Great Lakes Brewing Orange Peel Ale

Brewed by Great Lakes Brewing (Ontario)
Style: Fruit Beer
Etobicoke, Canada

Vibrant orangey colour. Orangey, apricotty aroma. Full of bitter orange peel flavour with slightly firm malts in the background. Finishes quite dry. Had on tap - maybe the bottles aren’t as good?

650 ml bomber. Pale amber/golden beer with a thick white head. Rich sweet malty aroma, a bit of orange marmalade character as well, but doesn’t really come across as a flavoured ale. Good fresh flavour, lightly nutty toasted malts followed by a solid dose of earthy/spicy UK hops. Moderate bitterenss. As it warms more orange and spice come to the front of the palate. The orange flavour isn’t sweet, but rather bitter and fairly complex. Good balance and a beer that I enjoyed much more than I thought I would from the name.

A golden ale with a thick receding white head. Aroma of grainy malt, caramel, and german hopping. In mouth, a good fresh malt with light residual sugar, a bit of vanilla. Not much in terms of orange, but a good quaffable ale. Bottle from LCBO, tasted May 2007.

Bottle from matt7215. Thanks once more! Pours a slighty hazy orange amber with a rapidly diminishing white head. Aroma seems a complex blend of malt and orange. Near medium body with foamy carbonation. Flavor is orange zest and nicely roasted malt. Not so much a fruit beer as an interesting pale ale, if you can accept using orange oil in place of hop. Not saying there are no hops, just that there’s a lot of bitter orange oil. And bitter is what it’s all about. Finishes mildly astringent and highly tasty. Surprisingly good stuff.

Bottle (650ml). Clear gold with an amber tinge, large lasting white foamy-creamy lasting head (3+). Pretty standard generic grain malt aroma, some clover and citrus peel sharpness - clean (no corn) but nothing special. Mild grainy aroma, again I get heather, and maybe some orange pekoe herbal bitterness, but nothing out of the ordinary here, maybe a slight hint of citrus/orange in the linger. Average to watery body, nicely carbonated, good soft almost ESB astringency, no aftertaste. Went down nicely after a long skate, but I see no reason to drink it again.

Bomber. Poured medium orangey-golden with a short-lived cap of white head. The aroma picked up sweet candied oranges and Circus Peanuts (more of those actually, now that I think of it).. quite a bit of honey too.. not a bad combination of stuff, but it didn’t work very well. The flavor opened with orange tanginess, with sweet honey and pale malts following.. light, grainy orange bitterness and light floral notes around.. finished with candied orange zest and honey. Light-bodied and dry on the palate.. too watery and tacky at times (different times), so the flow wasn’t that good.. I didn’t enjoy this.

Lagerish bland ale, with some orange flavoring that seemed natural enough in this 08 release at Volo. Hops have an effet but do not add to taste. Sweetness is OK. Overall not so drinkable.

Tap a C’est What
Gold amber, medium creamy head, some carbonation noticed.
Medium sweet, fruity, light hints of citrus fruit with hops placed at the back.
Clean, medium bodied citric-hop in character. This ale left neat soft smooth finish. Gentle, clean ale with sparkle in curiosity. Different but in good way. Good brew.