Jolly Pumpkin / Anchorage Calabaza Boreal

Brewed By: Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales in Dexter, Michigan  

Purchased: 750ml bomber bought at Fischman's Liquors and Tavern in Chicago, IL; 2014

Style/ABV: American Sour/Wild Ale, 7.0%

Reported IBUs: ?

An American Sour/Wild Ale brewed with grapefruit peel, juice, and peppercorns, aged in oak barrels, and bottle conditioned? And brewed in collaboration with Anchorage Brewing? Oh my, yes, yes please. About Jolly Pumpkin:

Jolly Pumpkin has three enterprises: a restaurant, brewery, and distillery located in Traverse City; a cafe and brewery in Ann Arbor; and a factor for their Artisan Ales in Dexter. The brewery itself was founded by brewmaster Ron Jefferies. Ron began brewing professionally in 1995, and quickly became known as a respected brewer among the Michigan craft beer scene. In 2004, Ron opened Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales. Jolly Pumpkin is known for brewing beer that is aged in wine barrels containing brettanomyces. Brettanomyces is a naturally occurring yeast that is typically unwanted in beer because it imparts a "sour, leathery, barnyard, horse funk" profile. When used properly, beers made with brettanomyces can have desirable flavors. These flavors are often found in Lambics and Geuzes, and more recently in American Wild Ales.

If you are not familiar with Anchorage Brewing, they are a brewery based out of Anchorage, Alaska. The brewery was founded by brewer Gabe Fletcher sometime around 2012, and has since been kicking ass and taking names. Check them out on Facebook, or whatever. The back of the bottle of Calabaza Boreal reads: 

"He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you. -Nietzsche

When introspection fails, it's time to look outward for inspiration, perhaps Northward! One of the people who inspired me this past year is my friend Gabe Fletcher, of Anchorage Brewing Co. We brewed this beer together. I hope it inspires you. Northward!

Jolly Pumpkin / Anchorage Calabaza Boreal 

Warm regards, 
RON"

This is the most stereotypical blank slate beer you'll find in appearance. It looks like any number of Saisons or Belgian Ales, with a slightly hazy, well-carbonated, yellow/orange body. There are two fingers of fluffy, cloudy, white head. As the head drops off you get some nice lacing...blah blah. Is there anything shocking here? No. 

The aroma is anything but a stereotypical blank slate, however it does have that characteristic Jolly Pumpkin aroma with huge oak, vinous barrel character, pineapple Brett, massive orange/pineapple, and tons of tropical funk. The grapefruit takes the Jolly Pumpkin Brett-barrel character to some absurd level, like Minion in Twisted Metal. This layers on some faint medicinal notes, with layers of Saison-like white and black pepper. If I had to guess, this was dry-hopped pretty well; this has a quality similar to Orval, with lots of Brett funk juxtaposed with grapefruit juice and giant citrus hops. There is maybe a mild sulfur note on the nose as well. 

This is pretty solid stuff...it reminds me of Orval. It's a hoppy, juicy beer. This strikes a nice balance between that Brett funk, grapefruit/pineapple Brett, and juicy hops. The grapefruit juice pushes this over the top, and the addition of peppercorns adds some much needed complexity which shows up as peppery spice. This is reminiscent of a Saison in some ways, dialing up orange and grapefruit sprinkled with pepper. 

I'm a big fan of this beer, but this isn't doing anything that I have not experienced from Jolly Pumpkin before. But if you love the combination of that super dry, Brett funk, combined with giant waves of grapefruit and orange...well, you will be right at home here. And I'm drinking this beer kind of young, my guess is this will be fun to age. I bet this will be pretty funky in 1~2 years. Having said all that, this is incredibly drinkable at 7%. Palate depth is fantastic, and this has low to moderate complexity. This opens up with huge waves of Brett-infused pineapple, orange, and grapefruit; the mids roll into grapefruit juice, pineapple, white and black pepper, spice, and light woody tannin presence; the back end dials up huge dryness, with lingering hops, Brett, light Brett-aspirin notes, and lingering funk. This is winey and vinous. Fantastic stuff, really.  

Rating: Above-Average (4.0/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Strong Above-Average on this. This is whimsical and delicious but it's not exactly pushing the envelope. Then again, does this need to push the envelope? As far as fruit beers go, this is done really well. The addition of the grapefruit juice is non-intrusive. Food pairings here include peppery dishes, pickled things, strong cheeses and meats, and pizza. 

Random Thought: I love Jolly Pumpkin. They are maybe one of my personal favorite breweries...certainly in my top Midwest breweries. It's a damn shame that they are so underrated on a national level. And if you really want to get the full Jolly Pumpkin experience, you need to drive up to Michigan and check them out. 

Pipeworks Poivre Vert

Brewed By: Pipeworks Brewing in Chicago, IL  

Purchased: 750ml bottle (Batch #202) bought at Binny's in IL; 2013 (bottled 9.13.13)

Style/ABV: Saison, 7.0%
Reported IBUs: ?

Hey-yo, it's another Unofficial Pipeworks Thursday™. Before we dive in, I thought it was worth noting that the White Sox dropped another game, and are just three games away from having 100 losses on the season. Let's see if they can suck for this final stretch. 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 Poivre Vert (green pepper) is a Saison brewed with green peppercorns, celery seed, and cucumber. I'm kind of iffy on Pipeworks' Saisons, but let's see how this stacks up. The back of the bottle states (and yes...it says "eveing"):

"It isn't always easy being green, but it certainly can be delicious. Poivre Vert combines green peppercorns, celery seed, and cucumbers for a bright and refreshing saison. This saison combines spicey and cooling notes for a complex and refreshing ale perfect for food and warm eveing quaffing." 

Pipeworks Poivre Vert

The beer pours a hazy, golden/honey/yellow color, and kicks up one to two fingers of bright white head. The head is foamy and dense, and Saison-like, and the beer appears to be well-carbonated. In bright light, the beer is a golden/yellow color, and you can see lots of streams of carbonation rising upwards. This beer is lively and very effervescent. The head has settled into a nice ring of white foam around the edge of the glass.

The aroma on this beer is out of bounds. I'm getting HUGGEEEE cucumber, bright greens, salad, and just big, big cucumber. I'm also picking up some pepper and the green peppercorns, and some underlying fruity notes.

I'm just gonna say...I absolutely love this. This beer has some earthy Belgian character, hints of wheat and bread, and tons of cucumbers, green salad, and peppercorn notes. The cucumber, celery, and green peppercorns are well integrated into the beer, and the whole thing is surprisingly subtle and brilliant.

This beer is light to medium-light bodied, with great drinkability at 7.0%. The carbonation and mouthfeel is perfect, and palate depth is fantastic. I've had more complex Saisons, but this beer has a lot going on for such a simple list of ingredients. You get earthy Belgian yeast up front, with big cucumber, celery, and green peppercorns; that rolls into some bitterness, a little malt density via bread/wheat, and some more celery and peppercorns; the finish features lingering greens, salad, and some dryness. Really fucking nice!

Rating: Above-Average (4.0/5.0 Untappd)

This is a Strong Above-Average, flirting with a divine brew. I like this enough that I'll probably go see if I can track down another bottle or two. I haven't been sold on Pipeworks' Saisons, but this beer and their Saison du Soliel are promising beers that are going to sway me to the dark side. This beer is refreshing, and delivers where it promises. This beer would pair with cucumber dip, sandwiches with cucumber, any cucumber mayo/dip/sauce/aioli, or some grilled lamb with cucumber sauce. Actually, this beer makes me want to go out and buy some Gyros. If you can find this beer...grab a bottle and PAIR IT WITH FOOD. This beer + a Greek Gyro = wingasm. 

Random Thought: So I know "eveing" is a spelling error, but I think Pipeworks lucked into that one. I'm totally down with this new term. What will I be doing on a Thursday night? I'll be eveing it up, drinking beers, waiting for Friday. It's genius. 

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 Poivre Noir

Brewed By: Pipeworks Brewing in Chicago, IL  

Purchased: 22oz bottle (Batch #30) bought at West Lakeview Liquors (?) in Chicago, IL; 2012 

Style/ABV: Black Saison, 7.5%
Reported IBUs: ?

I should make Thursdays "Pipeworks night." They are easy beers to whip up a review for, and I'm usually too burnt out to do a lot of work come the time I write all this up. So it makes sense. Hmm. 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. At one point - and maybe still - the goal was the release a new beer every week. You can read more about the brewery at their website HERE.

Today's beer is a "Black Saison." Those are fun! The bottle art features a pepper shaker and some lemons on it. The bottle states, "Dark Saison style ale brewed with spices." The back of the bottle states:

"Our third saison in the Poivre line marries the classic flavors of lemon and pepper. This dark saison is brewed with tellicherry black peppercorns, fresh lemon zest, and Sorachi Ace hops. The result is a a brightly flavored saison with layers of citrus and spice."   

That's copypasta'd by the way, so the "a a" is in fact an error. This one is bottle conditioned, and clocks in at 7.5% ABV. If you're wondering like I was, "Sorachi Ace" hops are a Japanese hop varietal that impart an unusual lemon/"bubblegum," and dill pickle flavor. Pretty interesting stuff (and maybe what I was picking up on in the Pastrami on Rye?). Into the glass...

Pipeworks Poivre Noir

This one pours a murky dark purple/brown color, with 3 finger's worth of tan/purple-tinted head. The head is initially pretty foamy, but fades into a moderately funky, Saison-looking, centimeter coating's worth of head. In bright light, the beer remains dark purple, but you pick up some brown/orange shades on the edges. You can glean at some tiny carbonation bubbles rising from the sides. Overall, it looks about what I've come to expect from Dark Saisons.

The aroma is kind of blunted, with big candy sweetness, lemon candy, lemony sugars, and then a weird blast of sour pickle, dill, and peppercorn. There's some elusive plums, dark fruits, and licorice/anise as well. The dill/lemon/peppercorn thing is interesting.

I'm getting a lot more anise, and fade to smoke/roast ala a Porter in the taste. Compared to the Four Witches or the Pepe Nero, this one seems a dash less heavy. Some lemony pledge does come out, with hints of lemon bars and lemon skin. It's sort of like the lemon component in the 90 Minute IPA. I'm also getting some acetone/nail polish remover, and a bit of noticeable booze. And as I drink this, the peppercorn and smoke/roast build. It's not bad...

...but it's not like, "woah, holy shit!" These Dark Saisons are going to carve themselves out as a niche style if people keep making them. This one is pretty smooth, with smooth, supportive, almost creamy carbonation. Palate depth is pretty solid, though complexity leaves a bit to be desired. I'd call this medium-full. As far as drinkability...at 7.5%, this one is pretty easy-going, provided you aren't turned off by the flavors. Up front is lemon, dill, some dark fruits, and peppercorn; mid palate is more lemon, more dill; the back end is smoke, anise, roast...lingering peppercorn...and fade to moderate dryness.

Rating: Average 

I'm feeling a light Average on this. It's not bad, it's actually quite drinkable, and this would pair well with where I'm going out to eat this weekend (Texas de Brazil). I'd pair this with some smokey meats, barbecue, or some meats and cheese. It's not a bad beer by any means, though I doubt I'd gravitate towards it at the store. I might get it on tap...but what are the odds of this being on tap? As I said, these are niche beers.

Random Thought: It's totes snowing out. We are supposed to get 3-5 inches, plus some ice and sleet...which means my morning commute is probably going to be hell. Hooray for random snowstorms in mid-February!