Congratulations to Great Lakes Brewing Company for surviving it in this tough industry for 25 years. They released this beer a couple of weeks ago, and it's been flying off the shelves since. It's a West Coast-style double IPA. We decided to pick up some beer for the massive snowstorm we're expecting, and this was at Kroger. Hell yeah. It's priced the same as Lake Erie Monster, my favorite brew from Great Lakes, at $9.99 a four-pack. Stomach flu be damned... funny, I can't eat much of anything, but I can keep down a couple of beers. All for you, dear readers. Ah, the sacrifices that this job requires.
This pours a clear orange color with very little off-white head that dissipates quickly, which is expected at 9.4% ABV. The nose is tropical fruits -- some pineapple, passion fruit, and papaya. I don't really pick up any malt notes in the nose. The taste, though... wow. It's totally different from Lake Erie Monster, and yet rather tasty. It has more orange on the front, fading to some sweetness and there is some significant alcohol bite on the back, with some passion fruit coming through there, as well. There is some sticky sweetness to the mouthfeel. It is a very complex IPA, and is utterly fantastic. Well done, Great Lakes.
4.9/5 caps
-Jennie
Great Lakes puts out good brews, but some seem a little over rated to me, which pushes me away from them (i.e. Great Lakes Christmas. Not as good as other winter brews). I now have a lap-Thatchy (beautiful 16-year-old tortoiseshell cat) to assist as my wordsmith for this review. Meow meow meow. (purr purr) Meow. (purr) Meow Meow, meow (purr) Meow (purr) MEOW (purr).
I think that translates (roughly) to:
The pour is beautiful, crisp and clear orange with beautiful white head. I can't describe the smell as perfect as Jennie can, the best I can pull out, as morose and unexciting as this sounds, is tropical fruit. Woo hoo. There's that perfect wordsmithery happening. Tropical Fruit. Yeah, that's the best description you're going to get from me. Maybe you'd get a better description if I wasn't so steamed right now at Windows. My Hotmail account that I've had for 10 years has suddenly changed, without warning, to Outlook. Did I ask for the change, no. Did anyone ask for the change, no. My items are still there, yes, but the layout blows more than my whore ex.
So, to slowly guide myself back on track, this beer. Tropical Fucking Fruit.
This isn't unpleasant to me, no, in fact, I actually like this. I'm just sitting in my bitter, seething loathsome pity chair right now.
The taste is fantastic. The hop heavy characteristics start out as orange/tangerine/tropical up front, decaying into rotating grapefruit and earthy tones toward the back. Slightly caramel in the front, but dissipates quickly, leading to total hop takeover.This is a lighter mouthfeel than what I expected for a 9.4% brew. It's almost....slick on the front, leading to a nice sticky finish that leaves you wanting more. This isn't too carbonated, just the right amount to let you know that it's there and add some refreshing bubbly-ness to this dark clusterfuck of Windows.
Well worth the $10. Especially on this storm of the year night (estimated 4-6" of snow, the most Central Ohio has had at once since the Blizzard of 2008. The Blizzard of '08, I was staggering home from a dive bar that I hold dear to my heart).
4.95/5 caps. Only because I feel it lacks something that I can't place my finger one. Not much, just a little something.
-Nathan-
No comments:
Post a Comment