By Iron Chef Leftovers
There was a time where I really liked Pike’s beers. They were at the minimum solid and usually bordering on spectacular and were always a nice go-to when I was down at Pike Place Market and in the mood for a beer. They changed brewers and company focus a couple of years ago and the beers have not been the same since. I decided to give them another shot on a recent trip down to the market and they had one of my favorites of theirs – Monk’s Uncle on tap.
The gritty details from the Pike website:
OG (ORIGINAL GRAVITY): 1.075
ALCOHOL VOLUME: 9.00%
MALT VARIETIES: Organic Pale, Organic Pils, Wheat, Aromatic
HOP VARIETIES: Nugget, Saaz
IBU (BITTER UNIT): 38
COLOR: Straw
YEAST: Belgian ale
FLAVOR PROFILE: Big, full bodied & complex with a yeasty nose, fruity esters & malty dryness.
The beer pours golden yellow in color with heavy notes of grain and yeast and light notes of orange and coriander on the nose. The beers starts off bready with lots of alcohol notes before moving further into a Belgian character – notes of citrus and yeast occupy the middle of the beer and the beer finishes bready with spice and coriander couple with a significant alcohol burn at the back of the throat. Once you move past the alcohol, there is a relatively pleasant dry yeast character that is almost toast like. The beer, however seems out of balance because of the alcohol, making this one almost too hot to drink (it feels like the rushed it out before it had a chance to mellow). The alcohol diminishes some as the beer warms, but not enough to save it. A Belgian triple should be an exercise in warming, bready, yeasty goodness that is smooth and complex and this beer was none of that. I remember this being so much better than it was.
Pike Monk’s Uncle sings and out of tune 2 chants out of 5.
