Great Lakes Nosferatu
My friend Brian gave me this. Cheers Brian! Already reviewed this on-tap when I visited Great Lakes. I wanted to review the bottle to see how they stack up against each other. On-tap review I said: A: Nice dark reddish bronze colored ale. Some ruby redness on the edges against the light. Poured a nice 1 finger white fluffy head that reduced to a nice small cap. Very attractive brew. Bottle: Not as deep and not as ruby highlights as I remember from the on-tap. Hazy, mysterious and moody - fitting for the name of the drink! On-tap review I said: S: Holy smokes - massive hops. Mix of bitter and fruit. Really impressive smell. A more floral note arose toward the end of the drink. You can detect the strength but does not have a strong alcohol smell. Bottle: Not the impact of on-tap. Rum-like alcohol came across immediately. Hops are there but not that impactful. On-tap review I said: T: As you would expect, a touch of caramel malt to keep it grounded but a wallop of hops. Some powerful bitterness with amazingly succulent grapefruit. Really chewy - plenty of interest. The alcohol is there and gives you a nice warming sensation - amazingly well masked. Bottle: Bigger malt and less hop than the on-tap. Has a cloying sour aftertaste. On-tap review I said: M: Medium carbonation gave this quite a bit of life. Was fairly smooth but the finish delivers a bit of an acidic bite. Bottle: Pretty much the same. Aftertaste is more aggressive and acidic. On-tap review I said: D: It's a masterful brew. Really powerful. It would be so easy for it to go off the deep end but it all holds together in a fantastically well coordinated way. The high drinkability and high ABV make this a dangerous brew. It packs a punch. Bottle: I gave on-tap an A. The bottle falls short. A part of the impact of the on-tap was how big malt and hops were and how well balanced it all was. The lack of hops in the bottle throws off the balance and allows the alcohol to have too much focus. Still a really enjoyable and interesting beer. Like always, once you try on-tap, it's tough to go back to the bottle.