Blended In
Pipeworks Brewing Co.

Blended InBlended In
Beer Geek Stats | Print Shelf Talker
From:
Pipeworks Brewing Co.
 
Illinois, United States
Style:
Imperial Porter
Ranked #133
ABV:
9.5%
Score:
90
Ranked #12,220
Avg:
4.09 | pDev: 3.91%
Ratings:
22 | reviews: 12
Status:
Active
Rated:
Mar 26, 2024
Added:
Feb 28, 2019
Wants:
  0
Gots:
  0
Imperial porter blended with barrel aged beer. Sometimes, while walking through the barrel room here, we pour a little of this and a little of that into our glass and it ends up being something that we absolutely have to package. We brewed a fresh batch of Imperial Porter and blended in barrel aged Imperial Stout. The final blend was 75% fresh Imperial Porter, 12.5% Barrel Aged Imperial Porter, and 12.5% Barrel Aged Imperial Stout.

We really love it. Hope you enjoy it too.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Photo of stevoj
Reviewed by stevoj from Idaho

3.88/5  rDev -5.1%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
Bomber from my brother. Dark muddy Brown body small bubbles all over the top. Roasty, Woody, nutty aroma. Light chocolate. Taste picks up on the chocolate and makes it the center of attention. Sweet and creamy with a light better Edge. Full and thick.
Mar 26, 2024
Photo of AdmiralOzone
Reviewed by AdmiralOzone from Minnesota

4.08/5  rDev -0.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Pours deep dark brown with a thin mocha cap, minimal lacing. Aroma is dark roasted malt, chocolate, coffee, and vanilla. Flavor follows the nose, a touch sweet. Feel is medium bodied with low carbonation. Overall, a fun beer.
Feb 27, 2023
 
Rated: 4.15 by BeerForMuscle from New Jersey

Dec 07, 2022
 
Rated: 4.34 by Bartleby91 from Wisconsin

Oct 02, 2022
 
Rated: 3.79 by TMoney2591 from Illinois

Dec 07, 2021
 
Rated: 4.18 by Knapp85 from Pennsylvania

Jul 04, 2020
Photo of jzeilinger
Reviewed by jzeilinger from Pennsylvania

4.06/5  rDev -0.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
A - Dark brown pour with toffee colored lacing.

S - Nice chocolate roast with roasted cocoa with light cherry on the nose.

T - Chocolate roast and chocolate char from start to finish with perfect balance.

M - Thick and viscous with some stickiness on the lips.

O - A well balanced Imperial Porter.
Jul 04, 2020
Photo of zeff80
Reviewed by zeff80 from Missouri

4.16/5  rDev +1.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
22oz bottle. Poured out an opaque, jet-black color with a small, light brown head of foam. It smelled of roasted malt, chocolate, toffee and some vanilla notes. Sweet toffee and chocolate with some coffee notes, bourbon and vanilla.
May 24, 2020
Photo of stortore
Reviewed by stortore from Illinois

4.18/5  rDev +2.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
22 ounce bottle into a tulip snifter. Had 4/25/19.

Pours near black and opaque, with a one inch foamy head with very good retention and a decent amount of foamy lacing. Aromas of roasted malt, char, vanilla, oak, chocolate, toffee, cocoa, some malted milk balls, some molasses, light smoke. The flavor is more narrow- roasted malt, oak, chocolate, cocoa, vanilla, some caramel, a light bitterness throughout. Smooth,somewhat creamy, a very good full body, well carbonated.

Very interesting blend, smells great and is very tasty. Don’t pick up any barrel aging other than oak, but don’t know what barrel aging meant here, either. In any event, this was very good and enjoyable.
Mar 19, 2020
Photo of JohnnyHopps
Reviewed by JohnnyHopps from Indiana

4/5  rDev -2.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
I had to find out why a barrel aged Pipeworks is still sitting on the shelf more than a year later. Is it the lack of copious amount of adjuncts?

Appearance - The beer poured a murky black color, with a dark mocha colored head.

Smell - The beer had a great caramelly bourbon nose to lead off the experience. It was sweeter than I expected.

Taste - Although the beer was a touchdown, bourbon and dark chocolate begin the profile. It is not overly sweet from adjuncts, but has a nice sense of balance.

Mouthfeel - For a beer league Porter, this was remarkably smooth. It almost felt like a milk stout.

Overall - I realize this is not as sexy as many other Pipeworks releases, but particularly for the price it is a nice beer.
Mar 14, 2020
 
Rated: 4.24 by DruC4 from Michigan

Jan 16, 2020
Photo of Bowers-Brew
Rated by Bowers-Brew from Illinois

4.04/5  rDev -1.2%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
prost!
Dec 24, 2019
Photo of Beginner2
Reviewed by Beginner2 from Illinois

4.01/5  rDev -2%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
So powerful... I'm going to stretch this out for at least two nights before reviewing.
This is a good idea to blend aged stout and porter with a young porter. And the execution is also good.

I'm Looking at an undistinguished porter, particularly on the second night. Smells are full and complex; chocolate, dark fruits, but also something that could be acidic. Tastes are largely the same but something in here Tastes of an English Old Ale... which, I suppose, is the young/old blending. The Mouth is full and the slight acidity is palate-cleansing.

However, Blended In and the other ales I've Had from Pipeworks seem Expensive. (Their prices have caused me, a cheapskate, to be a cautious consumer. Their business model as worked of specializing in imperials, making wildly artsy labels, charging lots more and not brewing too many copies. I'm sure other brewers have tried to mimic their success. Pipeworks distributes their beers by themselves in Chicago and Milwaukee and seem to have distributors in several other large states. Starting only in 2012, all power to Pipeworks; they have made it work... and without a taproom.
Nov 19, 2019
Photo of philbe311
Reviewed by philbe311 from Pennsylvania

3.97/5  rDev -2.9%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
Simple but fun bottle and label... Thing crisp dark brown head quickly fizzes away... The color is an oily black... Some slight carbonation streaks seen towards the top of the glass... The nose is simple and restrained, that of a mild porter... No signs of the barrel aging in terms of aroma... A straight forward, and very good porter for the most part... Just the slightest of slight notes of barrel aging on the palate... Very smooth and silky mouthfeel for such a heavy beer... A touch of chalkiness on the finish... Overall a very nice beer, but if I didn't anything about this beer I would be shocked to find out that it had such a high ABV and was partially barrel aged... I
Sep 29, 2019
Photo of beerloserLI
Reviewed by beerloserLI from New York

3.78/5  rDev -7.6%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
A pitch black color on the pour with a fast head of off-white bubbles. Chocolate malt and sweetness on the nose. A big rush of those chocolate malts upfront on the first few sips. Smooth on the flow and finish. Very clean and rather adjunct free. Good notes of cocoa, brown sugar, and char. The barrel aspect is very subtle if not lost all together. Slight tones of oak, and a slight sour taste at best. A rather light/moderate mouth feel with no real booze burn to speak of. It drinks dry and very much to the imperial porter style but that's about it.

Overall, I'm pretty perplexed by this beer. If you want to sell me an imperial porter then I'm in. This being billed as a blend with imperial barrel notes is a bit of a stretch. This sounded a lot better than it actually was.
Jul 10, 2019
Photo of darktronica
Reviewed by darktronica from Indiana

4.38/5  rDev +7.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Pours dark brown from the bomber, modest fizzing that never really amounts to anything much. Cocoa powder and dark roasted malts on the nose, and then wow, subtlety and complexity on the palate that are right up my alley. Floral hops, dark chocolate, a hint of iodine like a Baltic porter, gentle barrel oak character, and a touch of sweetness from the mid-palate to the finish. Very delicate, and rewarding of patience as it warms.
Jul 09, 2019
Photo of REVZEB
Reviewed by REVZEB from Illinois

4.07/5  rDev -0.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4
Brownish black body with tan foam that dissipates slowly. The smell has plenty of barrel: the wood and booze are constant, with molasses, rye, tobacco, smoke and barley blended in, but no aroma is very powerful. Taste is super woody, followed by smoke, roasted malt, then booze, tobacco, and barley. Good complexity, but all from same flavor palate of dark and robust. Feel has the porter lightness without being thin and has plenty of various textures.
Jun 20, 2019
 
Rated: 3.92 by dexterk1 from Illinois

Jun 06, 2019
 
Rated: 4.2 by MeIquiades from Illinois

Apr 25, 2019
 
Rated: 4.24 by dannycohen62 from Illinois

Apr 20, 2019