Pike Naughty Nellies Ale

Brewed by Pike Pub & Brewery
Style: Golden Ale/Blond Ale
Seattle, Washington USA

Strong fruity esters with citrus hops in the nose. Hazy yellowish blonde body is topped by a shy white head that recedes rapidly to a partial cover. Clean fresh and fruity flavour with plenty of citrus, some pineapple and some peach/apricot. Fair bitterness keeps the sweetness from becoming cloying. Floral and toasty notes in the aftertaste. Medium light body is quite dry with moderate carbonation. Reasonable complexity for a light summer sipper although I wouldn’t mind just a touch more carbonation. Tulip glass. Just above fridge temperature. Bottle (Brewery Creek, Jun-08).

Orangish straw, hazy, with a bubbly, white cover. Spicy citrus aroma with watermelon and a bit spicy, melanoidin malt. American hops come out first in the flavour, but are not overwhelming and definitely not grassy or salty. Next a well balancing caramel malt surfaces. They call this a session beer and I’d agree that it goes down very easy, but there’s no lack of flavour. Low bitterness at the very end. Peach and clove notes. Light to medium body with low carbonation and an tiny bite of astringency in the lingering hop bitterness. Excellent but not a whole lot to it.

orange-ish co lor, with a little white head. slightly hoppy aroma, mildly sweet and fruity. flavor is the same. pretty unimpressive.

12 oz bottle. Pours hazy golden yellow with dense, attractive white head. The aroma is somewhat floral, with some assertive yeasty tones of fruits and cotton candy. The flavor is mild tangerine, honey, and soft florality. Some hops come and go. The finish is sweet and slightly doughy, but it gives to some hoppy bitterness in the aftertaste. Not bad for what it is.

Bottle. A nice session beer just as the description claims. A West Coast style Pale Ale, meaning tyhat it would qualify as IPA on the East Coast. It is nicely balanced with aromas of grapfruit and malts. It is well-hopped and this gives the beer enough complexity.

Forgive me a bit of a narrative: Here in Poky there’s this awesome little shop called the Grapevine, where beer can be purchased by the bottle, or in mix n match 6 packs for a 5% discount. The last sixer I assembled went into a recycled Naughty Nell’s six pack holder, and since then I’ve been itching to taste this ale. Let’s crack her open, shall we? Sticking my nose at the neck of the bottle and breathing deeply, I find some nice floral dry hopping, but also a hit of skunkyness that I hope is not to follow. She pours into my glass a very pale golden, with moderate but quickly disappeating head. Now for the first taste: better than I expected. A little bit of the skunky, but far less than the aroma would lead one to believe. A sweet malt character that is quickly balanced by hops that are fruity/floral, but not particularly bitter. Lighter on the carbonation than the pour revieled, goes down very smooth. Hey, this stuff is pretty good! My style is much more bitter, but the bottle is right: "a crisp, refreshing session beer". This beer could hold it’s own against most macro-micro domestics I’ve tasted. Might be a good transition beer for the BMC crowd. Overall a winner; a good beer to bring to a party.

Dark apricot in colour (crappy description!) and cloudy with a good ammount of small grainy sediment (not sure if that or the cloudiness should be there considering it wasn’t in the other bottle that was opened). Poured a small ammount of white cap but produced decent ropy lacing. Aroma comes across very fruity with some grapefruit, oranges and an unknown pink candy. Good fresh hops. Taste is nothing new or different. Mild hops, sour tartness, mild malts and some heated spice that sneaks in near the end. Mouthfeel is a bit too light but solid bitterness, good carbonation and a tart smacking dry aftertaste help make it decent enough. Seemed a bit too gassy, but nothing that would make you explode. Decent beer that would be really good while sitting in the sun while avoiding yardwork.

[1094-20080216] Tap @ Pike brewpub (Seattle, WA). Sweet yeasty bread aroma has a hint of fruit. Clear, orange body with a long-lasting creamy white head. Sweet grassy hops flavour has hints of toasted yeast. Grainy medium body. Average.