The Pike Brewery

The Pike Brewery  17Feb2017

A quick ride on the D-Line into downtown Seattle had me within a couple of blocks of The Pike Brewery in the Pike Place Market. 

The iconic Pike Place Market

Since 1978 Charles and Rose Ann Finkel have imported fine beers from England, Belgium, and Germany as Merchant du Vin with a goal to educate beer drinkers to the possibilities beyond industrial pils. 

Walking south on 1st Avenue

They started The Pike brewery in 1989 and it is one of the older breweries in Seattle. The Pike is a brew pub serving food, wine, cider, and their ale along with guest ales. The atmosphere captures the old of the market with the new of current small scale brewing. Funky and up to date.

You can get there from here

As you enter from First Avenue you see an open area that is the upper part of the Pike space. Stairs carry you down to the host station and behind that the dining area and the bar. 

Stairs with lots of chotskies

The bar and some of the seating area are visible from the stairs

I sat at the bar. When you sit down, a server presents you with a beverage list and a menu. Flights of tasters are offered in a limited way – six tastes of the year-round beer offerings or six tastes of the seasonal ales and one guest. I picked the latter, and the guest was Reuben’s Roasted Rye.

Front row (l to r) Pike Space Needle, Pike No. 4, and Pike Old Bawdy - 2012; back row (l to r) Pike Hopulus Erectus, Pike Octopus Ink, and Reuben's Roasted Rye

Tasting Notes:

Pike Space Needle (6.5% 58 IBU): Clear gold. Piney hop aroma and malt. Medium dry body, bitter with low hop aroma. Esters. Bitter sweet finish.

Pike No. 4 – Session IPA (4.2% 26 IBU): Pale gold with a slight haze. Fruity hop aroma. Sweet, ester, citrus hops with late bitterness. Medium dry bitter finish.

Pike Old Bawdy – 2012 (9.9% 90 IBU): Clear red-brown. Low aroma (too cold?). Rich malt and hop aroma upon warming. Sweet, dates, esters (banana and stone fruit), followed by hop bitterness. Bitter finish.

Pike Hopulus Erectus (11% 90 IBU): A triple IPA. Fruity pine hop aroma. Red, slightly hazy. Sweet, citrus, bitter. Bitter sweet finish. A well brewed beer when so many things can go wrong.

Pike Octopus Ink (8.3% 80 IBU): Black with red highlights and clear. Hops and roast malt aroma. Bitterness and roast malt contend for front flavor. Bitter sweet finish.

Reuben’s Roasted Rye (7.0% 80 IBU): Clear reddish brown. Rye aroma? Roasted grain aroma for sure. Astringent rye, dry, and bitter flavors. Piney citrus hops. Bitter finish.

I have enjoyed many a fine pint at the Pike and attended a number of beer education functions as well. Pike has brewed well-made beers in the English style for over two decades. The brewery has been an incubator for brewers, several of whom have achieved celebrity status. Charles and Rose Ann Finkel have done great service to the beer culture in Seattle and deserve great praise. I wish them many more years of robust business, because I want to be able to drink there many times in the future.

I walked out without my hat, went back and got it, and then caught the D-Line back home.