Beer Review: Great Lakes Eliot Ness

Serving Type: Bottle

ABV: 6.2 percent

Appearance: Eliot Ness poured a lovely-looking deep amber color. With its dark brown, golden and medium ruby red hues I stared with a dropped jaw for at least two or three minutes. Then a foamy white head protruded almost to the rim of the glass, but it fell just a tad short. This opened the way for some thick and sticky lacing inside said glass.

Smell: The aroma from this beer was appropriately complex. Overall, this brew had a darker smell to it. There was a toasty profile. The sweet caramel had a slightly roasty feel to it. I also got a deluge of bread and crackers which I love. There was also a mild hop nose. The sweet notes only intensified as the brew warmed up closer to room temperature.

Taste: The caramel was the initial taste I noticed as is usually the case with a malty brew. Some roasty malt followed before some crackery bread flavors mixed well with that. The hop bitterness was a bit more pungent than what I noticed in the smell, but it just worked well with the dark and bready flavors in this. The finish was punctuated with the some bitter kick. Some carbonation texture was also there which I always love to have in a beer.

Overall Rating:

One of the first times I visited Burgatory in Aspinwall I tried the caramel pretzel milkshake with the burger I ordered. It had that sweet and salty taste that a lot of us love. Good Vienna Lagers pull that effect off. Eliot Ness was one of the brews that fall under that category. An excellent experience in just about every aspect of enjoying a beer. Medium dark and roasty. Lovely color and texture. A small hint of sweetness. Nice bitter kick to compliment everything. It's a laundry list of goodness.

Beer Review: Great Lakes Dortmunder Gold

Serving Type: Bottle

ABV: 5.8 percent

Appearance: If i would sit here and type out that Dortmunder Gold was any shade or chroma other than what's described in the brew's title we should just stop the review right in its tracks. As a matter of fact, this beer had a beautiful golden color that was comprised of some oranges, yellows and light browns. It also had the appearance of some haze which I felt gave the beer some strength.  The head was a bright white and looked thick and fluffy. It seemed fueled by some impressively large carbonation bubbles and ended up giving way to tons of fluffy lace inside the glass.

Smell: Very clean and crisp aroma, overall. It was malty and toasty. I picked up a little bit of caramel even. The hops were surprisingly present, too. They smelled quite floral.

Taste: Here's where we bring everything home. Some light caramel tempted my tongue up front. That was complimented by the toasty and bread-like malty tones that followed. The finish was very floral and a tad bitter, but just right. There was an aftertaste of that sweet caramel that started everything off. The carbonation bubbles bustled and created an awesome texture that was surprisingly light despite the strength I seemed to notice in the appearance.

Overall Rating: 

This is one of my all-time favorites. One that gives Anchor Steam a run for its money! Looks strong, but plays light. Sweet, but toasty. Still retains some crispness. Very clean. Not too bitter. The perfect balance of everything. Sometimes I wonder why more breweries don't make more Dortmunder.

Beer Review: Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald Porter

Serving Type: Bottle

ABV: 5.8 percent

Appearance: Edmund Fitzgerald Porter pours a deep coal black and has some appetizing brown highlights scattered elsewhere throughout the body. The crown of the brew gives off an almost brown head, which had thickness of approximately quarter of an inch. It provided a creamy cap atop the beer for pretty much the entire drink.

Smell: A robust aroma of coffee beans was the most dominant thing I noticed upon initial waft. The chocolate came next. The thing with the chocolate was the fact that it didn't smell too sugary. It was somewhat bitter, which complimented the coffee very well.

Taste: This beer tastes really warm and roasty. That can be contributed to the coffee content. As I mentioned previously about the bitterness of the chocolate complimenting the coffee notes, the same can be said for the taste. Another thing I'd like to note is how the slight hop bitterness also successfully plays into the role of complimenting the strong coffee. Everything works quite well in this beer.

Overall Rating: 

One of the best porters I've ever had. Before I began to explore what each beer style had to offer (years ago) I tried this beer once and it tasted awful to me. My palette wasn't quite ready to appreciate the bold and dark flavors this brew provides. I've finally come back to it and couldn't be happier. You also have to listen to Gordon Lightfoot's song as you drink this!

Beer Review: Great Lakes Burning River Pale Ale

Serving Type: Draft

ABV: Six percent

Appearance: Great Lakes Burning River pours somewhere between a light amber and a dark copper. There is a remarkable amount of bubbles trickling towards the fluffy, white head which provides its gazer with a thickness of a half-inch. The head has somewhat weak retention as it doesn't leave much lacing on the inside of the glass.

Smell: The first thing I noticed was a slight over abundance of hops. I know that American styles of pale ales tend to be hoppier than their British counterparts, but it sometimes reminds me too much of an IPA. I also picked up some citrus notes (yet another characteristic of an IPA). The maltiness that I expected was very weak in the aroma.

Taste: As I expect from a pale ale, this beer was decently malty and crisp in the taste. The problem I had was that the hops and the citrus seemed to creep back onto my tongue now and again and provided a harshness I don't get that exuberant over. Yet again I was reminded of an IPA. I prefer to pick up a few sweet, but subtle hints in a pale ale.

Overall Rating: 

I recognize that there are many people out there that have fallen in love with this beer, but I think it's just that I look for something different in pale ales. Maybe it's that I prefer more of a British style? It's even possible that pale ales in America tend to be more experimental. I'd just have to do a little more research on that topic. This beer was alright. It's just another episode of going into a beer with such high expectations.

Beer Review: Great Lakes Oktoberfest

Serving Type: Bottle

ABV: 6.5 percent

Appearance: Great Lakes Oktoberfest is very unlike your typical Oktoberfest in terms of color. It pours a vivid orange with some darker copper highlights. The head is an off-white, almost an ivory in color that leaves plenty of lacing within the glass. The texture of the beer is evident with the fancy little carbonation bubbles that dance up the glass towards the head of the brew.

Smell: I got a ton of sweeter notes from this beer. When it comes to Oktoberfests I've had I've usually noticed stronger hop aromas with the sweeter characteristics taking a backseat. This one has it the other way around. The caramel and toffee notes are dominant in the aroma. Very pleasant.

Taste: Just like the smell, the caramel and toffee have a magnificently sweet flavor. In my opinion, what makes a great Oktoberfest is good use of both sweetness up front and hop bitterness on the finish. This is an Oktoberfest that certainly takes the cake in that department. The hop bitterness is more of a biscuity taste you get from pilsners rather than a hop bitterness. These two flavors combine nicely.

Overall Rating: 

I absolutely enjoyed this beer. I feel that the best Oktoberfest that's reachable in this area is Penn's Oktoberfest. If there was a good one to fall back on, it's this one. Penn's has the hop bitterness more prevalent with the sweeter notes lessened. Great Lakes has it the other way around. Both ways are very delicious. Both go well with bratwurst and pretzels!

Blue Dust to Have Big Pour Preview Tasting

For all of you out there that half to work and miss the Big Pour this weekend (myself included) Blue Dust is having two nights of preview tastings on Thursday and Friday evenings, according to the bar's Facebook page.

Beers from the following breweries will be present on Thursday: Great Lakes, Ommegang and Southern Tier. On Friday, you can expect to see Troegs, East End, Bell's and Dogfish Head.

From what I can read and what I've been told, some really good brews will be there to be sampled such as Southern Tier's Pumking and Creme Brulee, Dogfish's Punkin and Great Lakes Burning River.

I will try to be present for one of these tasting nights. More likely to be there on Friday rather than Thursday. I'll be in the fedora. Come and say hello.

Monday Rant: Pumpkin Ales and Oktoberfests - Stock Up

I've already sounded off about the earliness of the fall seasonal beers being on the shelves at this point in the summer. It's pretty much a broken system. Brewers are making the product and distributors can't afford to sit on the supply or simply don't have the space in storage. I get it. I'm over it.

I still love my pumpkin ales and Oktoberfest beers. So, as I took a stroll through a local distributor towards the end of last week I came across the establishment's entire wall of seasonal brews.

There were plenty of pumpkin ales and Oktoberfest beers. Enough to last a lifetime. It was at this moment that I decided to make my first purchases of the fall season. After all, it'll most likely all be gone within the next month or so.

I picked up a case of each Saranac's Pumpkin Ale and Great Lakes' Oktoberfest. I really wanted to try the Saranac last fall, but couldn't find any. I've always heard good things about Great Lakes' Oktoberfest. It came down to that and Penn Brewery's Oktoberfest. I figured I'd be having plenty when I'm actually at Penn's Oktoberfest celebration in September.

My dad also pitched in and acquired a case of Yuengling's Oktoberfest (yet another I couldn't find last year) and decided to invest $90 in a case of the infamous Southern Tier Pumking. We've already indulged in the almighty Puca and tucked away the rest of the bottles until it gets a little closer to October.

Since pay day is this week, I'm planning on purchasing yet another case of pumpkin ale before everyone else buys it all up. Maybe some Shipyard Pumpkinhead or Brooklyn Post Road Pumpkin Ale? Have to stock up now!

Recommended Summer Samplers

Sometimes a craft beer fan is searching for a good sampler pack that will last them a good while, and at the same time has quite a few options in terms of trying some different beers. The versatility of sampler and variety packs is a key factor that helps me hold them in high regard compared to just a case of the same beer. In my opinion, an entire case of the same beer sometimes can get old.

Since it's almost summer (mine has already begun) here are a few of my favorite summer seasonals you can pick up almost anywhere in the Pittsburgh area. If you're lucky you can even find these quite a ways from here.

1. Troegs Anthology No. 1- This is not only my favorite  summer sampler I try to pick up, it's my personal favorite sampler pack in existence. Two beers set this pack apart from any challengers: Hop Back Amber Ale and Sunshine Pils.

Both are among my favorite beers. They contrast each other in color and in taste, but have similar hop characters. Very tasty beers. Troegs also includes DreamWeaver Wheat and its Pale Ale. Dreamweaver is a wheat beer that gives you strong hints of clove and banana, while Pale Ale is a bitter compliment to all of the other beers.

2. Leinenkugel Summer Sampler- The pride of Chippewa Falls brings us my second favorite Summer sampler pack. This variety pack features two of the Leinenkugel's flagship brews in Amber Ale and Sunset Wheat. Remember, Sunset Wheat is the beer that's apparently internationally known as the "Fruity Pebbles beer."

The second half of the sampler includes the ever-so-sweet Honey Weiss and the very underrated Summer Shandy.

3. Great Lakes Sampler- As far as I can tell, this sampler is sold year-round, but I feel that it can be included on this small list due to the fact most of the beer that comprise it fall into the summer category. This sampler is also one of my personal favorites.

You also get four with this purchase, but the lone beer that's not exactly known as a good summer drink is the infamous Edmund Fitzgerald Porter. Dortmunder Gold is a crisp, golden lager. Burning River is a decent pale ale with plenty of refreshing citrus. Holy Moses White Ale is a spicy, Belgian White.

Beer Review: Commodore Perry IPA

Serving Type: Bottle

ABV: 7.5 percent

Appearance: Commodore Perry IPA is a beautiful shade of orange. It's look is one that I haven't seen in many other beers. Very attractive. The head is white, foamy and bubbly. it also was a fairly weak retention. It will fade and become weaker as soon as you begin to drink the beer. The next thing you know, it's just a thin white layer on the crown of the beer.

Smell: This beer smells very piney and boozy at first waft. The alcohol scent is very strong, as evident by the high ABV. Some malts and a sour aroma of grapefruit also make their way out of this beer. Not exactly my preference, but an interesting take nonetheless.

Taste: Really, really bitter. There's a load of citrus and hops that feels like a punch in the mouth. There's also plenty of bitterness on the finish. It's somewhat what I expected from this beer, with it being brewed by Great Lakes Brewing Co. I'm used to drinking beers with potent flavor and strong hop character from this brewery.

Overall Rating: 

I love quite a few of the Great Lakes lineup, but this one was a little rough for me in the taste department. If you're a fan of intense bitterness and a strong hop taste this beer might be up your alley. Wasn't exactly my type, though.

Monday Rant: Love/Hate Relationship With Dark Beers

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Superior never gives up her dead.

Just like in the movies, sometimes your closest friends start out as your enemies. I wouldn't say that I'm exactly enthralled by darker beers, but I still know when one should be appreciated. Keep in mind that I've only been searching for exotic and different beers for about the last four years, since I've turned 21-years-old.

My most memorable battle with dark beers began exactly three years from yesterday on the very same porch I sat on for yet another Easter Sunday. That day an Edmund Fitzgerald Porter by Great Lakes Brewing was set in front of me.

Being one whose taste buds weren't yet attuned to the strong tastes of porters, trying to drink that beer was a massive struggle for me. It just tasted burnt and looked like a dark, muddy abyss. My tongue would rather have been on the actual ship the night it sunk rather than take another swig of that beer. I couldn't finish it.

Another incident was with Guinness. It tasted like burnt coffee. I couldn't stand it. One could understand why I didn't prefer darker beers. I really couldn't understand what was so good about them.

That was until a trip to Piper's Pub on Pittsburgh's South Side and had a friend buy me a Guinness on draft. That's when I learned that the beer was meant to be served off of draft, and not from the bottle like I had during my first time with it.

It was also the beginning of my theory that some beers are a totally different experience from bottle to the tap and vice versa. It's very frustrating when you are stuck in a situation where you are forced to have one or the other type of beer serving, but that's just the way it is.

Today, my outlook has completely changed on the darker beers. I've discovered a few ways to drink the different types as well as trying them on draft or through a cask system. The Edmund Fitzgerald has even become one of my favorite beer names due to my love of the story and the song by Gordon Lightfoot. Research has even shown that some of the darker beers are even a healthier choice than the lighter counterparts. Don't be afraid like I once was. It's alright to travel over to the dark side once in a while.

Seasonal Look-Ahead: Summer Beers

Perfect for after a long day at work.

Last week, the Pittsburgh area was one of the hottest regions east of the Mississippi Rover with temperatures hanging around the upper 70's and even reaching 80 degrees at certain points. Pittsburgh even set a record for the month of March, with 11-straight days of high temperatures over 70 degrees. Coinciding with that is the early release of some of the craft beer industry's summer seasonal brews.

I'm not sure about everyone else, but I definitely could have used a few of them towards the end of some of the hotter days.

Today I want to highlight some of the summer seasonal brews I've been looking forward to along with some of my all-time favorites to consume after a long and hot day.

• Bell's Oberon Ale (MI) 5.8 percent ABV: This American Pale Wheat is arguably the the most-demanded summer beer in this region among craft beer drinkers, in my opinion. It's very fruity, but some zest balances everything out. This beer should be easy to find this week as Bell's Brewery just released it on Monday.

• Troeg's Sunshine Pils (Pa.) 4.5 percent ABV: Not for the faint of heart. Although it's one of my favorite beers to have during the hotter months, it's strength seems to deter some beer drinkers. Sunshine Pils is strong, bitter on the finish and very hoppy. My personal favorite summer seasonal.

• Sierra Nevada Summerfest (CA) 5.0 percent ABV: Summerfest is a pilsner-style lager that is hoppier than your traditional pilsner. That biscuity taste I look for in pilsners is a lot livelier in this brew.

• Harpoon Summer Beer (MA) 5.0 percent ABV: Summer Beer is a Kolsch. It's sharp in taste and is extremely lively on the head. Very spicy and tastes like citrus. A perfect beer to have while sitting out back in your personal garden.

• Southern Tier Hop Sun (NY) 5.1 percent ABV: Another Pale Wheat Ale, but Hop Sun makes a name for itself by imploring sweeter undertones. Hop Sun also features the usual citrus and zest taste you'd expect.

• Great Lakes Holy Moses White Ale (Ohio) 5.4 percent ABV: Holy Moses is a very spicy Belgian White. It's brewed with coriander and orange peel. Those ingredients might sound familiar to fans of Blue Moon Belgian White except you don't need the fruit garnish to fully enjoy this beer.

Just a few I've been lucky enough to sample over the past few summers. I'm hoping to try each of them at some point this summer and be able to share some thoughts on each that are quite a bit more in-depth. As always, I'm open for suggestions on other beers to keep an eye out for.