Pike IPA

Brewed by Pike Pub & Brewery
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Seattle, Washington USA

Draft at Pike in Seattle on 7/12/07. This presented as a clear orange under a substantial white head that left nice lace. Northwest hop aromas of citrus and pine jumped right out of the glass, quickly followed by some nice caramel aromas. Resinous, lightly carbonated, and medium bodied mouthfeel fit right in. The balance between a burnt sugar sweetness and grapefruit bitterness was quite welcome, not being overly assertive as far as the hops are concerned. Long dry finish brings it all home. A very nice IPA in a great venue for enjoying good beer.

This beer had nice notes of hops on the nose with citrus and spices. It then went into a nice hop and sweet flavor that was quite crisp with the bitterness in check.

12oz. Bottle (THANKS glkaiser): Medium sweet aroma. Smells of hops, citrus, grapefruit, pine and some malts. Poured amber in color with no head. Clear. Sparkling. Looks a little thin and oily. Flavor is lightly sweet and medium bitter. Tastes of hops, caramel malts, resin, and some citrus. Earthy. Light to medium body. Watery texture. Average carbonation. Short bitter finish. Overall, a fair IPA.

12 oz bottle - Rather cloudy light amber color with tiny off white head. Aroma has fair amount of sharp, acidic, slightly pungent hops that seems likely to be chinook, along with note of lemon and tarragon. Flavor is fairly hoppy, slightly citrusy, note of lemon and slightly spicey herbalness. Finish is moderately bitter.

Bottle. Poured copper with medium white head. Much lacing. Aroma of hops, fruit, pine and a slight soapiness. Very hoppy flavour, with slight malt. Lasting bitter finish

mild hops, powdered sugar, a light floral scent; clear amber color with thin & quick head. has a little weight on the tongue. strong, sharp hop flavor, high-pitched resin, keeps a rugged edge. caramel flavor almost there, as well as oak. bitter, static-y finish. doesn’t quite come together

Clear golden-copper body with a small white head. The basis of the beer is your usual in-your-face west-coast IPA. Balanced towards resinous half-fruity half-foresty hops. Very little malt character. Long finish with a strong bitterness. Lively carbonation. So far, good but typical. What set it apart however was the presence of brett!! Makes for a very odd couple with the rest of the beer and it somehow really worked. Chances are you won’t get the same results from your bottle. My drinking buddy seemed to think that it was a fortunate accident more than a planed result. I wish it wasn’t the case but he’s probably right. Accidents can go one way or the other. Sometimes an accident happens and a few months later you get this wonderful bretty IPA and sometimes an accident happens and a few months later you get my cousin Louis.

My Bottom Line:
This grapefruity glass of India Pale Ale proliferates into one marrying wooden hop resins to swirling brettanomyces. Although this surely wasn’t the intended result, mine was a marvelously infected example of how hops and wild yeast can playfully coexist (Bam Biere and Orval mostly come to mind).

Further Personal Perceptions:
-A veil of foam tops the hazy pale orange.
-Maltiness does not balance out the hops in this example, but the brett might have something to do with it.
-The hoppiness and leveled brettanomyces linger long after the sip, and their union is celebrated by the tastebuds.
-Mouthfeel is lean and well carbonated.
-I feel bad giving it high marks since it surely wasn’t intentionally "Orvalized", but it still was a highly pleasurable glass.

Bottle. No date. Thx Mike!