Pike Brewing Company

I might as well openly confess that I have a bawdy sense of humor. This is actually an asset for a writer, but it does occasionally create difficulties. For instance yesterday, my friend, on discovering that I had not as yet tried any of the Seattle microbrewery The Pike Brewing Company's brews suggested I should start with Pike's Kilt Lifter. Now, in certain forms of Scots vernacular, an attractive female is referred to as a "kilt lifter. This is, of course, a phrase with enormous bawdy potential. It is, moreover, a particularly appropriate name for Pike Brewing Company since the brewer began operations in the old LaSalle Hotel, which was, in its day, a particularly notorious (albeit luxurious) brothel. Thus Pike Brewing has tended to favor names like "Kilt Lifter," and "Naughty Nellie," in eponymous reference to the former madam of the brothel. I have as yet been unable to determine any specific philological or lexical antecedents for the phrase, but I can at least point out that there are at least three commercial North American microbrews using the phrase on their labels; Moylan's Brewery in northern California, Four Peaks Brewery in Tempe, Arizona, and The Pike Brewing Company in Seattle.

Pike's Kilt Lifter is a Scotch style ale; it's very recognizably red in color, and the peaty, smoky taste Scotch ales are known for is apparent without being overpowering. That peaty quality is the result of the carapalis peated malt (Kilt Lifter also uses pale, crystal, and Munich malts). It's a bit sweeter than some Scotch style ales, and slightly malty. The hops (Magnum, and East Kent goldings) are slightly noticeable in the background, but not at all unpleasantly, and it's not more than a faint impression. Kilt Lifter is often compared in terms of general taste impressions to single malts, and there's truth to that, though the alcohol level (6.5%) and smooth taste make it clear it's an ale. This is one that really calls out for food to be really appreciated.

I liked Pike's Kilt Lifter enough that I went back and picked up a 22 ounce bottle of Pike's Tandem. Pike's describes' their Tandem as "a N. W. interpretation of a double ale." A "double ale" is a dark high gravity beer named for the two Xs that Belgium's Trappist monk brewers painted on kegs of beer. Traditionally such ales were also "double" in that the brewing process involved, as William Yworth wrote in 1692 "the first two worts, used in the place of liquor [water], to mash again on fresh malt," meaning that the fermented malt solution, the wort, is used again, for an additional ferment with fresh malt, thus typically producing a higher alcohol beer.

Like its Belgian Trappist cousins, Tandem is a rich brown in color, with an alcohol content of 7.5% by volume, in keeping with the higher alcohol content traditionally associated with "dubbel" ales. The color is a bit reminiscent of a stout, but Tandem is, while rich and mellow, not at all like a stout in texture or flavor. You do notice the hops (Northern brewer, and Mount Hood, both from Washington). While Tandem would be lovely with food—I enjoyed it with a plate of locally grown pears, apples, artisan cheese, and a chunk of baguette—it's a wonderful sipping beer.

The Pike Brewing Company founders, and once-again owners, Rose Ann and Charlie Finkel have had an enormous influence on the Washington—and the nation's—micro brewery industry. They opened the Pike Brewing Company in 1989, determined to put Washington beer on the international map, and they have succeeded. In addition, they've helped encourage the slow food movement, and an emphasis on using locally produced artisan food where ever possible. They very much encouraged the idea that good beer and good food go together; a look at the menu of their brew pub makes that very clear. They feature local seafood, local cheeses, and bread, and locally grown organic produce. While this is now customary for northwest brew pubs, in the late eighties it was a revolutionary concept.

I'm now determined to look for the rest of Pike's beers, and to vist the brewery and pub in Seattle. I note that Pike Brewing has recently expanded its line of beers to include two organic beers. I'm particularly intrigued by two of the brewery's other options; Auld Acquaintance Hoppy Holiday Ale, a seasonal release seasoned with orange peel, coriander, cinnamon, and nutmeg. It's a traditional European "holiday" or Winter ale, but I've never tried anything similar. I'm even more intrigued by Old Bawdy, a Barley wine, one that Pike Brewing Company has been making off and on since 1991. The hops used change from year to year, depending on what the brewmaster likes best. Like all Barley wines, Old Bawdy is higher in alcohol (10% by volume). It's made with local Washington hops from the Yakima valley, and biscuit malts. I'm pretty certain it's a unique experience. When the Finkels bought their brewery back in 1997, they discovered a hidden cache of previous years' Old Bawdy—and they noted that time had matured and mellowed the earlier vintages. In celebration of twenty years of brewing, last Sunday, Pike's held a vertical tasting of the 1994, 1996, 1997, 2006, 2007 and 2008 Old Bawdy Barley Wines.