1001 Beers: Pike Brewing

1001 Beers: Pike IPA & Monk's Uncle Triple



I have started every other blog post about this place with this image, so I figured there was no reason to change things up now. I have been to this brewery a few more times than I ever thought, but apparently there is a ton of history behind both it, and the owners. I wish I would have planned things out better in order to try and talk to them. I mean, a Saturday is not the best day to go to Pike Place. Though, being from the Seattle Area, I already knew this.

Beer Number 69: Pike IPA

"We start with sea water from the 18th century, flown over from England," quips Pike Brewing Company's founder Charles Finkel. "We were one of the first to do an IPA on the West Coast. We wanted, as much as possible, to create an 18th-century India Pale Ale, but with local flavor as well."

I feel they pretty much accomplished their goal when it came to the ideals behind this IPA. It may have been wild 5-10 years ago, but it was fairly mellow and had an awesome balance despite the hop presence. Grassy with tropical fruits in the finish. Very easy drinking.



Beer Number 70: Monk's Uncle Triple

Pike Monk's Uncle Tripel was originally brewed in 2006 to celebrate the fact that the Finkels had re-aquired the Pike Brewing Company after an eight-year absence. A total of 500 limited-edition bottles were given to key accounts and friends of the brewery to say thank you for their support.

I have had a few Triples, some quite a bit better than others but thisone was not bad. Spicy, fruity, sweet and sticky. A high carbonation level and a bit of hops in the finish. They said it was 9% abv, but I couldn't really feel it until I stood up. Good thing I only had to walk around the packed market.



931 Bottles Of Beer To Go!

Cheers!

The Brave Experiment

As coined by @bjornidentity from Twitter,I recently opened a random ass growler that I had lying around my room from before I left for basic training. It doesn't really give you a good overview of the beer, but you can read about my journey of that day here.





Doesn't that picture look familiar? Anyway, wow... this beer was just bad after so long. The greatest thing about this was the head... check it out.





Other than that, shitty. Wow, I honestly can not remember how this beer tasted but wow... if it was anything similar to this, I cannot believe that I got myself a growler... wtf? The picture of this beer is so blurry because it is a direct representation of how it tasted. Very sour, smelled funky as hell. I expected it to be a lot bitter but I think when the hops died, it turned this beer to piss. I have no explanation.

Though, I went up to Seattle in order to get my niece a birthday present and I happened to come back past the brewery. I figured, you know, I want to know what I liked about this beer. There had to be a reason I wanted a growler... well, here it is.





It was actually pretty good fresh. It had a very herbal essence to it. A nice hop bite and sweet in the finish. Definitely a beer that I would love to have again and again. I guess my taste were not that bad but I still messed up by leaving it to waste. I have kept a few growlers for some time... ok, only like a week, but I will never again let this happen. Geez, unless... this becomes an experiment haha!

Cheers!

Pike Brewing Co

Pike Brewing Company is totally one of those places that you have to go to if you ever visit Seattle and are at Pike Place Market. Honestly the beer was just ok in my opinion. I really appreciated that they brewed a Scotch Ale.

We headed up here to meet up with an old friend since we finally made it back to Seattle and I was very hungry by the time we got there already. I figured if I was going to eat, why not do it at the brewery :D

I ordered the Fish and Chips, which seems like one of those things you have to do if you are eating on the water front. It was a great choice. I got my growler and then ran away. It was a totally over sized growler and that was awesome. They sold the standard one too but I did not want another twist top growler. I don't really like the style but whatever. This was one expensive piece of glass though.



After this we went and did a few other things, like took a look at The Famous Gum Wall. It was so gross and you could smell the bums in the areas. I wish I was chewing some gum to add to the wall but NOPE! I haven't chewed since High School. I was addicted to Ice Breakers back then. There is an antique shop not that far from Pike Place and I found some real gems there.

I found some Carboys with plugs and airlocks still intac, VHS tapes of Star Trek, and Tap Handles from numberous breweries. I found a Sierra Nevada one, Pyramid, and a New Belgium among others. Guess what I did...


TOOK IT HOME!!!!!!!!

I cannot wait to get my brewery set back up again and put this on my kegerator.