Pike XXXXX Stout

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

The Dan Journal #26. Tasted 5/30/06. 12oz bottle vintage 1989! Thanks to Joe at Corral for this absolute gem! Pitch and thick. Toffee and sugary aromas. Notes of caramel grapes port wine and anise. DAMN! This is a complex brew! Full bodied and oily. Flavors of peat and vanilla. port and prunes. Flums and dark fruits. Leather. Damn! This was amazing. This is on the top five all time best!

Bottle: Pours an immensely dark brown with a large brown head. Thick lacing. Nose is strong of coffee, heavy roast, and chocolate. Hints of bitters. Taste rich of heavy roast, cocoa, coffee, and finishes dry with a lingering coffee/bitters kick. Good, but a little drier than I prefer in a stout takes a bit off the overall rating. Still very good.

This is a pretty interesting ale. Kind of a cross between guinness and an Imperial stout. Hops are very prominent too. Dare I say, this is a session stout. Something I could probably drink everyday. Very very good.

It’s pitch black and the head is huge, creamy and nougat colored. The aroma has notes of roasted malt, chocolate and preserved fruits/berries. The flavour is smooth, nice and harmonic - and it has a delightful "mean" streak of heavy roastiness. I find notes of dark roasted coffee, dark chocolate, preserved fruits/berries, that give a vinous touch, and it has a nice bitterness all the way through. It’s a really, really nice beer - thank you so much Tom/After4ever for this one!!! 2300

Very dark brown color with a full tight bubbled dark tan head. Head lasts and lasts, with a thick web of lacing. Dark caramel and a herbal hops twist. Lightly roasted grains in the background. Grassy to wintergreen hop scents. Somewhat light in the nose, a mild stout to strong brown aroma. Smooth and with a mild silkiness. A touch biting in the finish distracts slightly. Light dark chocolate in the start. Light grapefruit and lemon zest come in as the sweetness in brought into check with a touch of acidity that leads to a moderate dark chocolate bitterness. Linger is long and day with a chocolate nibby bar and mild coffee bitterness. A stout’s stout. It’s all in there somewhere. Nothing amiss, nothing extravagant; just a solid stout.

Bottle. Head is initially average sized, frothy, brown, mostly lasting. Body is opaque black (flashlight tested). Aroma is moderately to heavily malty (roasted/burnt grain, chocolate/cocoa, coffee), lightly to moderately hoppy (resin, grapefruit). Flavor is moderately sweet, lightly to moderately acidic, lightly to moderately bitter. Finish is lightly sweet, lightly to moderately acidic, moderately bitter. Medium body, velvety/creamy texture, lively carbonation. I just can’t get wild about the aroma (too heavily roasted and too much aromatic hop presence), but it’s pleasant enough. Very nice in all other aspects though...luscious mouthfeel, solid black with a nice head, well balanced (just a little too abrasive/tart for my liking...it’s definitely American styled). Not a 4+ for me, but not too far from it.

Bottled. Beer is opaque, dark brown wih a small, light brown, frothy, diminishing, mostly lasting head. Aroma is very roasty. Malty with moderate-to-heavy notes of roasted grain, chocolate, coffee and molasses; Hoppy with a moderate note of resin; Yeasty with a trace-to-light note of dusty basement. Miscellaneous light woody note, trace of dried currents/raisin. The flavor is heavily sweet, moderately bitter with a long, lightly bittersweet, trace acidic finish. Nice palate: The body is full, the texture is velvety and the carbonation is lively. Seems more like an Imperial Stout than a standard Stout. Nice richness.

Blacker than sin, with a lovely thick cafe au lait coloured head. Aroma of malt, chocolate and smoke. Malty flavour with notes of chocolate, coffee and hops. Nice dry finish that still lasted. It had the complexity of imperial stout without the alcohol befuddling power. This may be the best stout I have ever tasted in my life. It certaily is my first 5.