the beer catches some ruby/brown tones on the very edges, but yeah.

Pipeworks S'More Money, S'More Problems

Unlike every other Stout...the aroma here is awesome and unique. This beer really does smell like S'mores, with huge cocoa and cacao nibs, chocolate, marshmallow, burnt marshmallow and sugar, and bready graham crackers and Golden Grahams. Wowza, what an aroma. I just want to park my nose in this beer. When you start to deconstruct things, you get the vanilla bean, roast, coffee/espresso/earthy, and hazelnut. The coffee/hazelnut is pretty big. What is impressive is that the graham note really comes across on the aroma. It's a really specific food/flavor, so I doubt I'd place it blind, but I don't know.

Mmmmmm...this is fantastic. Credit to Pipeworks and Keith Lonergan for nailing this. This tastes like a S'more. I'm getting tons of chocolate, marshmallow, dense graham cracker, and lingering chocolate/cacao and marshmallow on the back. The beer is thick and hearty, like a Milk Stout, and there's some serious vanilla bean dancing around in here. Along with all of the S'mores and graham cracker is some really nice hazelnut, earthy coffee, and roast. The beer has a surprising amount of bitterness.

This beer is rich and thick and sticky, and it hides the booze well. I'm not picking up any of the 10%. The mouthfeel is full-bodied, and the palate duration is long. Complexity is pretty good. It's a sweet and sticky beer, but there is some earthy stuff and bitterness in the mix. Up front is a huge blast of cocoa and vanilla bean; that rolls into the S'more with earthy roast, coffee, campfire, marshmallow, chocolate and cocoa, and graham cracker; the back end is lingering chocolate and roasted marshmallow, with some hazelnut/coffee and a sticky finish. Really solid stuff here....

Rating: Above-Average (4.0/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Strong Above-Average  on this...this beer sets out to taste like S'mores, and it pretty much nails it. It's not a particularly complex or refined beer, but it's a really good Stout. And the S'mores come through big time. It's also cold as fuck outside, so the notion of drinking liquid S'mores is very appealing to me right now. Food pairings: S'mores. The Stout base here is pretty legit and earthy/coffee/roasty so you could also pair this with dry chocolate cake, ice cream, or just drink the beer for dessert itself since it's probably tipping the 615+ calorie mark (per 22oz). I hope Pipeworks puts this one on their rotation.

Random Thought: What I find particularly fascinating about this beer is that it has a long list of ingredients...it reminds me of Rogue. I could see a Voodoo Doughnut S'mores beer...and it would probably fall somewhere between "average" and "suck." You can make beers with unique ingredients taste good. It probably helps that Pipeworks has the Stout base down, but yeah. Buy this beer.

Pipeworks Toasty Nut Abduction

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:

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. 

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!?!?!?

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.