The Beer Retard

Sneak peek at the Double IPA label

On Monday, Pike Brewing head brewer Drew Cluley and the four members of the Seattle Beer Collective invited me to watch them brew a Double IPA that Pike will unveil on May 7th as the inaugural beer of Seattle Beer Week.

I could geek out and tell you what malts Cluley used or when he added the hops to the boil kettle. But, honestly, that stuff bores the hell out of me. Okay, I will tell you that he used five different hops: Amarillo, Centennial, Cascade, Columbus and Chinook. Happy now?

Seattle Beer Collective (l-r: Nat Pellman, Ian Roberts, Matt Younts, Mike Baker)

Anyway, it was a great way to spend a Monday morning. I saw what it’s like brewing on a big system, and I even got to dump some ingredients into the brewing kettle. Between steps, we enjoyed drinking and talking beer.

Pike Head Brewer Drew Cluley thinking about beer

Not to get all introspective, but it was a perfect example of what Seattle Beer Week is all about: having a good time celebrating local beer. I have a feeling the Pike Double IPA is going to be damn tasty and I’m glad I was there when it was created.

Seattle Beer Collective adding hops to the boil kettle

This entry was posted on April 2, 2009 at 3:50 am and is filed under Uncategorized . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.