Great Lakes Lake Erie Monster
Poured from the 12 oz. bottle that I bought earlier today as a part of a 4-pack from Lena's Beverage in Painesville for $9.99 into my Cooperstown Beverage Trail pint glass. Printed on the side of the glass: For freshest taste, please enjoy by: 08/10/10 6829DM. A Light caramel colored body which is on the translucent side but a bit murky under a great looking 3 inch, creamy white head. Significant lacing left on the glass after repeated sips gets extra credit from me. 4.5 S Tropical fruits of pineapple, maybe some mango and maybe even some ripe orange smells make this one of the best smelling beers that I have encountered, if for no other reason due to its uniqueness. What I do not smell is the overbearing hops that I sometimes find in Great Lakes beers like the ones that completely ruin Great Lakes Nosferatu, a terrible smelling beer. This one is interesting, inviting, heck, even inspiring! 5.0 T The taste is really consistent with the smell at first and then, from the back of my tongue in the aftertaste comes a strong, bitter hops taste that lingers well into the aftertaste, sure to please any hop head. Are they Centennial Hops? I am only recently beginning to understand the different hop flavors but my guess is that they are. What a great, balanced tasting beer with that great tropical fruit, sweetness in the front followed, like a wave hitting the shore of Lake Erie, by the hops that one expects from an Imperial IPA. 5.0 M Appropriately big, thick, syrupy sweet and organically bitter. The syrupy sweetness is in front with the tropical tastes and the bitterness is in the later taste with the hops. 4.0 D Not that good, with the high ABV, huge tastes but I savored every drop. 3.5 Notes: This is really the epitome of a BeerAdvocate beer in that it delivers in all areas except for drinkability. What I mean is that I will enjoy one of these per day but only this one, in keeping with my motto of "Drink less, Drink better." Really though, this is one great beer!