Saugatuck Brewing Company Neapolitan Milk Stout

Saugatuck Brewing Company Neapolitan Milk Stout

Brewed By: Saugatuck Brewing Co. in Douglas, Michigan

Purchased: 12oz bottle won at World of Beer in; 2017

Style/ABV: Milk Stout, 6.0%

Reported IBUs: 37

Saugatuck Brewing Company's Neapolitan Milk Stout seems like it was at the forefront of an interesting, novel stout-flavor profile. And I remember when the beer first came out people were raving about how good it is. Now there are a myriad of breweries rolling out similar flavored stouts that are more amped up, fuller, and developed. That puts Saugatuck in a bind, because I think they make really solid stouts in that ~5-6% ABV range. This beer has fallen off hard, like Not Your Father's Rootbeer.

Having said all that, this is an inexpensive, easy-going beer. The aroma is a little too fruity, and leans towards the artificial Hershey's strawberry with hints of Hershey's chocolate, freezer burnt Eddy's Neapolitan ice cream, and jelly.

The taste mirrors the aroma with sweet cocoa-malts and Hershey's strawberries taking the lead. Vanilla is a subtle flavor profile, along with some caramel sugars, hints of roast/ash, and some coffee. There's some lactose and sweetness. 6% isn't bringing down the house, and this has that appropriate Dry Stout/Milk Stout body that isn't quite up to the thickness or richness of many more "modern" American stouts.

Rating: LIGHT Above-Average (4.0/5.0 Untappd)

This isn't terribly complex, and the palate depth leaves a lot to be desired. But the beer has that Eddy's ice cream aroma, and the flavors you get are consistent with what is being advertised. This is a solid pick-up, still, and compared to Dot.RARWHALEZ like Henna is pretty attainable. This is also cheap and available enough to be a legit pairing for food things, which makes it the ideal restaurant/foodie type beer.  

Random Thought: World of Beer seems hit and miss but my local chain does some decent stuff. 

4 Hands Peanut Butter Chocolate Milk Stout

Brewed By: 4 Hands Brewing Co. in Saint Louis, Missouri

Purchased: 22oz bomber bought at Binny's in Chicago, IL; 2015

Style/ABV: Milk Stout, 5.5% 

Reported IBUs: ?

A low ABV Milk Stout with shit tons of flavor? Alright. About 4 Hands Brewing Co.: 

4 Hands Brewing Co. are a brewery based out of Saint Louis, Missouri. The brewery was founded in 2011 by owner/president Kevin Lemp. The brewery features a number of brewers, including ex-Goose Island guru, Will Johnston. 4 Hands is all about hand-crafted beers, and they feature a barrel-aging program that uses wine and spirit barrels. Exciting stuff. Definitely check out their website or Facebook page.

4 Hands Peanut Butter Chocolate Milk Stout

The Peanut Butter Chocolate Milk Stout is a twist on 4 Hands regular Milk Stout...which doesn't have much in the way of descriptions. Speaking of that, this pours into your typical Milk Stout appearance, with a black, not-quite-oily, opaque body, and a creamy head. 

On the aroma: tons of sweet lactose, peanut butter sweetness, milk sugars, malt, milk shake like sweetness, some coffee, chocolate, and a little sweet toast. 

This is a sweet beer, but it's really well done. You get a lot of lactose-peanut butter up front, with a nice segue into tons of cocoa, sweet toast, some milky sugars, hints of coffee, and even some hints of dark fruits.

I'm impressed with how dense this is at 5.5%. This has a medium-full mouthfeel, with carbonation that is lively and present, contributing to the beer's drinkability. I imagine this has a fair amount of sugar/calories, but that's okay. Palate depth is good, and this has good duration. This isn't very complex, and the peanut butter isn't as present or pronounced as I was hoping it would be. While you get that peanut butter and lactose punch up front, with some cocoa and toast in the mids, and some coffee in the back...I just want more peanut butter.

Rating: Average (3.0/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Decent Average on this. It's a solid Milk Stout, and does everything I expect. I wish the peanut butter was a bit more prominent, but otherwise, this is both cheap and enjoyable. I like this enough that I would pick it up again as a local Milk Stout. 

Random Thought: Back to homework. At least there is beer. Mmm. 

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. 

Sierra Nevada's Beer Camp 2014: Double Latte Coffee Milk Stout (brewed with Ninkasi Brewing Company in Eugene, Oregon)

Brewed By: Sierra Nevada Brewing Company in Chico, California 
Purchased: Single 12oz bottle from the 2014 Beer Camp bought at Jewel-Osco in Chicago, IL; 2014 (PKG 05/30/14)
Style/ABV: American Imperial Stout, 7.6%

Reported IBUs: 60

What is Beer Camp? It is Sierra Nevada's celebration of craft beer and the numerous breweries across America that make that craft beer. For 2014, Sierra Nevada collaborated with 12 different breweries to make 12 different beers. They also have a Beer Camp Across America Beer Festival, which will stop at seven different cities and feature many different breweries and beers.

About Sierra Nevada:

Sierra Nevada are one of the big players in craft brewing, and one of the first craft breweries to arrive on the craft beer scene. If you check out their history page, you will see that founder Ken Grossman began his quest to build a brewery in 1976. In 1980, Ken Grossman and co-founder Paul Camusi brewed their first batch of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. According to Wikipedia, Sierra Nevada's Pale Ale is the second best selling craft beer behind Boston Lager. Sierra Nevada is the sixth largest brewing company in the United States as well, cranking out over 750,000 barrels in 2010. For more info, check out their website.

The Double Latte Coffee Milk Stout is a collaboration with Ninkasi Brewing Company, a brewery that is going to put beer in space like anyone cares. At least astronauts can get their drink on now. My bottle reads: "Inspired by the perennial café favorite, Double Latte combines two great things: coffee and beer. Oregon's Ninkasi Brewing knows their way around a good cup of joe. Featuring cold-press coffee from legendary Stumptown Coffee Roasters and a dose of milk sugar, this coffee milk stout is a rich and roasty treat."

Double Latte Coffee Milk Stout

Describing Imperial Stouts is like describing a zebra, or something. You know, it's a horse with black and white stripes. This one pours into an opaque, black body...and kicks up a finger of super creamy, tan/brown/mocha head. There's nice carbonation visible on the side of my glass, and it is tiny in size. This looks much the same in bright light. Notable here is the ridiculous head retention, with a finger hanging around for the long haul. In fact, the other thing to note here is how creamy and dense this head is. It's like whipped egg whites...this makes Guinness look like a chump. Really impressive head here, like drunk chicks.

WOW, dat aroma. This smells fucking amazing...I'm getting blasted with deep coffee, light hazelnut, light espresso, big latte notes, chocolate, mocha, and tons of lactose sugar. Did I mention the head is STILL hanging around?

This tastes amazing...and they nail the bitterness. This is a huge Stout, with tons of lactose, milks sugars, and chocolate density. But there's a ton of coffee notes in here, ranging from straight up coffee, hazelnut, latte, cappuccino, and then big espresso that grows and grows as the hop bitterness takes hold and punishes your palate. Before the bitter hop/coffee wallop, you get some nice lactose-cocoa sweetness, but then BAM. Non-intrusive but bitter hops show up, and then the bitter coffee unloads big espresso notes. There's tons of creamy coffee creamer and lactose sugar in the mix, and yeah.

This is a full-bodied, rich, complex, Stout. Palate depth and complexity are both very high. This is well-carbonated, and has really nice balance between sweet lactose Sugars, roasty Stout notes and chocolate, and tons of coffee. The hops in here are strictly to provide support to the bitter coffee that shows up on the back end. Up front: lactose sugars, roast, earthy notes, ash, growing coffee, hints of espresso; the mids hit hazelnut, latte, cappuccino, more dirty and ash, some woody notes, cocoa, lactose sugars, caramel; the back end rolls into bitter espresso, bitter coffee, more lingering milk sugars, and a nice drying finish that leaves sticky, residual sugars up in the corner of your lips. Really nice.

Rating: Divine Brew (4.5/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Decent Divine Brew on this. This is not just a great example of how to make a coffee stout, but this is a really, really good coffee stout. This puts a lot of the competition to shame...and rivals some top-notch coffee beers. This is even more impressive when you consider that it only clocks in at 7.6 and 60 IBUs. This beer is refined and balanced, making use of every single square inch of that ABV and hop addition. I love everything about this beer, but I really like the balance and the deeply bitter espresso notes that show up on the back end. You could pair this beer with breakfast foods, chocolate bacon doughnuts, dry chocolate desserts, or a big aggressive cheeseburger with strong cheeses. You could also pair this with grilled meats that are heavily seasoned. Great stuff....I am impresed.

Random Thought: This beer is clearly the standout from the 2014 Beer Camp. What a brew...

Sierra Nevada's Beer Camp 2014: Maillard's Odyssey Imperial Dark Ale (brewed with Bell's Brewery in Kalamazoo, Michigan)

Brewed By: Sierra Nevada Brewing Company in Chico, California 
Purchased: Single 12oz bottle from the 2014 Beer Camp bought at Jewel-Osco in Chicago, IL; 2014 (PKG 05/21/14)
Style/ABV: "Imperial Dark Ale", 8.5%

Reported IBUs: 40

What is Beer Camp? It is Sierra Nevada's celebration of craft beer and the numerous breweries across America that make that craft beer. For 2014, Sierra Nevada collaborated with 12 different breweries to make 12 different beers. They also have a Beer Camp Across America Beer Festival, which will stop at seven different cities and feature many different breweries and beers.

About Sierra Nevada:

Sierra Nevada are one of the big players in craft brewing, and one of the first craft breweries to arrive on the craft beer scene. If you check out their history page, you will see that founder Ken Grossman began his quest to build a brewery in 1976. In 1980, Ken Grossman and co-founder Paul Camusi brewed their first batch of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. According to Wikipedia, Sierra Nevada's Pale Ale is the second best selling craft beer behind Boston Lager. Sierra Nevada is the sixth largest brewing company in the United States as well, cranking out over 750,000 barrels in 2010. For more info, check out their website.

The Maillard's Odyssey Imperial Dark Ale is a collaboration with Bell's Brewery, Inc., or that one brewery with that drunk guy from that beer documentary. There's no Oberon here. My bottle reads: "Rich, dark, and roasty. That was our shared vision, and Maillard's Odyssey is exactly that, taking its name in part from the fond Maillard reaction - the "browning" of sugars and amino acids - that creates the wonderful caramelized toffee-like and roasted flavors so abundant in this beer."

Maillard's Odyssey Imperial Dark Ale

It's so weird that Chrome doesn't know how to spell "amino." Auto-correct suggestions include "amigo." NEWAY, this one pours with a dark, cola-black body, kicking up two fingers of mocha/tan, root beer float head. Head retention is excellent, with good lacing. The body has brown tones on the edges when held to bright light, but this is opaque like most Stouts.

The aroma here features deep roast, coffee, chocolate, cocoa, and big dark sugars/molasses. That's a pretty generic description, so let me offer that this also has huge woody-coffee-cream notes, with coffee creamer, ash, and milk sugars/lactose. I haven't looked up how Ratebeer and BA are styling this, but my guess is they are calling this a Stout. And frankly, this kind of smells like a Milk Stout kind of Stout. An Imperial Milk Stout. Like 18th Street's Hunter. There's some hops lurking way in the back, with faint citrus/pine elements strictly in play to balance things out. Is this a Black IPA? No. Duh. It's not an American Porter either. 

The taste...wow. It's intense, and it tastes like an Imperial Milk Stout. I'm reminded again of the 18th Street Hunter, or Bell's Special Double Cream Stout. ...just massive notes of coffee, cocoa, coffee creamer, lactose sugars, dark chocolate, roast, woody notes, and big citrus/pine hops clocking in on the back end to clean things up.

This is full-bodied and dense, but hides the 8.5% well. Sticky sugars coat your lips. This has awesome palate depth and moderate complexity. I'd call this an Imperial Milk Stout, but that's just me. Up front: lactose, coffee, cocoa, creamer; the mids hit roast, deep sugars, woody coffee-creamer nuttiness and toast; the back end trails with sweetness, sugars, creamer, hints of a hop back bone. Wowza.

Rating: Above-Average (4.0/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Strong Above-Average on this beer. This is massive and bold. If this was barrel-aged it would be a banger. It's a touch not-complex, and to be fair the style has been done by brewers like 18th Street, Pipeworks, and probably others I'm not thinking of at the moment. Still, this would be a hell of a beer to pair with a cigar, some dry chocolate desserts, or even a greasy and cheesy burger.

Random Thought: This was one of the clear standouts from the Beer Camp 2014.

Pipeworks The Jones Dog (Tales From The Oak / Barrel Aged Imperial Jones Dog / aged in Buffalo Trace Barrels)

Brewed By: Pipeworks Brewing in Chicago, IL  

Purchased: 12oz bottle (Batch #75) bought at West Lakeview Liquors in Chicago, IL; 2013 (bottled ??.??.2012)

Style/ABV: Imperial Stout/Milk Stout, 11.0%
Reported IBUs: ?

Tonight isn't a Thursday, but it has been a while since we've had an Unofficial Pipeworks Thursday™....so let's just pretend tonight is Thursday. And we can also pretend that the Bears don't suck, or that their horrible defense and safety-who-will-not-be-named didn't blow a freebie game against the Green Bay Packers. And that I don't have any feelings about that. And that tonight's beer is going to be amazing. Now that's optimism! 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 was bottled a long, long time ago. The early batch of Jones Dog that I reviewed was batch #65 and came out around 2012, by my estimation. I think that tonight's beer is that same beer, aged in Buffalo Trace Barrels. This beer is part of Pipework's "Tales From The Oak" series, and the back of the bottle states:

"Our Jones Dog Milk Stout, brewed with cacao nibs and vanilla bean, aged in Buffalo Trace Barrels."

Pipeworks The Jones Dog (Barrel Aged #75)

This one punches in at 11.0% and features some nice art work. The Buffalo Trace barrels were sourced from West Lakeview Liquors. This one pours into a dark brown body that looks deceptively darker/blacker than it really is. It is opaque, even in bright light, but you catch some serious brown tones. This one also pours with a finger of rapidly-dissolving, short lived brown head. the head was nice and brown, but has been the victim of dat whiskey burn. There is some nice lacing on this, along with some residuals along the glass, and carbonation is present in the body.

I'm getting two big things on the aroma...big, strong, bourbon-forward aromas and woody oak tannin and some vanilla. I'm also getting some big cocoa aromas, and some dark fruits ala complex boozy plums and figs, and some molasses.

Huh...werd. I like this, although I'm going to say right up front this isn't the most dense barrel-aged Stout nor the most complex. But this is well blended and very easy-going. Up front I'm getting a wash of cocoa, molasses, and dark fruits...that rolls into awesome barrel-aged character, with sweet bourbon, vanilla, oak, woody tannin, some tobacco/leather, and molasses with dark fruits. Once that starts to fade, I'm getting hit with lingering bourbon/vanilla/oak, some coconut, and a little roast and coffee and lingering Milk Stout goodness. I'm happy to see the base beer creepin' towards the back, and the barrel character stands out in the front. This is perfectly carbonated, so if anyone tells you this is under-carbonated they are wrong (or there is bottle variation).

This is sticky and sweet, and way too fucking drinkable for 11.0% ABV. It's a medium to full-bodied beer, but I'm leaning towards medium-bodied. The barrel character isn't too boozy or overwhelming, so it keeps things drinkable. Despite the slightly less dense body, this one still has fantastic palate duration and good palate depth. The complexity is somewhere in the mdidle for a barrel-aged beer. After a wash of cocoa, molasses, and dark fruits up front; you get big barrel character with oak, vanilla, some hints of coconut, oak/wood tannin, bourbon, booze; the back end trails off with lingering sweet bourbon, and some hints of the stout base. The finish is sweet, with sugar, vanilla, and bourbon trailing off on the finish. Overall...I honestly really like this.

Rating: Above-Average (4.0/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Strong Above-Average here. I really, really like this...and I don't want to be contrarian just for the sake of being contrarian. But I've been reading reviews for this beer complaining that it's too thin or that the barrel character is too strong? Are people serious about that? Like, I'm curious how many of these people have had a wide range of barrel-aged Stouts, because this beer seems about par the course if not better than par the course. Anyway, I digress. As usual, I say, "fuck the haters." This is fantastic stuff, and I'm glad to see Pipeworks finally rolling these out. Also, I'm glad to see that Pipeworks is sticking these beers in 12oz bottles! Now I can crack one of these open without feeling guilty for drinking a whole 22oz bomber or 750ml bottle. Uh...food pairings here...rich, dry, chocolate cake, vanilla ice cream, and a cigar. 

Random Thought: Seriously though, as a Bears fan, my heart is so broken right now. I look forward to next year...and props to Jay for playing a great game. 

Pipeworks Hey, Careful Man, There's A Beverage Here!

Brewed By: Pipeworks Brewing in Chicago, IL  

Purchased: 22oz bottle (Batch #234) bought at Binny's in IL; 2013 (bottled 10.30.13)

Style/ABV: White Russian Imperial Milk Stout, 10.5%
Reported IBUs: ?

I'm pretty excited about tonight's Unofficial Pipeworks Thursday™. Maybe it's because The Big Lebowski is one of the greatest films of all time, or maybe it's the fact that this so-called "White Russian Imperial Milk Stout" is brewed with lactose sugar, cacao, coffee, and vanilla. 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.

Fuckin' A.

In case you aren't privy to where this beer's name came from, it's a reference to THIS SCENE. A White Russian is, of course, a drink loved by The Dude, made out of vodka, Kahlua, and light cream or milk. The back of the bottle states:

"Way out west there's this beer...beer I wanna tell ya' about. Beer by the name Hey, Careful Man, There's A Beverage Here. Beer inspired by a certain Dude's favorite potable. This Imperial White Milk Stout is brewed with vanilla beans, an abideable amount of cacao nibs and cold-pressed coffee that really tied the beer together, did it not? It is the perfect oat soda for those days when you're out of your element and all you can do is say " F it, Dude, let's go bowling. " "

Hey, Careful Man, There's A Beverage Here!

This beer pours into a Barleywine-amber/cream soda body, and kicks up one or two fingers of caramel/amber tinted head. Bright light confirms the body's amber/caramel/orange color, and a ring of amber head has settled around the edge of my glass with a cauldron effect on top. There's scantly any carbonation rising upwards, and what is there is lazily floating upwards. There's some alcohol legs and lacing. 

On the aroma: Wow. You know, this one plays things pretty straight...I'm getting a lot of coffee, vanilla, creamer, and lactose on the aroma. It smells like ------ drum roll ------ Kahlua. There's a lot of prominent coffee and espresso, and tons of earthy hazelnut. I love hazelnut, and I'm reminded of the Founders' Frangelic Mountain Brown.

I'm intrigued by how this tastes. It's like a Stout...without any of the roasted/black patent malt. There's a ton of sugar in this, and you can feel sticky sweet coating your mouth. The main flavors I'm pulling out of this are coffee, espresso, rich hazelnut, vanilla, Kahlua, creamer, and lactose sugar. 

This really is a top-notch high gravity beer. The 10.5% is completely blunted by all the coffee, sugar, and vanilla. I don't even want to know how many calories is in this beer. The only thing hindering drinkability might be the sticky sweetness of this libation. The mouthfeel is full-bodied and dense, with very moderate carbonation that is just getting by. Palate depth is outstanding, but complex this is not. You get a lot of vanilla, creamer, and coffee up front; that rolls into big coffee and hazelnut with some hazy grains; the back end has some grain, hazelnut, lingering lactose sugar, and fade to sticky and dry. Kind of simple, to be honest.

Rating: Above-Average (4.0/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Decent Above-Average here, which means this beer isn't as good as the movie. Dang. Having said that...I really dig this style. If this beer was advertised as a hazelnut coffee beer, it would be ranked among the best. The coffee is strong in this...and the lactose and vanilla isn't far behind. And you really do get those Kahlua vibes. What's missing is maybe the vodka kick. I understand that this is a Stout interpretation of a White Russian, but maybe throw this beer into some Bourbon barrels or Oak Barrels spiked with vodka? Could be a fun twist that really brings this home. I dunno what you pair a beer like this with. Probably ice cream, a cigar, or as a standalone Winter Warmer or dessert. I recommend you buy it and drink it with the movie.

Random Thought: If you haven't had the pleasure, do go make a real White Russian. It's a great cocktail, and if you drink a few of them you'll have a nice buzz in no time.

Pipeworks Chai Dog

Brewed By: Pipeworks Brewing in Chicago, IL  

Purchased: 22oz bottle (Batch #108) bought at West Lakeview Liquors in Chicago, IL; 2013  (bottled 8/14/2013)

Style/ABV: Milk Stout/Sweet Stout, 10.0% 
Reported IBUs: ?

Welcome to another Unofficial Pipeworks Thursday™. If you aren't privy to the happenings, the happenings are that on Thursdays I drink Pipeworks beers. Tonight's beer is courtesy of my lovely girlfriend who went out and snagged me a bottle of this beer. Last night I dusted off the Jones Dog, but tonight is all about the Chai, baby. 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 back of the Chai Dog bottle reads (this is verbatim/copypasta):

"Chai Dog is our Eastern answer to the coffee-centric caffeine concoctions popular here in the West. This silky smooth milk stout is brewed with cacao nibs, green cardamon, vanilla bean, star anise, black peppercorn and cinnamon. This delicious blend of spices creates a balance and complexity will transport you from your local watering hole to an authentic, old tea house in the heart of Mumbai."

Of course, we all know what vanilla, cacao, anise, peppercorns, and cinnamon taste like. Cardamon is an aromatic spice used in Indian cooking, and Chai is a blend of tea and spices. I actually enjoy chai tea quite a bit, so hopefully this beer will kick ass and take names.

Pipeworks Chai Dog

Like the Jones Dog, this beer pours into a black, dark body. I kicked up a finger of bready, dense, brown head...but the head was reluctant to form, and it faded quickly. You can thank all the spices for that, but as far as I can tell this beer doesn't have any carbonation issues. In bright light, you can not only see how dark and Imperial Stout-like this beer looks, but you can see streams of tiny bubbles rising upwards. There's a brown ring of carbonation around the edges, and swirling the beer kicks up some head, leaves some sticky lacing, and reveals some glossy alcohol legs.

The aroma on this beer is powerfully spicy, like a rapey-spicy pumpkin beer. I'm getting massive cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice. This beer smells like two or three other beers I've had: the Sam Adams Merry Mischief Gingerbread Stout, the Stone 12.12.12 Vertical Epic Ale, and the Southern Tier 2XMAS. This beer isn't quite the Christmas/Pumpkin beer I'm describing it to be. I'm also getting a lot of that green cardamon on the nose, which is super pungent and not-quite-curry and not-quite-ginger. If you sit there and smell the beer for a while, you also get some earthy ash/dirt/coffee. I can only guess how this will taste.

Whew...this -- thankfully -- doesn't taste like a Christmas beer. It doesn't really taste like a Milk Stout either. There's a lot going on here...but the large Stout base and the slight booze presence really helps temper the spice. Up front you get rich, dense, spicy chocolate/cacao. I'm getting a lot of cinnamon, some pepper, and a nutmeg/ginger/cardamon thing. This beer is chewy and dense, so the cacao/chocolate/vanilla thing really sludges along. The spices are earthy, and have a straight up Indian-cuisine vibe. The beer is aggressively sweet, and there's some layers of fruit/caramel/sugars in the mix. There's also some hints of earthy ash/roast/coffee, but it's very subtle.

All this beer really needs is the addition of Jalapenos, and bam! It's a fiesta. This beer is fucking weird, man. I don't mean to go all Pie Style up in this shindig, but yeah. I guess this beer does remind me of Chai Tea, so mission accomplished. This beer has a full-bodied mouthfeel, supported by good carbonation and tingly spice. At 10.0%, you do get some booze. The drinkability is probably going to be low for a lot of people courtesy of the spice, booze, and sticky sweet kisses this beer gives you. Palate depth is good, and I guess this is pretty complex...or intriguing? You get dense

You never go full Pie Style.

cacao/chocolate and spice up front; that rolls into more spice, some caramel/sugar/fruit, vanilla, flat out chai tea, and more cacao; the back end is lingering pepper and spice, some booze, earth/coffee/ash, and a sticky-sweet finish.

Rating: Above-Average (3.5/5.0 Untappd)

I like this beer and I like what is going on here, so I'm going to toss this a Light Above-Average. This beer has a strange appeal...I'd almost throw it into the "foodie" category. This is definitely a beer to pair with foods, and those foods are Mexican cuisine (a mole sauce? mmm) or Indian food. As a standalone beer, this is interesting to try and would be worth splitting with a friend or two. I might even seek something like this out in the late Fall or early Winter months. It kind of feels like a Christmas beer, but it really isn't. Having said all that, this is another excellent Stout from Pipeworks. Their Stout program continues to impress...can't wait to see how their barrel-aged stuff tastes. 

Random Thought: A final, final note about this beer...I know earlier in the review I stated that the huge Stout base and big ABV helps temper the spice. Well, the huge spice in this beer helps temper the sweetness. It all kind of gels in harmony. 

Pipeworks Jones Dog

Brewed By: Pipeworks Brewing in Chicago, IL  

Purchased: 22oz bottle (Batch #65) bought at Fischman Liquors and Tavern in Chicago, IL; 2013  (bottled sometime in 2012?)

Style/ABV: Milk Stout/Sweet Stout, 8.5% 
Reported IBUs: ?

I've been trying to catch up on all the Pipeworks beers I can get my hands on, for no reason other than they are around and I've already had a lot of their stuff. Tonight's beer is especially relevant, because I snagged a bottle of Pipework's Chai Dog...which is this beer + chai. It reasons that I should at least try to try the base beer first, so here we are. 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 back of the Jones Dog bottle reads:

"Jones Dog pays homage to our very own brew dog Jonas. Our chocolate lab has been with us since the birth of Pipeworks and so we honor him with this chocolate milk stout. Brewed with cacao nibs and lactose milk sugar, we hope you'll find this brew as smooth and chocolatey as the Jones Dog himself."

Pipeworks Jones Dog: a happy beer

First off, the bottle art on this beer is awesome. It may be my favorite Pipeworks' label. The beer pours into an oily, black body, and kicks up an inch of thick, bready, dark brown head. The beer looks the part of a Stout but actually looks very nice. In bright light you catch some brown tones on the edges. There's a nice hazy coating of head that is hanging around, and this beer coats your glass like a chocolate cumshot. There are alcohol legs that follow behind the sticky brown lacing that coats the glass....very impressive stuff.

Age and time hasn't done this beer wrong. That said, at 8.5% and with the addition of cacao, this beer certainly pushes the Milk Stout envelope into American Stout territory. I'm not even mad. I'm getting a huge blast of chocolate, cocoa, and cacao on the aroma. You also get a shitload of coffee. There's some espresso, coffee grounds, and fresh coffee dust. I'm also getting some earthy/ashy dirt, some coffee creamer/cream/lactose, some burnt sugars and roast, and hints of molasses and sweetness.

The taste goes in a slightly different direction than the nose, with tingly carbonation moving things along, and hints of emerging fruits like grapes and cherry. I'm curious if the grape/cherry in this is a consequence of age, but it's not a bad thing. In addition to the hints of fruit, I'm getting huge cocoa, chocolate...and Tootsie Rolls. This beer kind of tastes like liquefied Tootsie Rolls, with hints of ash/earth and coffee/espresso. The overall taste veers towards sweet, but somehow it never reaches cloying or sickly levels. It's like magic or something.

Actually, Tootsie Rolls are like the perfect candy...you can eat a whole bag of them without feeling bad. They're sweet and sugary (and artificial) without the saccharine assault. The Jones Dog is medium-bodied, and supported by nice carbonation. It's a solid mouthfeel. Palate depth is good, but the complexity is pretty much Tootsie Rolls, earth/ash/coffee, and some hints of fruit. I will commend this beer for being very drinkable. The 8.5% is nowhere to be seen, at all. It's actually kind of frightening  Additionally, this beer never punishes you with sickly lactose sugar..which is good. I'm getting dark fruits, cherries, and Tootsie rolls up front; that rolls into a wash of fruity sweetness, cacao, and more Tootsie Rolls; that fades into ash/earth/coffee, espresso, hints of roast, a hint of lactose, and a nice sticky finish that's a touch dry.

Rating: Above-Average (4.0/5.0 Untappd)

This is surprisingly enjoyable for a Milk Stout, so I'm gonna toss it a Decent Above-Average. You definitely get the advertised cacao in this, and the build of this Stout reminds me more of the Pipeworks Abduction series than it does a stereotypical Milk Stout. But again, that's not a bad thing. This beer is cheap, it's available...and it doesn't accost you with lactose, which I can tip my tip to. I'm about to pair this beer with a burger. The earthy/chocolate thing will go well with ice cream, raunchy cheeses and carbohydrates (french fries), or desserts....

Random Thought: I'm thinking about knocking out the Chai Dog tomorrow night, but we'll see. The other downside to Milk Stouts is that they can wreak havoc on your plumbing. Something something joke about Pipeworks. 

Revolution Very Mad Cow

Brewed By: Revolution Brewing Company (Revolution Beer LLC) in Chicago, IL  

Purchased: 22oz bottle bought at West Lakeview Liquors in Chicago, IL; 2012 

Style/ABV: Milk Stout, 9.7%

Reported IBUs: 30

I'm finally getting around to cracking open Revolution's barrel-aged Mad Cow. The regular Mad Cow is stellar stuff, so I have pretty high hopes.

Revolution Brewing is a brewery and brewpub based in Chicago. Revolution's roots are tied to founder Josh Deth, a homebrewer who began working at Golden Prairie Brewing. A few years later, while working at Goose Island, Josh dreamt up the idea for Revolution Brewing. In 2003, Josh and his wife opened Handlebar, while Josh worked as an Executive Director of Logan Square Chamber of Commerce. While working for the Chamber of Commerce, Josh found an old building on Milwaukee Avenue, and the wheels began to spin to open up a brewery. After three years of raising funds, Revolution Brewing opened its doors on February 2010. In July of 2011, Revolution added a 2nd floor Brewers' Lounge. And in 2012, the company opened a new production brewery and tap room. The brewpub is located in Logan Squre on 2323 N. Milwaukee Ave; the brewery is located on Kedzie Avenue at 3340 N. Kedzie Ave. For more information on Revolution, check out their history page here!  

If you roll over to the Very Mad Cow page, you can get some info on this beer. This is a bourbon barrel-aged Milk Stout, aged in Woodford Reserve bourbon barrels. Clocking in at 9.7% ABV, and 30 IBUs, this is going to be a roasty and sweet beer. The back of the box for this beer states: "We start by brewing Mad Cow, a big and bold milk stout that uses over a thousand pounds of Wisconsin-roasted barley per batch. The infusion of unfermentable milk sugar (lactose) imparts a residual sweetness to balance the roasted malt. After aging six months in bourbon whiskey barrels, Very Mad Cow emerges from the wood with a stampede of vanilla and caramel flavors pulled from the charred oak barrel staves. Drink it with dessert or as dessert."

Revolution Very Mad Cow

This is going to shock people, but this beer looks like a Stout. In lower light, the body is dark black, but has some hints of brown on the edges when held to a bright light. In lower light, I kicked up a finger of tan/khaki head. The head is surprisingly persistent, with a nitro/Guinness-like centimeter sticking around that won't die. It's also leaving nice lacing. 

I'm getting a lot of bourbon, vanilla, and...subtle fruitiness/sweetness on the nose. Maybe I'm pulling out molasses/caramel. There's a lot of wood as well. The roast is subdued, if not completely absent. 

Milk Stouts are already on the verge of over-the-top sweet, and this beer just bludgeons you with big vanilla, bourbon, whiskey smack, oak, wood, and then caramel/sugar/molasses. There's some fruity sweetness dancing around here, with hints of plums/raisins/molasses, and you get some booze on the back end. There's maybe a hint of roast (or light earth/coffee), but it seems to have been traded in for bourbon. 

I forgot this was 9.7%, so it must be doing something right. The alcohol is hidden well, but you do get that whiskey flavor. This is very oily, with light carbonation. And yet...I would call this medium-full in terms of its mouthfeel. This is definitely a sipping beer, and probably a dessert beer, and something you want to work on over an hour or two...or share with some friends. Complexity is just okay, and the palate depth is also good but not amazing. You get sweet caramel/dark fruits up front; that rolls into bourbon, vanilla, wood, oak; the back end trails off with more fruits, and then light earth/coffee. The finish is lingering whiskey.

Rating: Above-Average (4.0/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Decent Above-Average on this. I hesitate to say this improves the base beer because the base beer is so good. If anything, this adds a new dimension to the base beer that some people will enjoy, and others might not be as fond of. Either way, this beer is balanced and has some finesse. It's also interesting, in that you don't find many bourbon barrel-aged Milk Stouts. I would skip the food pairings and sip on this. This is a hefty beer, and will serve you well over the course of an afternoon. 

Random Thought: I don't care if the Hawks win it all or not, game one was some good hockey. Triple overtime? Yes please. Game two is going to be INTENSE. 

18th Street Hunter

Brewed By: 18th Street Brewery (in Chicago, IL at Spiteful Brewing)

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

Style/ABV: Milk Stout, 8.0%
Reported IBUs: ?

Tonight I'm looking at a beer from the Chicago-land area. This beer was brewed by the folks at the 18th Street Brewery. At this point...we are getting pretty local. The 18th Street Brewery is a tentative brewery that is going to be based in Gary, Indiana. Why you would want to open a brewery in that dump is beyond me. The good news is, putting a brewery in Gary is like painting racing stripes on your crappy ricer. Yuppies love racing stripes. Their Kickstarter was a success...and they are already brewing their own beer, so I expect to see them rolling any day now. 

Tonight's beer is a hefty Milk Stout pushing that 8.0% ABV. The bottle reads:

"Here is a father’s toast to his son. Brewed with cocoa nibs and lactose, Hunter boasts a creamy texture and rich chocolate flavor. Vanilla, roast, and caramel sweetness are met with a bright hop bitterness. Complex enough to pair with dinner or dessert. Suave enough to skip the meal altogether. A chip off the old block, alright."

18th Street Hunter

The bottle art for this beer is pretty badass. Like Three Floyds-esque. The appearance is squid-ink black, with a pinky's worth of dark brown head. The head is sustaining nicely. There was initially a little carbonation visible on the edges, but the body is mostly opaque and obsidian-looking. The head is absolutely filthy, coating the glass in thick brown residue, leaving some alcohol legs behind.

This beer has a big aroma, with roasty malts, espresso/coffee, earthy dirt, and surprisingly some big hoppy kick with some floral pine/orange. There's also some big chocolate and cacao, and some big waves of lactose on the nose.

I didn't think I'd top the Espresso Yeti's mouthfeel in such a short period of time, but this beer is oily, thick, and fills up your mouth like a milkshake. The palate duration is outstanding too. Up front is I'm getting a blast of sweet caramel, burnt molasses, and citrus/acidic/berry hops; this rolls into huge espresso, roast, lactose, cacao, chocolate, and vanilla; there's a big oily coating that lingers on your lips and tongue, as you pick up more roast, cacao, and lactose. On another sip, I was blasted with cacao, vanilla, lactose, and then roast up front. 

There's curvy, thick, and fluffy. This beer is fluffy. This is a "Milk Stout" like Precious is big-boned. This has a full-bodied mouthfeel, with an oily coating, and a thick, sticky, dry finish. The palate depth is outstanding. This coats your mouth, lips, tongue, and supplies a blast of hops and roast that would make Oskar Blues blush. Complexity is not bad either. Because this is so dense and heavy, drinkability is called into question. The 8.0% is hidden, but this one isn't particularly sessionable. It's a sipper...or grab a friend. Up front: huge cacao, roast, lactose, caramel/molasses, piney hops/citrus/berries; this rolls into more coffee/espresso, earthy roast, lactose; the back end is lingering vanilla and lactose with sticky/oily/dry happenings.

Rating: Above-Average (4.0/5 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Strong Above-Average on this. I wanna go higher, but I feel like this could ramp up the complexity a bit. Throw this in a barrel or hit it up with some cherries...and damn. Then again, this beer has a DYNAMITE mouthfeel. So it's a conflicting situation. The mouthfeel and palate depth are certainly divine, and are up there with the best of them. Add in the fact that this is only at 8.0%...and yeah. It's impressive stuff from 18th Street. I'll revisit this down the road and perhaps notch it higher. A beer like this beckons to be enjoyed slowly in a snifter, but if you MUST pair this with food, go with some vanilla ice cream. And that's pretty much it. This beer is dessert unto itself.

Random Thought: Gary is basically Chicago...so, like, it's a good time to be a beer fan and living in Chicago. 

Half Acre Chocolate Camaro

Brewed By: Half Acre Beer Company in Chicago, Illinois

Purchased: 22oz bottle bought at Half Acre in Chicago, IL; 2013

Style/ABV: Milk Stout, 6.0%
Reported IBUs: ?

Staying with the local option this Friday night....about 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. 

If you roll over to the Chocolate Camaro page, you can get the vitals on this beer. This is a Milk Stout brewed with lactose and cacao, clocking in at a very reasonable 6.0% ABV. Let's glass this up.

Half Acre Chocolate Camaro

The beer pours with 3-fingers of thick, bready, coffee-brown head. The body of the beer is cola-black, with hints of red/brown. As the head drops, you get some nice lacing. You can also see some carbonation in this. This is standard stuff, but a nice pinky's worth of head won't die. Solid.

The aroma is fairly mild, with ash, ashtray, dirt, a lot of grain, some malt (like malt balls), faint chocolate, coffee, a hint of earthy roast, and some faint lactose. It's a very earthy and grainy nose, with hints of chocolate and coffee.

Wow! This actually tastes really nice, with noticeable burnt sugar/caramel, coffee, espresso, light cacao, and bitter chocolate. There's a bit of molasses up front, and the beer finishes roasty with some lactose to round things out.

This has a medium to medium-full mouthfeel, with carbonation that is just there to support the beer, like your deadbeat dad that showed up once a week to pay alimony. This is slightly thick/oily, with mild hints of lactose on the finish. Palate depth is good, complexity is average. What this lacks in complexity, it makes up for in balance and drinkability. At 6.0%, this goes down with ease. Up front is molasses, followed by caramel, coffee, chocolate; that turns into some roast, with more malt sweetness; the back end is lingering coffee, roast, rounds out with lactose.

Rating: Above-Average

I'm feeling a Light Above-Average on this. I could see myself drinking a few of these at the bar over the course of a night. This has tremendous drinkability and balance. Also, if you are aversive to the more lactose-forward Sweet Stouts, you might like this. You could pair this with a burger, things with chocolate, things with coffee, and a pantheon of desserts. Considering this was like 10 bucks, I'd say this beer is worth checking out.

Random Thought: I just listened to the Michigan comeback on the radio. I can't imagine being a Kansas fan right now.