Chicagoist's "Beer of the Week:" Pipeworks "End of Days" Milk Stout

By Paul Schneider in Food on Mar 16, 2012 8:40PM

As part of your pre-apocalypse preparations, do yourself a favor and grab a few bombers of End of Days, the second offering from Chicago's brand new Pipeworks Brewing.

End of Days is a milk stout brewed with cacao nibs, cinnamon sticks, vanilla beans, and ancho chilies. The beer pours pitch black with a tanned leather head. Don't let all the spices fool you—they're abundant in the aroma, especially the cinnamon, but their effect on the beer's taste is subtle compared to the roasted malt and distinctive chocolate flavor. The lactose addition smooths out the mouthfeel and allows the ancho chilies to come forward in the finish, adding flavor and a slight tingling sensation without much heat.

All the ingredients play nice together, but consider holding off on drinking it for now. It's the perfect beer to lay down in your cellar, where you'll probably be hiding anyway, waiting for the zombies to find you. Good luck surviving a year down there, when we think this beer will be tasting its best as the flavors mature and harmonize. Stash away the makings for mole chicken enchiladas for the perfect last-meal pairing.

This is exciting, inventive stuff from a brewery that built itself from grassroots contributions from its supporters. Their first release, Ninja vs. Unicorn, an intensely piney double IPA is already sold out, and End of Days likely won't be around for long. This will be a recurring theme for all of the small-batch breweries in planning.

You can find End of Days at West Lakeview Liquors, Maria's Packaged Goods, Binny's Chicago-proper locations, and other better bottle shops around town. Keep tabs on what, when, and where Pipeworks will be making releases on their Facebook page.