Pipeworks Close Encounter

Brewed by Pipeworks Brewing Company
Style: Black IPA
Chicago, Illinois USA

Serve in Shaker, Tulip

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Bottle at THE Sour and Saison Tasting, London. Many thanks to Ken for adding a bit of variety to the menu. Pours black-brown with a strong, beige foam head. Lots of roasted malts and burnt pine on the nose. Medium to big sweet flavor with strong pine, burnt brown sugars, wood, grapefruit and other fruit sugars. Medium to full bodied with average carbonation. Resinous finish, some anise and herbs, sturdy hop character, burnt grass, cocoa, earth, strong roast. Great balance, not abrasive or anything. Classic black IPA. Awesome.

Dark, creamy, and chocolates. Lots of toasty sweet aroma and taste. Awesome beer!

Pours a nice vicious black with brown head that laces nicely. Pipeworks knows hops. This beer smells amazing, big floral sweet hops. Taste is heavy on the roasty malt goodness. There is a great hop profile to go with the malts. Not sure what the heck the style would be, but it’s very good.

Bottle. Pours black with tan head. Nose/taste of mocha, sarsaparilla, resin, grassy hops, vanilla, roasted chocolate and deep roasted coffee. Well-balanced. Finishes a bit dry roasted cocoa and resinous pine. Medium body.

Reeking of hoppy goodness that defy its appearance and genuinely about as far out as the retro artwork on the label. With a complex hoppy front end and a smooth yet roasted finish the beer probed my tastebuds and they responded well to the alien invasiveness. A beer with a lot going on that maintains a startlingly specific flavor and congruity for one that attempts so much.

Pours an inky black with a medium, although quickly fading, tan head. Interesting aroma of roasted malts, pine, chocolate, coffee, herbal hops, and even a bit of grapefruit as well. The taste is just as interesting, or maybe different is a better description. Pine is the dominant taste, and there is lots of it. It is mixed with very roasted malts and coffee, with that touch of citrus grapefruit. It is very bitter and has a good hoppy kick that I like. The aftertaste is pine and those herbal hops, while still being very roasted. Medium in body, an oily texture, without any carbonation. This is a very unusual beer. It feels like a big stout, yet the tastes more like a big IPA. Even due to the fact that you don’t find something like this everyday, this one is highly recommendable simply because it is so good.

Bottle. Poured clear dark brown color with an average frothy light brown head that lasted and produced excellent lacing. Moderate to heavy complex toasted malt, earthy and alcohol aroma. Medium to full body with a smooth texture and soft carbonation. Medium to heavy toasted balanced bittersweet flavor with a medium to heavy bittersweet finish of moderate to long duration. This is a standout beer

Bottle. Nice job again guys. Pours black with a tan head. Nice pine and floral hop aroma. Great flavor roasted malt little bit of chocolate. Solid beer

This rating is from their first bottling. Dark black with a beige head. Tons of hops. A little catty. Herbal pine nice notes really stand out. Good hop flavor with pine grass that juicy and bitter. Touch of roast as well. Really an excellent hoppy stout/black ipa. Its really hard to say which it is. I would lead more towards an excellent black ipa unless they up the malts and roast. But you don’t need to change it, call it whatever you want, cause its good. 8/4/8/4/16

Second pipeworks beer and it’s a good one. Pours black with a nice deep khaki head. Aroma is roast, a bit of smoke and some nice piney hops. Taste is big piney hops up front making way for chocolate, roast, smoke, and a final finish that ties it all together. Really manages to come together and unify all the different flavors, lots of hops here which is fine by me. This was really enjoyable, one of the best beers I’ve had in this category.