Pike Old Bawdy Vertical Tasting
On Sunday afternoon, I headed down to Pike Brewing for their Old Bawdy Barley Wine vertical tasting. It was a pretty cool event featuring a taster tray of six vintages of the beer:, ’94, ’96, ’97, ’06, ’07 and ’08. Fal Allen (a former Pike brewer now at Archipelago Brewery in Singapore) made the three batches from the ‘90s, while the current Pike Head Brewer Drew Cluley brewed the three most recent versions.
Both Allen and Cluley were on hand, and each gave a speech about his creations. Allen spoke about the collaborative effort of all the Pike brewers that went into the making of his beers, while Cluley talked about reviving the barleywine style at Pike after an almost ten-year absence, and about his approach to brewing the style. Owner Charles Finkel also spoke, mentioning the former Pike brewers in attendance, a who’s who of the local beer scene: Dick Cantwell (Elysian), Bill Jenkins (Big Time), Janelle Pritchard (Snoqualmie) and Kevin Forhan (RAM-Northgate).
I went through my tasting tray pretty slowly, while the guy sitting next to me pounded each four-ounce sample down, then sat for a minute or two and threw down the next, as if he were having a drinking contest all by himself. Either he was racing the clock or trying to get shitfaced as quickly as possible.
My two favorite vintages were the ’96 and ’06, as many people agreed (although the ’97 had a lot of fans too). Fal Allen’s Bawdy from the ’90s was more of an English style barleywine, meaning it tilted toward sweeter and more malty flavors. The ’96 stood out because of how complex it was–sweet, smoky (from peated malt), and maybe a little hoppy and boozy. There was a lot going on there flavor-wise.
Cluley’s barleywines leaned more toward the American version of the style, with hops having a much bigger presence. The ’06 was the hoppiest of the bunch, and my friend Nat compared it to Avery’s Hog Heaven. No wonder I liked the ’06 so much. I’m not a barleywine fanatic, but Hog Heaven’s intense hoppiness makes it one of the few I do return to occasionally.
Overall, it was a fun event and was a good warm-up for my trip to SF Beer Week, where I’ll be taking on the craziness of Toronado’s Barleywine Fest.
February 10, 2009 at 5:43 am
Barley wines are real hit and miss for me, but they do pack a mean punch. What happened to the dude who was pounding the barley wines? Did he end up in the fetal position in the bathroom?
February 10, 2009 at 8:42 pm
“…while the guy sitting next to me pounded each four-ounce sample down, then sat for a minute or two and threw down the next, as if he were having a drinking contest all by himself. Either he was racing the clock or trying to get shitfaced as quickly as possible.”
I didn’t know Matt went with you.
February 10, 2009 at 11:22 pm
Brad – It wasn’t Matt. He didn’t puke or leave his credit card…or stalk Dick Cantwell. Least as far as I know.
PML – He disappeared when I was talking to someone so I never got to see how shitty he got.