Two new brews to report, both from Great Lakes Brewing out of Clevelend. First beer was the "Burning River" pale ale. I'm really not kidding about the name. I guess if you have to live in Ohio, you have to be able to make fun of its disgusting past. The beer was good but not great. It was a maltier American Pale style beer, but balanced pretty well with the cascade hops when you smelled it. Unfortunately, when you drank it, you realized that the Cascades are basically there for aroma only, because they didn't bring a whole lot to the palate (see what I did there? Who all read "plate"?). Price was reasonable, so this goes down as a very good value APA.
The other Great Lakes beer, I'm lucky to remember. This was the night we went on a "Spirit quest" after each and every one of us (except Zach) ran up $40+ bar tabs...at the second bar. This was Tuesday night. That goes to show how seriously we take this whole group bonding thing. (we had baklava at 3 am for the love of all that's sane in this world) Wednesday morning was exactly like the Hangover (first one). None of us had complete memories (except Zach), but we all had partials of the entire night and Zach helped us get it all in the right order.
OK, back to the beer. It was called "Dopplerock," and was, of course, a big German Dopplebock. (yeah, I had a big ass beer before the spirit quest...how am I alive) This was a beautiful beer. Color, mouthfeel, smell and flavor were all spot on for the style. Absolutely wonderful dopple.
Over all, I was impressed with the Great Lakes beers. They're all overpriced here in IN, so I typically don't buy them. But if you have to be stuck in OH, do it with a 6-pack of Great Lakes and life won't seem so bad.
And now for an update on my most recent baby. The Party pig carbonated nicely over the week, so it went in the fridge. I couldn't wait for it to cool so I poured some into a frosted glass. It's slightly warm, so keep that in mind.
The mouthfeel is what really strikes me. I got so used to the rough edges of anything but an ice cold Mr. Beer brew that I began to doubt my own skills. This mouthfeel is velvety. That's right, velvety IPA. The malt flavor is acceptable, could be a little more aggressive. Once again, I point at myself on that. The hop flavor is amazing. It may be light bodied for an IPA, but it's got all the flavor...which means I have created a sessionable IPA...God help us all.
The flavors should continue to mature for a while in the bottles before I take them home for the 4th.
-J
yippee!
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