Pike Old Bawdy Barley Wine

Brewed by Pike Pub & Brewery
Style: Barley Wine
Seattle, Washington USA

2006 bottle. Wonderful vinuous sweet aroma, vanilla and oak, raisins, toffee and alcohol, butterscotch. Vapors and chocolate with light fruity hops. Quite and intense nose. Coppery-ruby-orange clear with light chunks, and thin off-white lacing head. Heavy watery full bodies, with light carbonation. Starts sweet with rich and malty sugary-ness, vanilla and chocolate and oak. Brown sugar, toffee, and alcohol warming. Mild to medium bitter finish with good sweetness. Bitter after with light sweet character. Nice barley wine, aged nicely. Want more.

#1800, bottle. Warm wet barley grain aroma. Orange body with thin head. Had a fruity presence along with some moderate sweet chewy malted barley grain. Cigar aftertaste left on plate. Smooth enjoyable brew. Ms. Claus got me this one for me for a Christmas Present.

12oz bottle, 2006 vintage, courtesy of argo0. Thanks, Aaron! Pours a hazy, honey-orange color; off-white, tiny head. Dense, chewy hop and candy sugar aroma. Medium-to-full, viscous mouthfeel: dense sugary malts and a warming alcohol presence; good citrus hop character balancing things out; just not complex or intricate enough to justify the alcohol. Lengthy, candy sugar and warming alcohol finish.

2008 release; Sampled December 2008
A solid pour into my 25cl tulip glass produces almost two-fingers of frothy, tan colored foam. The beer is reddish amber color that shows a lightly hazed, orange / red tinged copper color when held up to the light and shows bubbles from the light carbonation struggling to rise up through this viscous brew. The aroma is sticky with residual malt sweetness, ample caramelized malt and some resinous, citrus focused hop character. Ample biscuit-like malt, whole grain cracker notes, touches of toffee, concentrated sweet tea and caramelized malt sugars play the leading role while hop notes of tangelo, touches of lychee, some pine needle notes and grapefruit take a secondary, supporting, but definitely quite noticeable role.

This beer is definitely thick and chewy; it has a viscous heft to it that allows it to stick to the palate initially, but a biting, ample, almost abrasive bitterness balances this out by scrubbing the palate clean of the sticky malt. The bitterness really lingers on the tongue for quite some time after a sip. The bitterness actually has a bit of green, hop astringency to it that makes it all that much more gripping. The crystal malt character contributes quite a bit to the flavor, but does not overwhelm or get too cloying; it does accentuate some citrus flavors from the hops though (grapefruit and orange zest). I like the clean, sweet, yet not cloying, lightly toasty, biscuit leaning malt character that this beer has up front.

Clearly this beer was meant to be aged, I like it fresh and aggressive though. It is quite smooth at the front of each sip with the sweet malt and citrus hop notes, but then the aggressive, scathing hop bitterness comes riding in and obliterates almost everything in its path. There is not a whole lot of complexity to this beer right now, but I have a feeling that it will pick up more of this as it mellows and ages for a couple years; I am not sure I will like it better that way though. There is only one way to find out.

Draft: Gorgeous sparkling amber color. Alcohol nose. Malt alcohol taste. Rough around the edges, needs to mellow.

Taster – Beveridge Place Barleywine Bacchanal – Seattle, WA
Aroma: Strong aroma with caramel, and hops in the nose.
Appearance: Amber in color, clear with a thin head.
Flavor: A good amount of malts and hops this was a very nice barley wine.
Palate: Sweet with a dry finish.
Overall: A very nice brew this was one of the better beers for the night.

2006 bottle, consumed April 2009. Pours an ultra-cloudy, rusty orange- down color. A small head of frothy, bubbly, off white foam leaves tattered ribbon lacing and sugary spotting on the glass. The nose shows a sweet and buttery toffee and caramel malt profile, with hints of hazelnut, pecan, and golden raisin. Bitter earth and candied orange peel hops balance things out a bit. Flavors are sweet with toffee, apple, raisin, yet sufficiently countered by staunch floral, earthy, citrus hops. Big and lightly syrupy on the tongue, with moderate carbonation, there’s plenty of substance, but it’s fairly alcoholic on the finish. Pretty solid barleywine.

Thanks to Joebrew for sharing this 2006 vintage. Hazy orange beer with faint white head and plenty of sediment floating about. Sweet rich caramel malt nose and some very faint citrus. Definite citrus hop in the body what does a good job of balancing the malty sweetness. Bitter finish. Nice to have another barley wine with something to differentiate it from the pack.