Half Acre GoneAway Review

Name: Half Acre GoneAway
Style: India Pale Ale
ABV: 7%

So now I'm on the last leg of my Chicago beer mail and what a ride it has been so far. My last beers I will be reviewing come from the Half Acre Brewing Company, a brewery which I have some degree of familiarity with but most of the beers I got from them I have never had before.

Starting things off is their GoneAway IPA. This used to go by the name of Senita IPA but it had a name change within the past 2 years. Even when it was called Senita, I never actually had it in that form either. It's former description as Senita calls it a "western charged firecracker", which leads me to believe that this is a West Coast IPA

Appearence - Fairly hazy bright yellow with a moderate amount of visible carbonation. Not really much in terms of a head save for a thin white film but the lacing is pretty good.

Aroma - Pungent citrus hop sweetness accent with some floral hoppiness. I'm also picking up on some light lavender notes with some grapefruit rinds and a solid pale malt backbone. I'm really enjoying the smell of this!

Taste - Rich citrus & floral hops with some lavender notes. Back end of the palate has some more citrus hop sweetness and a big pale malt backbone and some grapefruit rinds. Aftertaste is fairly sweet with some citrus hoppiness and a slight hint of hop bitterness.

If you like your IPAs sweet and fruity, this is the beer for you. I'll admit that I expected a lot more bitterness in the flavor but the lack thereof isn't necessarily a bad thing. In fact, why does it need to be bitter in the first place? Frankly, I like this beer just the way it is and that's the important thing. If you have access to this beer, I would highly recommend seeking this out.

Half Acre GoneAway - 9/10

Pipeworks War Bird Review

Name: Pipeworks War Bird
Style: Belgian Pale Ale
ABV: 4.5%

Confession Time: Last Friday when I got home from a long day of work and dealing with other things, I decided to rent Mad Max: Fury Road for my viewing pleasure. During the course of the film, I mistakenly opened my bottle of Pipeworks' Scarlett Betta and drank it without taking any notes or even a photo. Upon making this realization, I kicked myself for this mistake and vowed to pay more attention (and just stick with Summit EPA during movie time.)

So because of this, we're on to the last Pipeworks beer in the Chicago beer mail; Hang in there as I have a few more to review. This is War Bird, Pipeworks' Session Pale Ale, with some awesome artwork to back it up. Not really much else to say about this, aside from let's see how this is.

Appearance - Extremely hazy yellow color with a very foamy white head that has some excellent retention. The lacing, however, is spotty at best.

Aroma - Sweet citrus hops with a light hint of bitterness. I'm also picking up of some light pale maltiness & cloves with a hint of yeast.

Taste - Moderate citrus and bitter hops upfront with some light pale maltiness and some yeasts that come off as cracker-like. The finish, of course, is fairly dry save for a bittersweet citrus hoppiness. The cloves, interestingly enough, are nowhere to be found here.

Session ales are not usually at the top of my list as far as go to styles save for when I'm out and about. With that said this one is pretty good, but it's definitely not the best session ale I've ever had. However if you need something to sip on while you're out with friends and will be driving home by yourself, this will do just nicely.

Pipeworks War Bird - 8/10

Pipeworks Blood of the Unicorn Review

Name: Pipeworks Blood of the Unicorn
Style: Amber/Red Ale
ABV: 6.5%
IBUs: N/A

I apologize for the lack of posts these past few days since I have been busy with work, grad school and other family matter but I'm back and ready to continue looking at all of these Chicago beers. The next one I will be looking at is another beer from Pipeworks Brewing called Blood of the Unicorn, which is described by the brewery as a Hoppy Red Ale.

Appearance - Dark & mildly hazy amber red color with a mild amount of visible carbonation. The head is fairly foamy and the lacing is quite abundant with some good retention.

Aroma - Very toffee & caramel malt forward followed by a some strong piney & citrus hoppiness. I've had many beers in my time, but the smell is almost identical to that of Surly Furious. I wish I were making this up but that is literally the first thing i think of in this case.

Taste - Toffee & caramel malts paired with a robust piney and citrus hop profile make up the bulk of the palate for the most part with some grapefruit sweetness peeking it's head through in the back half. The aftertaste is basically more caramel maltiness with some mild grapefruit & bitter hop notes.

For those of you who are familiar with Surly Furious, this tastes pretty much identical to that with the only difference being that there's a slight hint of grapefruit. However, I don't necessarily believe that this is a bad thing. People who have this may be quick to call this an IPA but either way you look at it, what you have here is a solid beer that is worthy of your attention.

Pipeworks Blood of the Unicorn - 8.5/10

Pipeworks Lizard King Review

Name: Pipeworks Lizard King
Style: American Pale Ale
ABV: 6%
IBUs: N/A

The next Pipeworks Brewing beer I have is yet another Mosaic Hop-based beer called Lizard King, which is an American Pale Ale. Like Ninja vs. Unicorn before it, this too also possesses some epic label artwork whose awesomeness cannot be done justice in this photo alone. In addition to that, the commercial description of this beer on Beer Advocate is also pretty awesome as well:

On the epic battlefield, where The Unicorns and The Ninjas fight it out, there is a newcomer. Legend has told of of The Lizard King's arrival since the first "Hiiiiiya" hit the first Uni-horn, and now, he is finally here. Does this Mosaic hopped pale ale have the power to settle the strife? Only time will tell...

Not to sound presumptuous or anything, but this beer better be pretty awesome if you're going to hype me up with the description and artwork.

Appearance - Moderately hazy wet yellow straw color with a mild amount of carbonation. The head is surprisingly fizzy save for a thin white film and there's not much in terms of lacing either.

Aroma - Grapefruit & citrus sweetness with a slight hint of bitter hops. There's also some light yeastiness in here along with some pale maltiness that lingers in the back.

Taste - Pretty similar to the nose. You've got the citrus and grapefruitiness upfront along with some bitter hops; In that order. Backing all this up is some yeasts and pale malt backbone, which linger throughout the back end of the palate. The aftertaste is made up of some more pale maltiness and that grapefruit bittersweetness.

While this didn't quite blow me away as much as I expected, this beer is still no slouch in terms of quality. It's got a nice hop profile while managing to stay out of IPA territory at the same time.\, thanks in part to the yeast & malty aspects of the flavor. If you enjoy pale ales, you'll enjoy this. If you enjoy Mosaic Hops, like me, you're obviously going to enjoy this too.

Pipeworks Lizard King - 8.5/10

Pipeworks Ninja vs. Unicorn Review

Name: Pipeworks Ninja vs. Unicorn
Style: Imperial IPA
ABV: 8%
IBUs: N/A

Moving on to the next set of beers in the Chicago beer package (I received quite a few beers in it mind you), The next few beers will be offerings from Pipeworks Brewing, who I think would be a running contender for the best beer label artwork on the marketplace at the time of writing this. Since the photos I take simply do not do the artwork justice, I will be posting the artwork at the end of each review.

First up is the aptly named Ninja vs. Unicorn, which is an Imperial IPA. I did some research and found out the the Unicorn has done battle with both the Grim Reaper, Uncle Sam, Santa Claus & the Easter Bunny; I couldn't make this up even if I tried. Anyways, there isn't really much else to say aside from the label artwork, which I think is kickass.

Appearance - Mildly hazy yellow color with a mild amount of visible carbonation. The head is nice & foamy and there is some pretty good lacing to be had here.

Aroma - Pungent Grapefruit & Piney hops with just a hint of orange peel. I'm also picking up on some toffee sweetness and pale maltiness along with some moderate bready-biscuit yeastiness.

Taste - Fairly strong bitter & piney hops upfront but then towards the back it starts to turn sweet. It's there you start picking up on sweet grapefruit & orange notes that almost come off as Froot Loop-like. I'm getting some more of that toffee maltiness along with that bready-biscuit yeastiness in the back as well. The best way to describe the flavor is that it starts out very bitter but ends sweet.

Overall it's a very good Imperial IPA and for one being only 8% ABV, there is alot going on here in the flavor. Not only is the name & artwork awesome, but there is also an excellent beer lurking behind it. Chicago, you are very lucky to have a beer like this!

Pipeworks Ninja vs. Unicorn - 9.5/10

Revolution 1Z Enuff Review

Name: Revolution 1Z Enuff
Style: Imperial IPA
ABV: 11%
IBUs: 100

So here I am with the final Revolution Brewing beer in my beer mail package and it's one that I've been saving for last. It's an Imperial IPA by the name of 1Z Enuff (One's Enough). Why such a name? Well if you look at the stats of this beer, it not only comes in at a whooping 11% ABV but it also has an IBU rating of 100.

Appearance - Very hazy dark amber color with a mild amount of visible carbonation. The head is nice foamy with a slightly off-white color to it and the lacing is pretty good as well.

Aroma - Very dank piney hops with a little bit of citrus. I'm also getting a pretty strong caramel malt backbone but it's mostly dank hops for the most part.

Taste - Very strong dank piney hops hit you right away with an equally strong caramel maltiness. Interestingly enough, I'm getting some rum raisin notes in here as well and a slight hint of citrus. Aftertaste is surprisingly sweet with some caramel sweetness and more rum raisins. As for the booziness, it's here and it's noticeable.

Well I can certainly agree with the fact that one's enough for a couple different reasons. The first being it's 11% ABV but more importantly, the flavor is something that I just can't quite seem to dig. To be honest the raisin, boozy & dank mix of flavors is kind of off putting to me and just tastes weird.

I've mentioned a couple times before that the quality of Imperial IPAs start to go all over once the 10% threshold is crossed, at least in my experience. As bizarre as this may sound, had this been taken down a couple percentage points, this would've been awesome. As it stands right now, the overall flavor just isn't cutting it for me.

Revolution 1Z Enuff - 6/10

Revolution Coup D'etat Review

Name: Revolution Coup D'etat
Style: Saison
ABV: 7.6%
IBUs: 50

I've got a couple more beers from Revolution Brewing in my Chicago beer mail and the next one I'll be looking at is their Coup D'etat, which is their Saison. A name which makes sense when you consider that the name of the beer is a French term and that a Saison is traditionally a French style.

Appearance - Very hazy golden color but it has a very high amount of visible carbonation. The head is fairly foamy and about one finger in terms of width with an equally fair amount of lacing along the sides of the glass.

Aroma - Strong Belgian yeasts and cloves notes. I'm picking up on some grassiness in here as well along with some citrus & floral hops with some light toffee maltiness. It's almost like I cracked open a bottle of Saison Dupont and took a whiff of it.

Taste - Very similar to the nose. Belgian yeasts and spiciness up front, followed by some citrus and floral hoppiness though that grassiness that I saw in the nose is nowhere to be seen here. On the back end of the palate is where I'm starting to pick up on that toffee malt backbone. The aftertaste is mostly Belgian yeasts with a light touch of bitter hoppiness. There is a slight boozy taste in here but nothing that I would consider to be too big of a hinderance.

To this beer's credit, it does try to create more of a Euro-style Saison but it comes off as more Americanized.....and that's just fine with me. It's a good drinkable Saison though there is nothing I would consider to be ground breaking about it. If you live in Chicago and want a good Saison, this is it right here.

Revolution Coup D'etat - 8.5/10