Pipeworks Cinnamon Beer-D Os

Brewed By: Pipeworks Brewing in Chicago, IL  

Purchased: 22oz bottle (Batch #515/516) bought at Fischman's Liquors and Tavern in Chicago, IL; 2014 (bottled 09.??.2014)

Style/ABV: "Cereal Milk Inspired" Imperial Cream Ale, 10.0%
Reported IBUs: ?

I'm super excited to be jumping on tonight's beer. Pipeworks has apparently decided to start rolling out breakfast cereal inspired beers, and I am totally okay with that. The Cinnamon Beer-D Os is a "cereal milk inspired Imperial Cream Ale." I don't even know. This one is brewed with lactose, cinnamon, vanilla, cereal grains, cinnamon cereal, and brown sugar. Not Pipeworks Thursday™. 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 Cinnamon Beer-D Os bottle reads (and as you can guess, has a crossword puzzle): 

"Can you find...aline, beardo, beer, cinnamon, sugar, kitten, ninja, epic battle, unicorn, kwing, pdubz, pipeworks, weirdo."

This pours into a hazy, dark orange/amber body, kicking up several fingers of caramel-tinged head. As the head drops off, you are left with webs of Spider-Man worthy lacing. There's some alcohol legs, and all that jazz. It kind of "looks like cinnamon," said Rorschach. 

The aroma of this insanely stupid beer is reminiscent of another insanely stupid Pipeworks beer: Hey, Careful Man, There's A Beverage Here! Both beers are overpoweringly sweet, with lactose, vanilla, and assertive milk sugars. I'm getting fudge like sweetness on the nose, with white chocolate and cocoa fudge. There are also some assertive cereal grains on the nose, for sure. What is missing from the nose/aroma is the big cinnamon I was expecting. There is some faint, nondescript spice on the nose, but it isn't quite dialing up the cinnamon intensity.

This is malty sweet...it tastes boozy and big, with big lactose, cereal grains, and tons of vanilla. There's a lot of milk sugar in here, and this has an acrid and burnt sugar note that reminds me of burnt caramel. This is boozy and big. In a lot of ways, this is just a remix of the Hey, Careful Man. However, I felt like that beer was a little bit more nuanced and complex. I'm not getting a ton of breakfast cereal in here. I'm also not getting as much breakfast cereal as I had hoped for...this definitely has suggestions of Golden Grahams or Cinnamon Toast Crunch, but it never quite brings the flavor home. I think the overt lactose-vanilla-burnt sugar punch acts as a detractor, and the booze doesn't help.

I rarely say this about anything Pipeworks, but I think this beer is kind of average and/or needs some time to age. Right now the lactose and sugars are really dialing up aggressive sweetness and astringency. Furthermore, this is kind of boozy. I'm feeling the weight of the alcohol, and tasting a little bit of it too. At 10.0% you'd maybe expect that...but then when you add in that this is full-bodied without a ton of complexity, and yeah. Up front: lactose sugars, milk, vanilla, fudge sweetness; the mids roll into more sugars, with some cereal grains, hints of Golden Grahams and Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and burnt sugars; the back end fades into a mess of sweetness, sugars, and lingering cereal. 

Rating: Average (3.0/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Decent Average on this. I was expecting a lot more cinnamon and cereal from this. This is mostly a one-note, sugary-sweet, lactose adventure. Yeah, there are hints of cereal, but when you crank a beer up to 10% and throw a bunch of lactose and vanilla into it...you better deliver. Having said that, this one might mellow out and improve with some age. For future batches I hope they add a little more cinnamon and cereal. Food pairings: none you fool. This beer is diabetes in a bottle. 

Random Thought: Beer reviews and homework done concurrently...what could go wrong. 

New Glarus Spotted Cow

Brewed By: New Glarus Brewing Company in New Glarus, Wisconsin

Purchased: 12oz bottle bought at Woodman's in Kenosha, WI; 2013

Style/ABV: Cream Ale, 5.1% 

Reported IBUs: ?

Ah, the bottomless mixer of New Glarus beers...here we go. About New Glarus:

New Glarus is the rare, gorgeous "Midwest" brewery, founded in 1993 by Deborah Carey, the first woman to found and operate a brewery in the United States. She raised the capital for the start-up as a gift to her husband, Dan Carey, who is New Glarus' brewmaster and co-owner. Dan Carey has a long history working in the brewing industry, including an apprenticeship at a brewery near Munich, Germany and a job as the Production Supervisor for Anheuser-Busch. The brewery began as an abandoned warehouse using old brewpub equipment. In 1997, Dan Carey purchased coper kettles from a brewery in Germany. In May 2006, New Glarus opened their new (current) facility on a hilltop in the village of New Glarus. The facility looks like a Bavarian village, and is gorgeous. The expansion has allowed the brewery to continue to increase their production, and expand their operations. For more information, check out their brewery page or Wikipedia. 

The Spotted Cow is brewed with flaked barley, "Wisconsin malts," and a hint of corn. Inspired by cask conditioned ales, this beer is bottle conditioned. The BJCP, Ratebeer, and BeerAdvocate are all calling this a Cream Ale, which is a light, crisp, clean, and flavorful American "lawnmower" beer. Let's get this into a glass and see what's up.

New Glarus Spotted Cow

The beer pours into a hazy, straw-colored body, and kicks up two to three fingers of fluffy white head. The head retention on this is nice, and as the head drops off there is some lacing. In bright light, the beer is a radiant yellow color, and there is a ton of mid-sized carbonation rising upwards in the glass. Bright light confirms the fluffy, barley-fueled, white head.

The aroma on here is good stuff....you get tons of flaked barley and malt density, almost like a wheat beer. There's some cereal grain as well, and lots of hints of apples, pears, grapes, and some subtle clove/banana. There's also noticeable funk on the aroma, with big grass, hay, and wheat notes.

This is such a simple, drinkable beer...this is what a session beer is supposed to be. The taste is light, with fruity apples and pears, hints of champagne-like grain and corn, and a good amount of wheat, grass, and hay. The flavors stay clean and fruity, and never become vegetal or off-putting. There's also a sweet hint of malt: honey or sweet biscuit. Really nice.

I love this beer, and this would be one of my go-to session beers if I lived in Wisconsin. This is one of the best Cream Ales out there, and this beer has surprising complexity for the style, and great palate depth. You can drink this beer by the 6-pack, and while the flaked barley beefs up the mouthfeel, the carbonation and high attenuation keeps the mouthfeel in that perfect light-full to medium-light range. And that complexity. This beer has some mild hay funk, flaked barley density, fruity flavors, and mild floral hops. You get fruity sweetness up front with apple/pear/grape, and some sweet biscuit; that rolls into the flaked barley, grain, hints of corn; the back end dials up the champagne-like attenuation, and you get floral hops, straw, hay, and grass. The finish is clean and dry, and refreshing.

Rating: Divine Brew (4.5/5.0 Untappd)

This is a solid Decent Divine Brew. Really, just a simple but elegant beer...the kind of beer you buy by the case. I can strongly recommend this as a session beer to pair with American-style bar food, sports, hot summer days, and whenever. This beer is cheap, available, and makes big macro beers look bad.

Random Thought: And now for...more New Glarus.