seattle

i had a lovely weekend in seattle
a weekend is never long enough
so there wasn’t a whole lot of beer tourism on my part
but i got in as much as i could!

saturday:
pike brewing:
i was looking for breakfast at 11:00
but they just have a lunch and dinner menu
so i made do with a pretzel and xxxxx stout mustard, with a cup of their crab chowder
which were quite delightful – yay oyster crackers!
(deschutes’ pretzel is better though…)

i started with the seasonal space needle ipa
pike beat out the competition to win the rights to brew the beer for the space needle’s 50th anniversary
dry-hopped to heck, it features centennial, cascade, columbus, chinook and summit

shockingly enough for seattle the sun disappeared and it started to torentially downpour
what else to do but stay and have a few more beers??

next up, the imperial ipa
which at 8% is served in a 12oz pour

the space needle ipa is supposed to be golden, but i didn’t really see a colour difference between it and the imperial ipa
both are hop monsters, the space needle coming out a little more floral and the imperial a little more citrusy

i then went backwards and had the regular ipa
i would love to tell you more about it
but frankly i was feeling my beers by that point and had kinda wrecked my palate
so let’s just go with i was a happy camper!

meanwhile, back at the ranch, jack was drinking a gluten-free beer
poor sucker…
it was a tripel, so i just had me a little sip
you know what?  it wasn’t half bad – for a belgian!

pike brewing is not somewhere i would suggest going if you’re prone to headaches
there is just so much going on there
every surface is covered in beer-related paraphenalia
and it can get quite loud when its busy
(not to mention annoying children kicking their table legs…)

the decor all keeps to their red and black colour theme
so it is pleasing to the eye rather than a mish-mash
and gives you lots to look at/think about

i spent a lovely couple of hours at pike brewing
until the sun came back out and i moved on to other activities
which involved red hook ipa, boundary bay ipa and ninkasi total domination

green flash imperial ipa

by gum, its yellow!
that was my first thought as i vigourously poured green flash‘s imperial ipa into my glass
yellow, like its label

okay, so maybe its a very light caramel colour
definite hoppy nose
good head and lovely cascading action
incredibly bitter hoppy taste that just won’t leave my mouth
not that i’m complaining, i am a fan of the bitter hoppiness
9.4%
101 ibus

i’m pairing it with my latest pizza concoction, broccoli, basil and goat cheese
the bitter cuts right on through the goatiness
bitter goat, a lovely pairing!

i’m definitely enjoying this beer
but i think i might like the west coast ipa better…

the bottle says:  “san diego-style ipa, at it has come to be known by many, is super-hoppy, high gravity, yet highly quaffable ale.  our imperial ipa is created in this new tradition with intense hop flavors and aromas from a unique blend of summit and nugget hops.  it’s all about the hops!”

quaffable yes, session beer?  i don’t think so
never thought i’d say it, but this one might just be too bitter for me to have another
(keep in mind though, that another means another great huge bottle, this one is not 541mls!)

hoping that when they release the

Palate Wrecker Double I.P.A.

it’ll be available in canadia