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PIPEWORKS CLOSE ENCOUNTER IMPERIAL STOUT

July 10, 2012

When it comes to my tasting notes, things are done a little haphazardly, I must admit. I have a tendency to drink a beer and take a few notes, and then immediately forget about those notes for some number of months until I thumb through them in a notebook and realize that I never posted them as a tasting note. Sorry. For what it’s worth, I don’t really care what you think.

Anyway. This was my second-ever Pipeworks beer*, and I believe it was also the second one that they officially made after opening in the spring. I’ve been a big fan of what they do for quite a while, so I was super excited to try this, as I also was to try their first DIPA, Ninja vs. Unicorn.

*It appears that they’ve just gotten a new website recently, and it looks like there are a lot of kinks to be worked out. Namely, the fact that none of the tabs go anywhere and are all broken links. I tried multiple browsers, but it’s no dice. The good news is that the beer is great.

I also think it’s telling that we’re in an age of craft beer awareness among the geeky that a new brewery will show up and make its first two beers a DIPA and an imperial stout. Like it or not, that’s the kind of landscape we’re living in now. I’m sure that with time, just as many session-focused breweries will make themselves successful, but this was an industry founded on pushing the boundaries, and breweries like Pipeworks are the natural evolutionary point of that mode of thinking. Read the rest of this entry »

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5 Comments | Tasting Notes | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Kid Carboy Jr.

CHICAGO CRAFT BEER WEEK: MASH TUN FESTIVAL

May 25, 2012

Chicago is my ancestral home (or close to it), and as such I pay quite a bit of attention to the Chicago craft beer scene. It helps that said scene is absolutely exploding right now, as home to dozens of breweries that are in the planning or licensing stages. Chicago Craft Beer Week has been one of the great developments that came along with this rapid expansion. Currently wrapping up its third year, the 11-day “week” is a fantastic way to celebrate all of these new breweries as well as the other midwestern ale factories whose beers are found in the city.

Unfortunately, I only had one weekend (one day, really) to spend in the city for CCBW this year, so I picked the event that seemed best to me on the day I was there–the first-ever Mash Tun Festival in Bridgeport, organized by one of my favorite Chicago beer bars, Maria’s Package Goods & Community Bar.* The organization appealed to me: a single $40 ticket bought unlimited sampling of most beers, a set of four tickets for special pours (more tickets available), a commemorative glass, snacks and a copy of Mash Tun, the new craft beer journal for Chicago and namesake of the festival. I like that. Getting lots of stuff for my money = good.

*An aside: Maria’s really is an awesome bar. Not only do they not even try to cater to non-craft drinkers (they offer “$2 random shitty beer” on the menu), their beer-to-go store in the front of the venue often has hard-to-get local stuff that has long sold out of bigger package stores like Binny’s. If you’re looking for something that nobody else has, check Maria’s. Unless, of course, I’m also looking for the same beer as you, in which case, go to hell. Read the rest of this entry »

2 Comments | Beer Festivals | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Kid Carboy Jr.

PIPEWORKS NINJA VS. UNICORN

April 27, 2012

Finally! The first official beer tasting from Chicago’s new Pipeworks Brewing Company. I’ve been watching them grow for what seems like forever, from the Kickstarter beginnings, to our first conversation at Dark Lord Day, until their final launch. A few Pipeworks beers have come out by now, but I haven’t had the opportunity to taste any until now. Making such small batches at a time, they flew off the shelves at locations like Chicago-area Binny’s Beverage Depots. I finally ran across bottles of their inaugural double IPA, Ninja vs. Unicorn, as well as their second beer, the imperial stout Close Encounter, at one of my favorite Chicago bars, Maria’s. All I can say is thank god for Maria’s, which somehow always seems to have things in stock that everyone else in the city has sold out of weeks before.

Pipeworks Ninja vs. Unicorn Double IPA

NOTES: 22 oz bomber poured into a tulip glass. Fantastic label art, by the way. It looks like all Pipeworks beers are going to be fun to look at. Read the rest of this entry »

3 Comments | Tasting Notes | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by Kid Carboy Jr.

A DARK LORD DAY Q&A WITH CHICAGO’S NEW PIPEWORKS BREWING COMPANY

May 29, 2011

There may be another step or two in there somewhere.

This piece has been a while in coming, because I’ve been busy and lazy. Between dealing with insurance resulting from an auto accident and planning a beer trip to Michigan (which I just returned from, many updates to come), I haven’t gotten around to consulting my digital recorder since I took it to Three Floyds Dark Lord Day, which I documented visually here.

One of the things that stuck out during that day that I have meant to get to, however, was the opportunity I had to speak with Beejay Oslon and Gerrit Lewis, the founders of Chicago’s soon-to-be Pipeworks Brewing Company. They will be known in Chicago for their eclectic, creativity infused ales sooner rather than later–I guarantee it. I also had the chance to try a few of their brews that sunny day about a month ago, and likewise predict that their 13% abv imperial stout will soon be yet another beer that will have people telling their friends “you gotta come check out the Chicago brewery scene, man.”

Anyway. I’ll let the boys speak for themselves, utilizing brutal candor that I’m sure any Alehead would appreciate.

Kid Carboy Jr.: So where are you guys from? Read the rest of this entry »

4 Comments | Ale Factories | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Kid Carboy Jr.

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