Pipeworks Reliquary

Brewed by Pipeworks Brewing Company
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Chicago, Illinois USA

Serve in Trappist glass, Tulip, Tumbler

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Aroma is light and hard to pin down. Coppery in pour. Sweet taste with bitter aftertaste. Oily on the palate. I’d like to like it more, but the taste is not my favorite.

Muddy amber with whispy, creamy off-white head, light legs / Big 2ipa nose of pine, citrus, caramel, weed / Full body, malty with biting hops, some sweetness, big, bitter finish / Rich, but somewhat cooked flavors of grapefruit, orange peel, cut pine, soap, caramel, chamomile / Not picking up any Belgian aspect - my guess is that the big hops overwhelm any Belgian subtleties, but a decent double ipa.

Bomber pours a hazy golden orange with small white head and slight lacing. Aroma has lots of apricots, Belgian yeast, pine resin, and some citrus hops. Taste is slightly bitter with some sweet malts in the middle and a long dry finish. Body is medium with light carbonation. Mouthfeel is sticky, with alcohol very well hidden. Another delightful one from Pipeworks.

22oz bomber poured into a snifter. Pours a slightly cloudy dark orange with minimal 2white head. Aroma is heavily citrus with some apricot and a little belgian yeast. Taste is medium sweet and light bitter. Citrus and dried apricots with a hint of pine and a little cotton candy on the end. Medium bodied with a slightly sticky texture. Sofr carbonation and a super long finish. Overall, great. Boozy in a good way. I would gladly drink this again.

Hoppy and smooth. Really sweet. Didnt get any beligian from it. Good stuff.

22 ounce bottle for about $11. This one sits in a purgatory... Pretty good, but it didn’t break into my upper tier within the style. It was a lot at once and a tad muddled. Aroma was piney, some soap, and bold, grapefruit hops shackled with some equally aggressive malt fumes. Appearance is a dark yellow-orange, moderately carbonated, average amount of head, slightly opaque. Taste is hibiscus, pepper, more of that grapefruit and soapiness that transforms into drinkable hops as it warms up. Palate is medium bodied, moderate carbonation, drinkable despite the high abv weight class. Overall, not bad but sorta spastic and unimpressionable. I liked it, but I hesitate over buying it again.

22 oz poured into snifter. Aromas of yeast and some citrus hops. Mouthfeel medium. Taste of hops and yeast. Complex. Alcohol barely detectable for 9%. Very nice

22 oz bomber. Pours amber with little head. Very yeasty aroma. Starts hoppy then finishes sweet and tart. Can definitely recognize the malt backbone but it’s not overdone. Nice beer.

Another rock star entry from Pipeworks. My first thought was this has got to be one of the most interesting smelling beers ever. Normally the minute "belgian" is in the name, I expect that traditional sweet yeasty, kinda one-dimensional thing, maybe with some interesting spices if I"m lucky. Here, there’s just a base of the belgian, and everything built on top of it is very complex, interesting-- but NOT overly bitey, sharp or sour-- HOP-ness. The taste follows suit-- it has that belgian sweetness, but that’s not the flavor, it’s just he foundation for a very complex hop array. There’s a dry, sharp angle to it that is just wonderful. Very drinkable where many beers like this are not, even if they might be very "good beers" aside from being a bit much to really quaff (Glaucus I’m looking at you). Big fan. Good stuff.

Bottle, batch 77. Pours a hazy gold and dull orange. Nose of caramel, bread, honey, herbal and floral notes, banana, some citrus and light tropical fruits. Not much hops come through, mostly malt and yeast. Medium body and well concealed abv.