Over The Line
Pipeworks Brewing Company

 

 

Poured from bomber into a tulip glass. It pours a burnt orange color with a light ecru-colored head and thin sheen of creamy lacing. On the nose there is noticeable bourbon, caramel, cherry, and plum. It is very fragrant. The taste is bourbon-forward with caramel, raisin, brown sugar, and plum. It is very fruity and very boozy. The feel is rather thin for such a big stout with moderate carbonation. Despite the thinness, you can really feel the 13% ABV. Overall, this is quite a beer! It has big flavor but is rather on the sweet side.

 

 

 

 

Thanks to HIGHPA for this 22 oz. bottle, with another Dumb Lebowski joke. Evidently I haven’t done nearly enough drugs in my life.

Just like it’s unbarrelled forerunner, this looks like no stout, but like a dirty red. Spare (get it?) head collapses into nothingness before I can get back to sit down. Smells like an adjunct lovers dream. Tons of lactose along with chocolate, vanilla &, I swear, White Russian. I used to have a bit of a fondness for them as a youngster. Wonderful.

Over the Line is intense – intense alcohol, ingredients, & overall impression. Either time or the barrel has done this beer good, because the impression of the base beer as a 7-9-10 split (a mess) has subsided into something aggressively lovely. Boozy punch up front, hot with a rolling shot of bourbon before the beer geek grocery store kicks in. Tastes like a White Russian too – big lactose bite, vanilla, touch of chocolate, & a combo that sings like rum in a cheap bowling alley glass (plastic, that is). No coffee, which is not surprising since the bottle is nearing its first birthday. Sweet, rich, intoxicating. Right up my alley.

Age or barrel? One of these two things, or a combo pickup, has bumped a routine base beer up multiple notches. An uncanny echo of a mixed drink, completely unique, & an excellent outcome.

 

 

 

 

650ml bottle, Summer 2017 stamped on the label, poured into a Pipeworks snifter glass.

The beer pours a deep burgundy color, cola brown and garnet hues with a fizzy finger of bone colored head, no retention nor lace. The aroma is okay, very strong and sweet, lots of chocolate, strong vanilla, caramel and brown sugar really leap out with some light stone fruits and alcohol burn. The flavors are very rich and decadent, tons of caramel, brown sugar, marshmallow, vanilla, light bourbon, toffee and lingering grains with warm alcohol. The mouthfeel is good, medium body that is a bit slick but coats well with a bit of a weak finish that has a lingering burn.

Verdict: A good stout from Pipeworks, crazy sweet and super over the top with the dessert flavors. For a dessert style sipping beer, this is nice, but it's a total display of saccharine excesses.

Bottled September 2017; drank 2/6/18 @ the Yarchives.

See-through red/brown appearance.

A rough pour yielded a small, noisy eggshell head; no lace.

Burnt brown sugar, cream & black coffee notes in the nose.

Thick, sticky mouthfeel.

Cream & burnt caramel flavors up front; root beer, bourbon & faint oak on the finish.

Unique, certainly, but not very good. Cloying & harsh.

Deep dark amber pour, little to no head present. Smell is oak and sweet, dark fruits with just tiny hints of coffee, vanilla and maybe chocolate. Taste is sweet but is mostly oak and dark fruits with hints of chocolate, bourbon and vanilla, trying really hard to find to find the coffee but just can't get there. Feel is fairly smooth, maybe a tad light on the carbonation but not off-putting for a barrel aged stout. Overall this is a good offering from Pipeworks. Others have said that it's a bit too sweet, but the base beer is very sweet as well so this is not a surprise to those who've had Hey Careful Man before.

Normally a HUGE fan of BA Pipeworks but this is just a boozy mess for me. Too sweet. Maybe if I were a fan if regular white russians to start with, I'd like this more. Shared a bottle with a friend and neither of us could finish our pours and poured the remaining down the drain.

 

A: Deep amber pour that turns into a fine cognac color and a minimal head that reduces quickly into a carb well that just keeps on giving.
S: Bourbon up front followed by coffee, vanilla, and slight cacao.
T: Bourbon punch, oak, spice, vanilla, coffee, chocolate.
MF: A lighter stout for sure, not as thick. The bourbon mixes well with the carb and spices up the palate. Defiantly dives into the oak in which this stout was aged in
O: A fine specimen. Well rounded BA White Russian Imperial Stout. Tips hat to "Hey Careful Man, There's a Beverage Here," in a spicey bourbon fashion. Aged since brewing in Summer'17
S/O to the ChicagoBeerGuy for providing this.

 

 

 

 

 

From bottle into snifter.

A clear amber color with no foam upon pour. This does not look like a stout in any sense and it barely smells like one. This is more of a strong ale than anything else.

Overly sweet and boozy. Not my style and would not get again.

Rich amber in color, extremely clear. One finger of white foam recedes quickly to a ring around the edge of the glass and leaves little/no lacing. The aroma is waves of bourbon, vanilla, and oak. Chocolate and coffee is faint, along with a slight nuttiness. The taste really brings the beer together. Beautiful blend of bourbon, vanilla, coffee, and oak. The base beer is cloyingly sweet for me, but the barrel treatment and age really do this beer wonders. Medium body, low-moderate carbonation, and a slight alcohol heat on the finish. A beer I was a bit skeptical of, but pleased to have been proven wrong. A nice addition to Pipeworks BA series!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pours a tawny color with minimal clarity. Nose is straight chocolate and bourbon. Cacao comes through strong with vanilla to support it. Nothing too boozy or sweet on the nose. I found the base beer to be a bit cloying, the barrel seems to cut right through that. Taste is heavy on the cacao up front with some of that sugary sweetness coming through towards the end. The barrel again does a nice job of taming down the sweetness. The body is thick and a bit sticky with low carbonation. Overall, a very nice beer.