Emerald Grouper
Pipeworks Brewing Co.

 

 

i'm so afraid of triple hopped extra juicy 'this is just v8 splash with booze' ipas i almost didn't buy this one, but i saw pipeworks and honey and trusted it would be at least decent, having no idea it was this hyped up on here. being disconnected from the internet is fun these days. sure am glad it ended up in my hands and safely into my gut!
dumped into one of those fancy IPA glasses like a barbarian. it's a nice golden amber color, a smidge hazy but not impossible to see some movement through, with a tightly packed 3 finger white head. super clingy lacing, with a fairly decent ring of foam and a nice amount of cap on top of it all.
nose is full of pineapple, grapefruit peel, mango, lemon zest, the smell of fresh dank in another room, and a warm honeyed biscuit. hints of grass, light caramel in the sense it wasn't fully caramelized, and some stone fruit join the mix. pretty wonderful, reminds me of when i first had hopslam way back when without so much pine.
man this thing is dangerously tasty to drink. there's an immediate grapefruit and pine mix that you'd expect from something like this, but there's so many nice citrus notes and that lovely sweetness mixing in to really play on the palette. bits of mango/pineapple/apricot all come in, a nice light breadiness, honeycomb, caramel and fresh lemon zest bounce around like crazy and take this right up there.
it's medium bodied, nicely carbonated and only shows its 9 point whatever percent from time to time to remind you that it is an imperial and not the 6.5% beer it drinks like. the lingering hop notes are really damn good.
i must have missed 4hands talking about this one when it dropped so i'm glad i got to experience it. excellent stuff!

A tick from my want list, Purchased at Binny’s in Skokie in a mixed 4 pack for $15.99

Brewers notes: IIPA with Honey and late addition Citra, Mosaic, Simcoe, and Cryo Amarillo hops . Originally a collaboration with 4 Hands called Square Grouper, now brewed by Pipeworks and called Emerald Grouper.

Our buddies at Four Hands in St. Louis rang us up a couple of months ago with a proposition. They wanted to brew an Imperial IPA and they just happened to have a bunch of Simcoe, Citra, Galaxy and Mosaic hops. We though that sounded like a pretty good idea so they came on up here to Chicago and we did the damn thing. We also added 60 lbs of honey at the end of the boil. The beer that then flowed out of the tanks and into your bottles is a dank symphony of tropical fruit, citrus, mango, pine, fresh cut grass and stone fruit. This was only a single batch and may not make another appearance for a long time. Drink early Drink often.

Chilled 16 ounce canned poured into a 16 ounce plastic cup, Clear copper liquid occasional streams of carbonation two finger, soft top foam good lacings, Reduces to a thick layer

ARoma is sweet tropical, honey

Taste is malts, tropical, fruits, honey

Gentle hop bite on the finish sit Squirrley on the middle and back of the tongue

Good beer

 

16oz can. Poured out a clear, golden orange color with a small, khaki-colored head of foam. It left sticky patches of lace on the glass. It smelled of toasted caramel, pineapple, grapefruit and zippy orange. It tasted of tropical fruit, toasted caramel and a sharp, piney bitterness.

 

 

 

Unlocking the mystery of how to avoid a cease and diciest letter because of beer naming rights, Pipeworks and Four Hands brewers find a solution: "color + animal" should do the trick.

Pale gold, glowing translucently through a reasonable haze, Emerald Grouper builds a frothy white cap before teasing the nose with a flood of Simcoe, Citra, Galaxy and Mosaic hops and their tropical, citrus, dank and herbal glory. As a mild mannered sweetness of honey, caramel and toasted grains apply a granola effect on the early palate, the early palate shows a malty-sweet tone.

But those hops are not to be denied. As the malts slowly dissolve on the middle palate, the flavors of grapefruit, orange, passionfruit, mango, apricot and lime all begin to shine in a fruit cocktail medley. With a light linger of malts having the fruity hop impressions seeming plump and ripe, the juicy session soon trends herbal, bitter and spicy. With a bitter finish, the session is piney, resinous, hemp-like and grassy.

Full bodied and finishing malty-dry, the ale is a throwback Imperial IPA balance with a few modern tricks and adaptations. Its a great beer that lingers with an afterglow of hemp, peppery warmth and fruit peels.

Clear and copper in color. The head was so bright I had to wear shades. Nice lacing. Nose is citrusy. Taste was citrus and apricot and maybe piney as well. Backend was slightly bitter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This one pours a slightly lighter than honey golden with a fluffy white head. It smells like sweet citrus with hints of tropical fruit and pine underneath it. The taste has a nice citrus forward start that smooths out into a mango pineapple flavor with a satisfying piney finish. The finish is much less bitter than I typically like, but it's very well done. It's very sweet without being overbearing. It's surprisingly refreshing for a double IPA and is a very easy one to drink. This one is something that would satisfy your serious craft beer palate, but also be something drinkable to someone just getting into the sport.