Seattle Part II: The Pyramid Alehouse

After wrapping up with drinks and a snack at The Pike Brewing Company in Seattle Part I, Eric and I took a nice little walk to SoDo where we found the Pyramid Alehouse right next to Safeco Field, home of the Seattle Mariners.  Stop number two on our Friday-Funday awaited us with more beer and delicious food.  We met up with Meech Crowley, a "brandvangelist" for Pyramid Brewing, who hung out with us at the bar as we talked about Seattle, Louisiana, travels, and, of course, beer.    

The Pyramid Alehouse in Seattle, WA

Once again we began our beverage intake with a sampler platter.  Pyramid's sampler came with five brews to choose from out of the majority of the beers they had on tap.  Picking the first five to try proved to be a bit of a challenge, but after I accomplished that task I promptly had some assorted liquid refreshments awaiting my taste buds.

A Beer Sampler Pyramid Style

I tried to get as much of a variety pack as I could when choosing my sampler dejour.  My selection included the Audacious Apricot Ale, the Haywire Hefeweizen, the Thunderhead IPA, the Alehouse Amber Ale, and the Grifter IPA.  The Audacious, Haywire, and Thunderhead are three of Pyramid's flagship, year-round brews.  I found the apricot ale to be a great fruit beer.  After the walk from the Pike Place Market, a refreshing, summertime beer really hit the spot.  The wheat malt and unfiltered appearance added to the beer's overall aroma and appearance.  The hefeweizen was very similar to the apricot ale minus the fruit influence.  A typical unfiltered wheat beer, the Haywire didn't blow me away.  The Thunderhead IPA is a lighter, golden IPA that is not over-hopped and is quite enjoyable.  While it does not deliver a "thunderous" Pacific Northwest hop overload to the tongue, it is quite nicely balanced with malt to make a pretty good light IPA.  The Amber didn't impress me much, but like almost all cold beer, it was certainly drinkable.  The Grifter IPA may have stolen the show though.  One of Pyramid's summer seasonals, the Grifter IPA delivered a much stronger bite than the Thunderhead.  Using two different malts and four different types of hops, this beer packed a punch of flavor just like what I was looking for in Seattle.  Bravo to the brewer!

Pyramid's Garlic Cheese Roll

Needing to put a little more food in our stomach's, we opted for our waiter's suggestion for an appetizer.  The garlic cheese roll is a well-portioned pizza roll filled with mozzarella cheese and rep pepper flakes, and brushed with roasted garlic olive oil.  Ours also came stuffed with pepperoni and served with marinara for dipping.  While the garlic cheese roll did nothing to bring out Seattle culture or flavor, it did pair nicely with my empty stomach and all that beer.  The dough tasted hot and fresh while the filling and sauce made me happy.  Hard to argue with that.

The Sausage Sampler at Pyramid

Needing to fill up with a little more pub-grub in between vessels of liquid courage, I opted to try Pyramid's sausage sampler.  The entrée came with three links of Uli's Famous Sausages, mashed potatoes, sauerkraut, grilled onions, Audacious Apricot Ale BBQ Sauce and honey beer mustard. The sausage came in three different styles which I found quite appealing.  There was a traditional English banger, a German bratwurst, and a Cajun chicken sausage.  All of the sausages were quite appetizing and the sauces were delicious.  But the main thing was that I had some subsistence in my stomach because I was really there to drink.

The sampler obviously could not satisfy my thirst alone, so I drank several more pints.  And then a few more... I think.  The bar filled up as the pre-game Mariners crowd started to arrive.  We had a couple of visitors stop and chat with us for a while about the oil spill and other things, but the main thing Eric and I did was keep drinking.  My favorites included the Fling Pale Ale and the Dark IPA, though there were several more that added to the flavor profile of Pyramid.  They did seem to be missing a dark beer though.  There was no porter or stout option, which would have been nice to try.  Still, the cold beer satisfied every bone in my body during the Seattle heat wave.  Thanks to Meech for chatting with us about the brewery, and I'll make sure to go back next time I'm in Seattle!

Now on to Seattle Part III for more debauchery and amazing cuisine!

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