Pipeworks Guavanatrix

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:

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.

Half Acre Double Daisy Cutter

Brewed By: Half Acre Beer Company in Chicago, Illinois

Purchased: 22oz bottle bought at West Lakeview Liquors in Chicago, IL; 2013

Style/ABV: Imperial IPA, 8.0%
Reported IBUs: ?

It's been a while since I've had anything from Half Acre:

The Half Acre Beer Company was founded in October 2006, which is young for craft beer in general, but great for the local Chicago scene. The founders of Half Acre started out by working with the Sand Creek Brewery in Black River Falls in Wisconsin. They eventually developed their Half Acre Lager, and began distributing and selling it in Chicago during the August of 2007. The beer was successful enough that Half Acre was able to buy out a space in the Bucktown area of Chicago. With continuing sales, Half Acre was eventually able to purchase equipment from Ska Brewing Co. and moved to their current location on Lincoln Avenue on the north side of Chicago. Half Acre has been brewing at their Chicago location since 2009, and seems to be really expanding in both amount of distribution and popularity. Check out the full story HERE, and check out their website for a low-down on all their beers and info. 

I'm pretty excited about tonight's beer. I'm a big fan of the Daisy Cutter, which is a grassy and aggressive Pale Ale. The Double Daisy Cutter is a beefed up version of the regular Daisy Cutter...with more malts, and double the dry hopping. I really love the artwork as well, and I'm reminded of the M.O.A.B.s and B.F.B.s from Bloons. Without further adieu...let's glass this up. 

Half Acre Double Daisy Cutter

This one initially pours golden, but quickly picks up a nice orange hue, and ends ups looking orange with gold/yellow highlights. This is transparent, with a nice stream of small bubbles rising upwards. The carbonation is quite lively. This one poured with two finger's worth of yellowish, super-foamy head. It's your typical double-I-PA fare. When held to a bright light, the head still radiates yellow/gold, and the body is a vibrant orange yellow. A finger of dense, cloudy head is persisting, and swiringly this leaves mad lacing. Overall, this looks nice...but smells better.

This one is fresh and hot off the press, and it smells pretty vibrant. I'm getting a ton of grass, a hint of hemp, tropical fruits, pineapple, mango, hints of aggressive and spicy citrus, and a ton of hop spice. There's almost a salty lime thing going on, with hints of citrus zest, and peppery grass. The nose isn't quite as expansive as the monstrous, resinous, West Coast offerings...but like the Daisy Cutter, I think grass and spice could be conflated with "watery."

The taste really mimics the nose, with lots of biscuity snap and grain up front, earthy hops, spicy hops, and a citrus and grassy mid-to-back palate. It's acidic, and has that enamel-crushing thing going on, but it's not expansive and resinous like a West Coast I-I-PA. I'm getting grass, lime/salt, soap, earthy hops, onion, and hop bitterness that builds quite nicely. As the hop bitterness compounds, you pick up on grapefruit, citrus rind, hints of watery tropical fruits, and some more onion. 

For all the nice flavors, this one is more refreshing than anything, with a medium-light mouthfeel, and light to moderate carbonation that is supportive and smooth. The finish is bitter and dry, with slightly aggressive hop acidity. Drinkability is uber high...really, at 8.0%, this is a dangerous beer. Palate depth is good, and complexity is good as well. It's literally...kind of like a beefed up version of its little sister. Up front is biscuit, hard water, and earthy and spicy hops; mid palate rolls into big hops, with onion, citrus rind, watery tropical fruits; the back end is lingering tropical fruits, onion, lime/spice, grass, and fade to a dry, grassy, acidic finish.

Rating: Average

I'm feeling a strong Average on this...with the disclaimer that I really enjoy this beer, but the lack of complexity and lack of expansive flavors just doesn't hold up to the giants that rule this style. Style guidelines are a bitch, but those are the restraints I choose to bare. That's not to say that this beer isn't awesome or enjoyable...I picked up a few bottles, and look forward to its annual release. In some regards, this beer plays our more like an Imperial Pale Ale rather than an Imperial India Pale Ale. If such a style guideline existed [Imperial Pale Ale], I would probably bump this up to Above Average. I suppose IPAs fit the bill...and I'm just being an ass over semantics. As far as food pairings here: bar food. The price is right, at around 8 or 9 bucks a bomber. Will drink again.

Random Thought: Untappd just updated their app to allow half-star ratings. This means instead of giving the Double Daisy Cutter a 3, I can give it a 3.5!!! In other non-news, BeerAdvocate is rolling out their web app....which is hilarious. Because, native apps are sex, and web apps are like dry humping that Christian girl who is waiting til marriage. At least you have anal.