Great Lakes Brewing Crazy Canuck Pale Ale

Brewed by Great Lakes Brewing (Ontario)
Style: American Pale Ale
Etobicoke, Canada

Serve in Lager glass, Shaker, Tulip

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Copper orange in colour with a large and long lasting white coloured head, excellent lacing. Aroma is floral and grassy, some soap, quite fresh, some peppery spiciness. Flavour is moderately bitter, floral, glassy, light lemon citrus, some soap bitterness. Bitter mouthfeel, medium/light body, moderate carbonation. Finishes long, bitter and rather dry.

A nice offering from Great Lakes but could use a larger body though.

650ml bottle purchased at the LCBO in Peterborough, Ontario.
Opened on March 4, 2010.
No date.

Fresh bottle sample- Medium gold pour, with a moderate frothy cap. Aromas of buttered toast, floral hops, white bread, perfume. Strange flavour profile. Has fresh floral hops and a marked lemony bitterness, with a buttery flavour that leads to sweet bready malts. Seems like some sort of hybrid or cross style. It is ok, but what is going on with the butter? I had enough on my toast this morning, thanks. I’ll give it a whirl again, but I’d like to see the butter go away.

500 ml can. Decent hops balanced well with malt. Fairly smooth finish. It’s a pretty simple pale ale, but it does it fairly well, so can’t complain.

650 ml bottle from brewery. Pours a fairly clear orange/gold with small-medium white head. Floral hops strongest in the aroma with citrus and slight caramel; maybe the faintest hint of diacetyl. Flavour starts bready giving way to more prominent diacetyl before the hops really kick in and give a nice floral/citrsuy bitter finish. The butteriness is disappointing but there’s still some things to really commend this beer.

Crispy clean taste, pours a pale yellow, very hoppy smell and a hoppy taste, pretty citrusy, you can really taste the cascade come through and it has a good finish. Good offering

650ml bottle from LCBO. Pours golden amber with white head. Nose is some citrus hops and butter. Taste of caramel sweetness, bready malt, some nice lingering bitterness in the finish.

Bottle, LCBO Waterloo. Nice orange/copper pour, murky white head. Aroma has some nice hops in there, very citrus, but also a good heap of butter. Oh oh. Weird balancing act going on in taste - you have some intense bitterness from citrus hops, but it appears to be all from dry hopping. There is a weird sweetness to the malt profile and to top it off (ha, top it off, a pun!) there is butter. There should not be butter. This beer was just released and stored in a cool lowly lit LCBO (one that actually takes care of its beers). I really like what Great Lakes is doing in terms of creativity, but this is about 3 in a row now I’ve run it to that have been all butter. Disappointing, I bought another one, will re-rate if needed.

650ml Bomber fresh from Brewery. Pours a gold-amber ale in my glass. Large puffy white cap with great retention and lacing qualities. Nose: citrusy, fruity with a deep caramel malt tone ( abundant Diacetyl too which becomes more dominant as the beer warms - butterscotch overwhelms when warmer) Slick mouth feel. Nice chew of bready sweet malts in front are balanced by light hopping Diacetyl is detectable in flavor more so than aroma but it is some what subdued by the malts . Finishes nicely with an increasing bittering and a great bready-bicuity maltiness...lingering bitterness. This is not an over the top intense Pale but one that is full of flavor and very drinkable...great session ale but the price is a tad steep for that. I really wanted to rate this higher but in spite of it’s great hopping and malt profile The diacetyl really is unforgivable in a beer marketed as premium with a premium price. They did this to me with the green tea ale as well and I really wanted to like that beer as well..

650ml Bottle: Pours a light amber, very light streams of carbonation and a slightly off-white foamy pillow of head on top. Looks quite nice, actually, especially that head. A great, fresh hop aroma hits the nose with floral and herby hops off the top and a hint of sour citrus in the back. Soft bready notes, lots of nice caramel, this is quite a good nose. Unfortunately, the flavour’s a huge letdown for me. I was taken aback by what I can only describe as a very off-putting butter flavour that my research has indicated is diacetyl. It’s ever-present and makes finding other positive flavours impossible, and I get the feeling it’s probably just a bad batch and not a representation of what this beer should have and could have tasted like. Hopefully I’ll get the chance to try it again, perhaps on tap.

Bottle. Pours a clear golden orange with a fluffy white head with moderate lacing. Aroma is citrusy grapefruit followed by butter popcorn (diacetyl). Taste is bitter, not really feeling the malt, lingering bitterness, a bit of butter. Mouthfeel is a bit harsh and dry. I sure hope Canadian athletes fair better at the 2010 games than this beer. Hopefully Great Lakes can fix the diacetyl problem, because the butter flavor just ruins this beer.