Pike Entire Wood Aged Stout 2009

Ratebeer 3.77 95th precentile
Beer Advocate A-

I picked this up from the Pike Place Brewery. Wow this is a fun place, highly recommended. The food was great, atmosphere was fun and kids were welcome. I was there for their 20th anniversary party, purely by coincidence.

Taste +5

I was fearful because the nose was very light, but you could pick up burnt wood, coffee, bitter chocolate and vanilla. Pouring this beer was hard because it produced a huge fluffy head that never entirely went away. I should have used a shaker glass instead. The taste was just like the nose but only much richer. It is not often that you get a hop bitterness the is hard to distinguish from a bitter sweet chocolate ending. This brew was thick, rich and chewy. As it warmed up, it only got sweeter and smoother. It was not bitter at all.

Aftertaste +2

A very long, dry roasted coffee and bitter chocolate was a welcome ending.

Alcohol Content +1 9.5%

It was no where to be seen, either in the nose or the flavours.

Value +1

Bonus points given for beautiful packaging, the wax sealing was a nice touch. This would be interesting to cellar if you could wait that long

Ingame Enhancement +1

It is not often that you get a versus game of L4D going. Nothing is better than vomiting all over your friends, even if it is only virtual.

Overall 10/10

A perfect score for a prefect strong, bitter-sweet stout.

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