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. 

Sierra Nevada Coffee Stout

Brewed By: Sierra Nevada Brewing Company in Chico, California 
Purchased: 12oz bottle from the 2014 Snowpack purchased at Binny's in Chicago, IL; 2014
Style/ABV: Coffee Stout, 6.2%

Reported IBUs: 53

DAE Cerro Nevarros? I do. For $14.99 the 2014 Snowpack was too cheap to pass up. This year's Snowpack features their Porter, Pale Ale, Boomerang IPA, and Coffee Stout. 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.

Coffee Stouts are maybe my favorite thing ever, so I have some pretty high expectations with this one. The Coffee Stout punches in at 6.2% with 53 IBUs, and is brewed with Nugget hops; Two-row Pale, Caramel, Chocolate, Wheat, and Brown malts; and cold brewed coffee and lactose. 

Sierra Nevada Coffee Stout

This pours into a near-black body, kicking up a finger of dark brown head. Bright light betrays some of those brown tones around the edges, but this is basically opaque through and through. Head retention is good, with solid lacing. 

The aroma here: coffee, hazelnut, mocha, coffee + creamer, a little espresso, and lots of filter coffee and coffee that has been leftover in the filter. There is also a substantial amount of lactose on the nose, with hints of creamer, vanilla, and milk.

This pretty much follows the nose to the tee...leading off with lots of sweet coffee, filtered coffee, espresso, ground coffee, and some hazelnut sweetness. Along with the coffee onslaught is a lot of hints of mocha, creamer, lactose, and sweet notes. The sweet notes include some sugars and hints of dark fruits...beneath the coffee is some hints of roast complexity, but this is mostly a sweet coffee ride.

This is pretty straightforward, but gets credit for being medium-full at just 6.2%. The palate depth here is really good, but this isn't the most complex beer in the world. This pretty much rides sweet coffee up front, with tons of coffee, espresso, and hazelnut; the mids roll into some creamer, lactose sugars, mocha, and earth/tobacco; the back end trails with lots of coffee sweetness, and has a bit of roast. The theme here is sweet and coffee. A part of me wonders if this beer would be elevated if it had a little more roast or dark malt complexity to balance out some of the sugars.

Rating: Above-Average (4.0/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Light Above-Average here. This is a really solid coffee stout, especially at the ABV, but I do think it could be a bit more complex. Still, this is a great addition to the winter pack, and also a tasty beer. I would pair this with some dessert....maybe some dry chocolate cake. Yum.

Random Thought: The 2014 Snowpack doesn't have any mind-blowing beers, but it does feature four very good beers. I'd say it is worth the $14.99. 

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...

Two Brothers 17th Anniversary Rye Ale

Brewed By: Two Brothers Brewing Company in Warrenville, Illinois

Purchased: 22oz bomber bought at Andersonville Wine & Spirits in Chicago, Illinois; 2014

Style/ABV: Rye Beer/Ale, 8.5%
Reported IBUs: 65

Another year...another anniversary. It was a little over a year ago that I reviewed the Two Brothers 16th Anniversary Ale. Last year's beer was just okay, and frankly, it kind of set the tone for the year that Two Brothers had. I'm hoping that tonight's beer is a bit more interesting. We'll see, right? About Two Brothers:

Two Brothers are based out of Warrenville, Illinois, a town not far from Chicago. Two brothers was founded in 1996 by brother Jason and Jim Ebel. Their brewery and Tap House Restaurant are both located in Warrenville. Their distribution and production seems to be increasing with each year, and along with their beer you can buy home brewing equipment and supplies at the Tap House Restaurant. If you get the chance, swing by and check out their Roundhouse. It's an awesome joint, and needs all the love it can get. For more information, check out their about page/website.

This Rye Ale is brewed with Thai Basil and Milk Sugar. Punching in at 8.5% and 65 IBUs, the back of the bottle reads:

"Anniversaries cause us to pause for reflection and this year we are especially proud to have helped shape an industry that brings people enjoyment through flavor and good times. Every day we look forward to creating new beers and being a part of an ever growing community of brewers.

Our 17th Anniversary Rye Beer has been aged in oak barrels to lend complex flavors of vanilla and spirits. We added lactose sugar to soften the palette and finished the beer with fresh, sweet Thai basil to give a bold floral zest to the aroma. We're glad to have had you along for this great seventeen year ride. There is plenty more to come!"

You read that right, by the way. This one is oak-barrel aged. Yum. I'm curious to see how this stands up to one of my favorite beers ever, the Two Brothers Cane and Ebel. 

Two Brothers 17th Anniversary Rye Ale

This one pours out with a lot of rapidly-forming head. It's almost as heady as Duvel or something infected (knock on wood that this is not that). The head is thick like root beer floats -- think the topping when you pour soda over ice cream. It looks like it too, with tan/gray tones. The body of the beer is murky brown in low light, and when held to a bright light the body takes on a reddish-amber/auburn color. There's mid-sized carbonation bubbling away as well. Head retention is impressive, and so is the lacing.

I don't even know what I'm smelling on the aroma....I'm getting rye, basil, juniper, watermelon (wut), melon, melon seeds, fruity salad notes, and a weird spicy funk. There's like a curry note in here....and then lemon balls. Or lemon/lime candy. It's that Asian guava candy, which I've made reference to before in another beer which I can't recall. Lastly...I'm getting some wood on the aroma, but no oak. 

Ah, you do get some oak on the taste. That's refreshing, to say the least. This is surprisingly complex, albeit incredibly subtle. That subtle thing was the reason that The More The Merrier was shit on by reviewers, despite being a solid beer. Anyway, I'm getting a lot here. There's some nice oak, vanilla, woody barrel, rye spice, rye, basil (big, big basil), fruity sweetness, guava, melon, watermelon, fruit salad, fruit seeds, light tartness, and some big bitterness that takes over towards the back. As the bitterness hammers your palate you're left with some nuttiness, medium roasted grains, and lingering coconut. To say this beer is complex is an understatement.

This is my kind of beer. This is a sipper with a lot of stuff going on. I actually really like this...and I think this is a big improvement over the unnecessarily boozy 16th Anniversary Ale. This is a medium-bodied beer with plenty of carbonation, and the beer is nicely attenuated with a shift towards bitter and dry on the back. Palate depth is outstanding with long duration, and the complexity is something to admire and think about. Like seriously...what is going on here. Up front is a tart blast of melon, watermelon, fruit seeds, fruit salad, basil, big spice, rye spice, sweet rye, sugar; the mids roll into some of that oak, with woody tannin showing up to fuck shit up, with more rye spice and basil; the back end features growing bitterness against nutty and sweet malts, and then the malts turn grainy with coconut and dryness. This is just...lovely stuff. 

Rating: Divine Brew (4.5/5.0 Untappd)

Ughhhh...this a Light Light Divine Brew. I'm so hesitant to elevate this to that status, because honestly, I don't even know what the fuck I have here. Is this a Rye Beer? Is it a Specialty Ale? Who cares, really. Honestly, I would have never expected Two Brothers of all breweries to roll out a Rye-Basil-Milk Sugar beer aged in oak barrels. That takes a brazen approach to brewing. This beer is a crap-shoot, but the end result is fantastically complex and big and bold. I will pick up another bottle of this if I see it on shelves. I'm about to pair this with some moo shu beef taco things, but I suspect this complex brew would pair well with delicate meats like duck, peppery chicken or turkey, and maybe even something as simple as a rye bread sandwich. I don't know for sure, but I am enjoying this.

Random Thought: The glassware was completely coincidental, but that bottle cap/glass combo. Dayum. Also, this beer is really good. It would be a shame if they never brew it again.

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. 

De Proefbrouwerij / Cigar City Tropical Tripel

Brewed By: De Proefbrouwerij/Cigar City in Lochristi - Hijfte, Belgium  

Purchased: 750ml bottle bought at Fischman Liquors and Tavern in Chicago, IL; 2013 

Style/ABV: Belgian Tripel, 9.5%

Reported IBUs: ?

I'm really excited about tonight's beer, which was a lucky find for me in the Chicago-land area. Tonight's beer is a "Tropical Tripel," a beer brewed with some of the best things in this earthly existence. But more on that in a minute...

De Proefbrouwerij (bvba Andelot) aka "The Proef Brewery," is a Dutch/Flemish brewery founded in 1996 by Dirk Naudt and his wife, Saskia Waerniers. Their brewery is based out of Lochristi, Belgium. Aside from brewing their own beer, The Proef Brewery also contracts out their equipment to other breweries. In addition to all this, Proef also has a Research and Development department dedicated to making their beer better.

Cigar City Brewing is a brewery based out of Tampa, Florida. The company was established in 2008 by Joey Redner, Jr.. In 2008, Redner met brewer Wayne Wambles, and hired him as the brewery's head brewmaster. The rest is tasty beer history.

Tonight's beer is described as a "Belgian Ale aged on oak chips with coconut and peaches." The back of the bottle reads:

"On February 18, 2013 Cigar City Brewers Wayne Wambles and Josh Brengle brought a bit of the Florida tropics to Lochristi, Belgium in the form of this unique Tropical Tripel recipe brewed in collaboration with De Proef Brewmaster Dirk Naudts.

Tropical Tripel was brewed with a classic Trappist yeast and the lesser known Brux III strain of Brettanomyces. During the boil Magnum and Simcoe hops were added along with Belgian candi sugar and lactose for added mouth feel. The beer is finished with additions of toasted coconut, dried peaches and medium toasted oak. We hope you enjoy this this collaboration of brewing styles, cultures, and climate. Cheers!"

And...of course, this beer is part of the "Brewmaster's Collaboration." Need I say any more? No. Into the glass this goes.

In lower light, the beer pours a radiant, but dark, golden-orange color. This one kicked up 3+ fingers of foamy, soapy, off-white head. I know they are calling this beer a Tripel, but the addition of Brett and American Hops almost has to push this into Wild Ale or Specialty Ale territory. In bright light the beer is a hazy golden orange, with moderately active streams of tiny bubbles rising upwards. The head is still soaking up some of the orange from the body, and it's creamy and sustaining. There is some nice lacing.

De Proefbrouwerij/Cigar City Tropical Tripel

The aromatics on this beer are incredible. This smells like everything the Stone R&R Coconut IPA should have been. Let me preface my thoughts on the aroma by saying that we are in the middle of a heat wave. It is both hot and humid out. The temps are pushing the upper 90s, and the humidity is at Florida levels of sticky. This beer couldn't be more timely. You get HUGE toasted coconut and toasted oak on the aroma right away. Swirling the beer unlocks aromas of orange peel, grains of paradise, mango, peach, pineapple, and even some hints of resinous orange. There's a big mango/pineapple/peach + coconut thing at work here, and it's awesome. Beneath all that is some hint at the Belgian yeast, a little sugary/honey/bread thing, and tons of orange peel/grains of paradise. Fuckin' A.

The taste immediately reminds me of the Founders' Mango Magnifico (without the Habanero, of course). Only instead of getting blasted with mango, you get blasted with huge peach. There's big peach in this, along with toasted oak/coconut, lots of pineapple, mango, and citrus...and bitterness? Yeah, the citrus takes a turn towards catty and fairly bitter mid palate. It's gotta be the Simcoe hops. You get bitter citrus and peach, with some catty Simcoe-hop-kick. The back palate rounds out with some woody Bretty dryness, more oak, and some booze. The booze in this beer has some bite and complexity, with hints of rum...I'm assuming the toasted coconut and the toasted oak add synergy to the booze. The backbone of this beer is somewhat bready and sweet, which is nice.

I've already read one review calling this beer cloyingly sweet. Pffft, talk about amateur hour. It's a Tripel, homie. Brewed with Belgian candi sugar. Do you even Belgian beers? This beer is off the hook in terms of drinkability, with refreshing peach/coconut, solid hop bitterness, and a drying, Brett-driven finish. Do I even need to mention the awesome palate depth or high complexity? At 9.5%, you get some booze, but it's the complex coconut-oak-rum variety. The mouthfeel is medium-full, and there's plenty of carbonation to go around. Peaches, toasted coconut, and pineapple, mango, etc. up front; that rolls into mango, citrus, orange, and catty Simcoe hops; that rolls into lingering coconut, oak, grain, complex rum/booze, and a dry Brett-driven finish. 

Rating: Divine Brew (4.5/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Light Divine Brew on this. This beer is channeling summer vibes, and I would definitely buy this again...and in fact, I just might do that if it's still available later in the week. It's a bit pricey at ~15 dollars a bottle, but this is fairly complicated stuff. What I really dig about this beer is the clearly detectable toasted coconut and oak in both the aroma and taste. You also get tons of peaches and tropical fruits, a nice amount of hoppy citrus, and some really nice Brett dryness. I suspect this will age well, but you will probably lose out on some of the coconut. If this is conditioned, and I assume it is, the Brett will step up to kick some ass. It could be a fun cellaring experiment. I would pair this beer with sushi, a Hawaiian burger, beach food, and a mother fucking beach. Or...a nice summer night. If you like Tripels half as much as I do, check this beer out.

Random Thought: On a serious note, there's some real cognitive dissonance at work. It's 90 degrees out, and I'm seeing pumpkin beers on shelves. That is not okay. I'm going to need the weather to whip into shape so I can enjoy Autumn beers and football in a few weeks.

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.