"Pub Review: Having a Beer at the Pike"

With all the brewpubs in Seattle to explore it was a hard choice to pick my second brewpub to put through the torturous test of a Seattle Beer Blog Review.  

Being a new Seattlite (Seattlan? Seattlanite? San Diagan?) I decided to go to The Pike Brewing Company as I figured any brewpub named after Pike's Place must be worth its weight in...... Salmon.

The first thing I really enjoyed about The Pike was the fact that it had to be in the 'classiest' of neighborhoods in Seattle.  The neon sign pointing the way into the brewery was right in line with the multiple Gentleman's clubs sitting within ogling distance of the Pub.  Once in the pub all fears of being recruited to work the corner that night swiftly floated away as the Pike itself felt like a good ole' American brewpub.

With two bars and posters and wall hangings paying homage to American brewing history from Shlitz to Budweiser it seemed like the Pike was a place that respected the past as well as Beer, a good start in my book.

After sitting down and having a few tasty pints, I quickly forgot that I was simply a block away from Pike's Place Market and a one eyed dancer named Gezabelle.  The Pike is a very friendly pub and it felt more like a local hangout in the midwest than a brewery in downtown Seattle.  It seemed everyone was loving the Pike from the two out of towner conventioneers next to me raving about the Hefeweizen to the mother and daughter catching up over a pint and a salad. I was quickly brought back to Seattle though, as I noticed the crazy man with a missing front tooth and sporting an outfit of 'H.O.B.O.' brand denim chatting up the bartender (while drinking their very good IPA, so maybe he was not as crazy as he looked) which all in all just added to the character of this great downtown pub.

The Beer was quite good and while they didn't have many offerings, 6-8 depending on the season, two Beers out-shined the rest and really made an impression.

The first was the Pike Naughty Nellie, an organic golden ale.  As far as organic Beers go this one is at the top of my list, with none of the grassy or earthy flavors that I usually associate with organic beer (or dirty hippies for that matter).  This Beer was a great suprise as it is labeled as a light drinking golden ale but really tastes like an easy drinking American Pale Ale.  If I had to choose one Beer at Pike to drink for the rest of my life, Nellie would be my choice.

The second outstanding offering from the Pike was Pike Tandem, a double ale that can only be described as an A-Rod Brown.  The Beer was Pike's juiced up MVP, with deep molasses notes and a sweet candy sugar taste that was well balanced by bittering hops and coriander.  While it was heavy enough to make you get dizzy after a few yet it was still light enough to make you order a second, which made this Beer a dangerous one.  If you are a fan of Browns this is a must try in my book.

Beer Recommendations

Ken Griffey Jr.- 

Pike Naughty Nellie, after having a couple you will eventually have to return for some more.

An angry Leprechaun- 

Pike XXXXX, an Extra Stout that will make anyone with a hint of Irish decent wear Green on St. Patrick's day.

Your Fancy Aunt Nancy-

Pike Tandem, anyone with such sophisticated tastes should drink well, and this Brown is as good as they come.

Gezabelle the one eyed stripper-

Pike Kilt Lifter, no explanation needed.

Overall the Pike was a good choice and makes some fine Beer.  If you are a Beer lover and visiting from out of town or a local who loves to check out Pike's Place on a sunny day I would highly recommend stopping by and enjoying a good pint at the Pike.  Just make sure you double check that you are walking into the place with the right neon lit sign.

Cheers!

Elysian Brewing: Tangletown

My Colorado roots has led me to choose Elysian Brewing's Tangletown Pub as the first victim of my beer adventures in Seattle.

Elysian has recently signed up with Colorado's own New Belgium Brewing (the maker of Fat Tire) in a loose partnership to share brewing facilities.  The belief is that New Belgium can use Elysian's smaller brewing facility to experiment with new flavors and Elysian can use New Belgium's large brewing facility to produce more beer.  Basically everyone wins, especially us, I mean, come on, greater availability of Elysian across the region and new scrump-a-delicous Beers from New Belgium?  Thank the Beer Gods!

So I figured with this new brewing partnership between my old home and my new I should go check out what Elysian has going on.

One of the things that has always attracted me to Elysian (besides the Beer of course) is their ancient Greece theme and as a nerdy history major I imagined Elysian's Tangletown to resemble something out of Troy with manly men drinking out of gigantic jugs and chasing...how do you say this...'promiscuous young ladies' around the bar.

Well unfortunately for me the place looked like...well...a nice Beer-pub.  

Luckily the food and the Beer more than made up for the lack of sultry ladies.

They had everything from your standard pale ale to belgian sours to  irish stouts, pretty impressive.  Their immortal IPA and Perseus Porter were the definite stand outs of the group.  The IPA was very hoppy at first yet the hops disappeared quickly enough to make you crave another sip before you even heard the glass hit the polished steel bar top.  The Porter was also very impressive with a roasted barley (think coffee) taste that made me feel like I actually was sucked back into ancient Greece and pounding liters of the stuff with Odysseus.

With over 10 rotating beers and 2 cask condition ales on tap the Beer was definitely flowing at Tangletown and I can see why this is one of the most popular spots in the Greenlake neighborhood.

The food was also quite impressive and I would highly recommend their Dragontooth pulled pork BBQ sandwich.   Marinated in their Dragontooth stout, (hence the name) it was quite a sandwich and gave me that 'Me, Man, Me Have Meat' satisfied feeling.

The Seattle ale house culture definitely came through the pub as well, with everyone from Microsoft techies on laptops, to families, to hip urbanites enjoying a frosty brew.  Beer culture in Seattle differs from many other places in the simple fact that people here treat Beer-pubs like the gang treated the coffee shop on Friends, as place to talk and hang out.  While in Colorado people did talk to one another, most people go to Beer-pubs for the Beer and not the social aspect.  It's kind of nice actually, now I can tell my friends and family that I am not going to the local pub to drink but instead to 'socialize'.  Making my doings a little easier on dear ole Mum.

So here is what you have been waiting for, my Do's and Don'ts at Tangletown:

Do: Drink a new style of great Beer.

Don't: Drink their Belgian Sours, they are in no way sour which kinda defeats the purpose.

Do: Order food.

Don't: Run around in a toga with a bronze age sword screaming I am SPARTACUS!!! while drinking out of a pitcher and spilling half of it on your shirt.  After all it is an ancient Greece theme and not ancient Rome.  Dummy.

And now the Beer recommendations:

For Brad Pitt in Troy- 

Perseus Porter.  It will even put some hair on Brad's chest.

For your buddy's artsy girlfriend who just talks about Salvador Dali all day- 

Pandemonium Belgian Sour.  Yeah I said it wasn't any good but who's kidding she isn't going to know the difference.

For a Beer God-

 Immortal IPA.  The Beer is immortal by definition so it must be made for a Beer God.

For the Microsoft techie- 

The Wise ESB.  Well balanced and easier to operate then Windows Vista.

Well go forth ye and enjoy a good Elysian Beer.

Cheers!

note:

SCRUMP-A-DELICOUS (adj.) 1. Something that is better than scrumptious and delicious, combined.  2. Something that is equivalent to a real life Never-ending Gob-stopper. Usage- The ice cream was scrump-a-delicious.  

Yeah. I made up a new word.