{"id":8625,"date":"2020-12-27T20:13:31","date_gmt":"2020-12-28T02:13:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/?p=8625"},"modified":"2021-04-13T11:34:18","modified_gmt":"2021-04-13T17:34:18","slug":"12-beers-of-christmas-2020-10-pipeworks-rudolph-vs-unicorn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/golf\/lifestyle\/8625\/12-beers-of-christmas-2020-10-pipeworks-rudolph-vs-unicorn","title":{"rendered":"12 Beers of Christmas 2020 – 10: Pipeworks Rudolph vs. Unicorn"},"content":{"rendered":"\"pipe<\/a>\n

I\u2019m falling into a deep, dark pit, blinded, maybe heading for hell, but, no\u2014too pleasurable, and no sulfurous fumes\u2014more like peppermint. So I\u2019m in a barber chair, towel over my eyes, Taylor of Old Bond Street Peppermint Shave Cream being lathered onto my face.<\/p>\n

Wrong again. I\u2019m merely into my second deep, dark pint of Pipeworks Rudolph vs. Unicorn, a 10.5% ABV Imperial Stout infused with cacao nibs, vanilla, lactose and peppermint. Loaded, which may account for the $7.99 per can price tag.<\/p>\n

\"Pipe<\/a>\"pipe<\/a>This is the second year that Pipeworks Brewing of Chicago has rolled out the beer, though on last year\u2019s can they managed to spell \u201cRudolph\u201d as \u201cRudoplh.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not saying holders of that collector\u2019s item have something in their possession as valuable as the inverted Jenny (one of those 100 stamps printed upside down in 1918 went for almost $1.6 million two years ago). But you never know.<\/p>\n

Many of the Pipeworks beers might qualify as empheral art\u2014works that exist for only a specified period, not to be repeated. At least, that was the thought when Gerrit Lewis and Beejay Oslon first started thinking about opening their own brewery, that they would never brew the same beer twice.<\/p>\n

They decided to gain experience by volunteering to work for De Struise Brouwers in Oostvleteren, Belgium in 2009\u2014brewers of one of last year\u2019s Christmas beers, the Tsjeeses Reserva<\/a>. When they returned to the U.S. the pair raised funds via Kickstarter, and eventually began retails sales in 2012.<\/p>\n\"pipe<\/a>\n

They have remained restless, or relentless experimenters in both brew recipes and label art, but some wildly early successes did evolve into some repeating core beers: Ninja vs. Unicorn DIPA, Blood of the Unicorn, Infinite Citra, Lizard King. The two clearly have a thing about unicorns.<\/p>\n

This is the first Pipeworks beer I\u2019ve had the pleasure to try, but I\u2019ll be looking for more. Rudolph vs. Unicorn pours out like dirty motor oil, an opaque beer with a brimming brown head and a thick, viscous stew of aroma and flavor. The nose is not that revealing of the peppermint to come, but there are chocolate, coffee, licorice and vanilla notes along with some alcoholic vapors.<\/p>\n

The palate is sweet, almost too sweet, largely chocolate initially with a hint of roast, and the mouthfeel\u2014no doubt due to the lactose\u2014is downright creamy. But then the mint note starts lathering itself up, and if never overpowering it lingers in a tingling afterbite that carries the day.<\/p>\n

Look at the label and between the two jousting creatures the swirling design resolves into a perfect round peppermint. I don\u2019t know who prevails in the battle, Rudolph or the Unicorn, but imbibers should make out just fine.<\/p>\n

\"pipe<\/a>Name: Rudolph vs. Unicorn
\nBrewer: Pipeworks Brewing Company, Chicago, Illinois
\nStyle: Spiced Imperial Stout
\nABV: 10.5%
\nAvailability: Seasonal, to IL, WI, MO, MN, NY, CT, MA, NJ, CO, GA.
\nFor More Information: pbdubs.net<\/p>\n

[December 27, 2020]<\/em><\/p>\n

< 12 Beers of Christmas 9: Shipyard Prelude<\/a>
\n12 Beers of Christmas 11: Harpoon The Long Thaw<\/a> ><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m falling into a deep, dark pit, blinded, maybe heading for hell, but, no\u2014too pleasurable, and no sulfurous fumes\u2014more like… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":8627,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[939,627,18],"tags":[1029999,3427,1030000,594110,676069,975741,1002722,1029994,1029995,1029996,1029997,749,1029998,815],"class_list":["post-8625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beer-on-tap","category-tap-beer-of-the-week","category-lifestyle","tag-inverted-jenny","tag-chicago","tag-unicorns","tag-illinois","tag-christmas-beers","tag-12-days-of-christmas","tag-12-beers-of-christmas","tag-pipeworks-brewing-company","tag-rudolph-vs-unicorn","tag-spiced-imperial-stout","tag-gerrit-lewis","tag-christmas","tag-beejay-oslon","tag-imperial-stout"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/12\/pipe-glass.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8625"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8625\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8647,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8625\/revisions\/8647"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}