Pike XXXXX Stout

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

On tap at the brewery. Black mud. Brown head. Dark roast aroma. Thick black coffee stout. Very black. Very good.

Roasted aroma, which itself is not very impressive. The flavor however, is complex and exceptional. There is sweet malt and roasted grain. Considerable smoke. Fairly thick on the palate and undercarbonated. Quite good.

Bottle thanks to kyzr. Pours with a large, rocky brown head covering a black body. Good lacing. Aroma of rosted malts, honey, and chocolate. Taste is of coffee. Creamy mouthfeel. Good stout.

Draft. Blackish beer with a thin cocoa-colored head. Malty/roasty aroma. Malty/roasty flavor with some coffee and a bit of residual sweetness. Some bitterness present at end. Full bodied and very smooth.

2001-2002 Bottle: Nearly back with a medium and slightly foamy dark beige head. Thin lacing. Aroma of roasted coffee and a hint of malt. A little richer than most Dry Stouts, I like what they are going for with a blend of Dry and Imperial Stout in the body. Coffee flavor really comes through in the flavor, along with some dark chocolate and roasted malt. The finish is dry and has a lightly hopped character. This might not be worth all the X's but it is still a good Stout.

In short: A superior chocolaty stout with a wide range of supporting flavours. Tasty and refreshing.
How: Bottle 22oz, age unknown but consumed with a week after receiving it from after4ever. Thanks a lot Tom.
The look: Black body with a short-lived tan head
In long: Upfront I found a lot of roastiness and quite a bit of chocolate. There’s a creamy taste/texture, almost lactic, reminding me of chocolate ice cream. Black liquorice joins in with some dark fruits and a very light roasted coffee beans taste. Although the taste has very little coffee, the after-taste had a lot of sweetened black-coffee and chocolate cake. Medium-strong bitterness. I felt a little warming alcohol presence which is surprising for a below 7% stout. Although very tasty, almost aggressive, there’s something about this beer that makes it refreshing even if these are not the usual “refreshing” flavours. I liked it a lot. The annoying thing is that I couldn’t enter my rating from work as usual because I got a “Porn Block” from the firewall because of the XXX in the name. Not only do the network admins see me on ratebeer all day long, now they think I’m a drunk and a pervert. That’s just great.

650ml bottle airborne from Seattle - big thanks to Stefan and Elisabeth for providing this great stout for a beer session in Tromsø. Pitch black body under a brownish, lacing-head. Smell of roasted coffee beans overlaid by moderately sweet malts. Powerful and well balanced taste of dark chocolate, anise, burnt coffee and hops – all added a vanilla touch. Bittersweet ending. Medium to full bodied. IBU 65 [Tromsø, 29.01.2009].

2004 black with a tall tan head. Lots of roasty mocha aroma. Taste starts with a sweet chocolate character, finishing with a big coffee finish, very rich and roasty with a nice even bitterness. This is a very smooth stout with a good thickness to it.