Review: Pipeworks Brewing Cash 4 Golden Ale

Brewery:  Pipeworks Brewing Company

Locale:  Chicago, IL

Craft Circa:  2012

Style:  Belgian Style Ale

ABV:  10%

Notables:  Batch 19

OK, back to earth Pipeworks.  We’ve been thoroughly impressed with each brew thus far, and although this beer represents another unique collaboration, this bullet misfired.  OK, maybe it grazed us…

Label:  Nice.  Clever and something so cheesy, it’s retro cool.  It’s a trendy name given the state of the economy in recent years and the relentless bombardment of jewelry stores, pawn shops, and etc. advertising “cash for your gold.”  Ironically, microbreweries have been the exception in this downturn.  With this beer, you get the sense you just got a steal from “beer hour” on the home shopping network.  It’s an artisan from Pipeworks, so good chance it is a steal. 

A batch number is hand written on the label, which you can research and discover when that batch was bottled according to their website.  As usual, nice touch. 

Overall:   The aroma was powerful, and simply marvelous.  I cannot express this enough.  The smell was enchanting, almost as if a Belgian Ferry whisked me away to a land of craft beer lollipops, and hop drops.   The head was a fluffy white, probably as fluffy as the clouds in my imaginary beer land.  These beers get a wonderful score for appearance and smell alone.  The presentation was done so beautifully, I was eager to drink up. 

SWEET!  Not in a figurative way, but in a literal sense.  It’s almost as if this beer is loaded with saccharine, and does not let up.  It tastes as though one of the brewers dumped packets of fun dip in the vat before fermentation.  It is reasonably flavorful but the sweetness is relentless.  Any “golden” aspects are hard to come by. 

This is a bottle you may want to consider sharing with someone.  A fifth of this stuff is quite hard to consume yourself due to the sweet persistence, and maybe that was Pipeworks’ intentions. 

It’s very smooth, but almost too smooth for the amount of sweet this brew encompasses.  This brew would have been a little better with either more bittering hops, or something with bite to balance out the ale a little more.  The beer goes down extremely well, especially for a beer that clocks in at 10%.  Its sugary stamina comes from whatever mix Pipeworks used for their strain of Belgian yeast in that it simply overpowered the beer, and did not allow the malt and hop flavors to contribute to the mix. 

Maybe tone down the sweetness a bit Pipeworks, you are in Chicago, and there is only one ‘Sweetness’ in these parts.

…In my opinion, the greatest nickname in all of sports. 

Acquisition:  A Fifth - $12

~gY

Review: Revolution Brewing Cross of Gold

Brewery:  Revolution Brewing

Locale:  Logan Square, IL (Chicago)

Craft Circa:  2010

Style:  English-Style Summer Ale / Golden Ale

ABV:  5%

Notables:  2012 Gold Medal Winner at the World Beer Cup (Category 66)

Label:  Get used to seeing these fists breaking through a grocer aisle near you.  Love the reference to the speech delivered by William Jennings Bryan referencing bimetallism in place in England that stirred up politics and propelled his place for the Democratic nomination for presidency in the  (refer below for your beyond tidbit of the day).

Overall:   In case you missed it, there was a recent post about a revolution a brewing here in Chicago a couple weeks back.    Fitting that we’ve been covering the evolution of Revolution, and the word “gastropub” is being added into the Merriam-Webster dictionary for its yearly update.  The Logan Square Revolution Brewing Brewpub is the epitome of gastropubs here in Chicago, with high end quality food, to go with in my opinion even better beer. 

Ok, I’m blowing smoke up their asses, but that’s due to the fanatic status B&B has for Rev Brew…  hey, what can we say, they make quality brews.  In addition, the start of this review may be sugar coated to maybe mask the subpar feelings for Cross of Gold.  This just didn’t do it for me. An English Style Summer Ale can be compared to an American Blonde, at least portions of it.  Still though, there just wasn’t much to it.  You anticipate, you hope something more happens with this brew, but doesn’t.  You wait for a flavor note to make its way to a taste bud, strike a nerve, do something, but instead it fizzles out.  It’s a tad bitter off the bat, but nothing to steer you clear of this. 

I mean don’t get me wrong, the beer could be phenomenal for this style of beer; it won gold for Pete’s sake.   The beer is full bodied, goes down extremely smooth, pours great, I just have little experience with this type of ale, and didn’t thoroughly enjoy it.  I would be curious to taste others that have no WBC award assigned to them.  There is no sign of hops, and maybe that’s appropriate. 

Either way, when it’s all said or done, there are so many other viable options Rev Brew pours out… those are what I am sticking with. 

Acquisition:  22 ouncer - $5

Windfall (Wiki Collaboration):  Cross of Gold was a speech delivered by William Jennings Bryan, a former US congressman at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1896.  The speech was promoting the “free silver” policy that he believed would bring the nation prosperity.  He decried the gold standard, concluding the speech, "you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold". Bryan's address helped catapult him to the Democratic Party's presidential nomination; it is considered one of the greatest political speeches in American history.  "The gold standard has slain tens of thousands." He referred to "a struggle between 'the idle holders of idle capital’ and 'the struggling masses, who produce the wealth and pay the taxes of the country;’ and, my friends, the question we are to decide is: Upon which side will the Democratic party fight?"  The idea was that minting silver coins would flood the economy with cash and end the depression.

Although Bryan lost the election in a landslide, he did win the hearts and minds of a majority of Democrats, as shown by his re-nomination in 1900 and 1908; as late as 1924, the Democrats put his brother on their national ticket.  The victory of the Republican Party in the election of 1896 marked the start of the "Progressive Era," from 1896 to 1932, in which the Republican Party usually was dominant.

~gY

Review: Two Brothers Prairie Path Golden Ale

Brewery: Two Brothers Brewing Company
Locale: Warrenville, IL
Craft Circa: 1997
Style: Golden Ale
ABV: 5.1%
IBUs: 25


Notables: Available year-round; Gluten Free

Label: Nice and simple. There’s a path through what looks to be a prairie with a partly sunny sky above. No “Little House on the Prairie” depicted here.


Overall: Very good. Ales are usually not my beer of choice. However, I thought, “Hey it’s from Two Brothers so I have to give it a shot.” I follow my own two sip rule. I usually know by the second sip whether I like the beer or not. It could be psychological but I think the first sip kind of prepares your mouth or, to be fancy, cleanses your palate. And by the second sip I knew I liked this beer. Prairie Path had a slight bitterness to it but was very smooth and bubbly. It’s refreshing, not a strong flavor, but not lacking in flavor either. With the heat wave hitting Chicago this beer was welcome refreshment. It felt like I was at a ballpark enjoying America’s pastime but actually enjoying the beer too for once.


Acquisition: 6 pack $8.99


Tidbits: What does IBU mean?


Per Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer_measurement The International Bittering Units scale, or simply IBU scale, provides a measure of the bitterness of beer, which is provided by the hops used during brewing. Bittering units are measured through the use of a spectrophotometer and solvent extraction.


The bittering effect is less noticeable in beers with a high quantity of malt, so a higher IBU is needed in heavier beers to balance the flavor. For example, an Imperial Stout may have an IBU of 50, but will taste less bitter than an English Bitter with an IBU of 30, because the latter beer uses much less malt than the former. The technical limit for IBU's is around 100; some have tried to surpass this number, but there is no real gauge after 100 IBUs when it comes to taste threshold. Light lagers without much bitterness will generally have 5 IBUs, while an India Pale Ale may have 100 IBUs or more.


In case you didn’t get enough on gluten, here’s a Wikipedia page on gluten-free diets.


Got it? Good!


~Gy