Pike Kilt Lifter Scotch Ale

Brewed by Pike Pub & Brewery
Style: Scotch Ale
Seattle, Washington USA

in this epoch of dime-a-dozen blandly titillating brand names enlisted to drive beer and wine sales, it’s not surprising to see another playground level guffaw at the kilt. after a couple hundred years, you’d think the american imagination would come up with some other nugget of scottish culture as apparently fascinating as the kilt, but no, here’s another "kilt lifter" (there are currently 10 other "kilt lifters" listed on ratebeer) and hardy har har, isn’t it amazing what clever stuff you can come up with using only six brain cells? lame name aside, the beer glows like hot bronze on an anvil: fiery yellows and oranges that chew at the borders of being brown, but don’t quite have the requisite darkness. the amount of head on a given specimen varied over the course of my six pack; this final one exploded with a torrent like a crack in a submarine wall, causing me to cover the eruption with my mouth which both loosened molars and introduced beer to remote and previously undiscovered regions of my sinuses. the addition of a verrrrrrrrry cautious amount of peat smoked malt to this brew adds indeed a wafer of interest to an otherwise fairly nondiscript ale in the broad categories of brown-- or red-- or amber-- or whatever. again, i’ve tried this on a half dozen occasions and find it variable: i’ve had some sour, some oxidated, some quite good. in general, tin in the aroma blends with the chaffy malts to suggest a can of golden rolling tobacco along with an open package of starchy rolling papers. rather sweet, with dates and toffee tones among the malts and yeast, with bitterness in a citrus profile and one that is larger than what is typical for the style. a bit too varied for me to rate accurately, i’ll have to give it a fairly neutral rating.

Deep dark color. Malty and sweet aroma. Flavor is of roasted barley, chocolate malt and light hops in the finish.

(Bottle) Pours a lightly cloudy amber with a small off-white head. Aroma of toaste malt, grass, toffee, and malt. Flavor of caramel malt, hops, and peat moss.

Clear sparkling amber, thin fizzy off white head. Nose held notes of soft smoked caramel malt, toffee, and cherry, with touches of leather. Flavor was lightly smoked malt and caramel up front with a light hop bitterness late. Overall, decent balance ensues. Light to medium bodied, light carbonation, semi- bittersweet finish . It’s aiiight...

at pikes brewery, seattle. probably one of the better pikes i had that day. orange brown pour with a tan plump head. slim nose of of white sweets vanilla and toffee. rock candy with predominant malt back bone. slight bittering hops evident at the backend. not as big as i had hoped.

Bottle. Amber brown beer with no real head. Malty flavor with some roastiness and enough hops to balance. Malty aroma. Well balanced and easy to drink.

From the bottle.

Pours a light orange with an aroma that seems limited when the beer is cold but which develops a pleasing complexity as it warms. The mouth is rich without being heavy, and lively in its carbonation.

The taste is warm malt, with a creme brule sweetness and hints of seaweed, smoke, oak, and cognac. The alcohol, while noticable, adds to the richness. Rather than forsaking the hops, the brewers have balanced the rich malt with enough hops to provide a spicy complement to the other favors to round out the finish with a pleasing bitter note.

Thi s is a first-rate beer, and probably my favorite of Pike’s offerings.

"I’ve seen one too many kilts lifted after saying something like that!" Haha, okay, that’s funny, and stay cute, server girl. No really, you’re cute. I’d love to datecha, pigtails. Oh yeah, the beer’s brilliant too.