Great Lakes Commodore Perry IPA

Rated 7/15/06: I’ve been hunting for this seasonal offering and was able to track some down. This is right in line with the Great Lakes way of brewing beer fantastic recipe, and a great angle on a wonderful style. Emptied a bottle into my glass and was given a richly golden colored ale with a thick fluffy white head that soon settles to a nice white film. Abundant lacing is present, and a lazy carbonation can be seen. As I smell the aroma I am rewarded with a biting hop scent of grapefruit and pine. This is pleasant and unexpected and it smells wonderful. This is considerably more citrusy than the average IPA. Mouthfeel is dry and smooth, not too thick so it goes down easy. The flavor is outstanding keeping in line with the aroma. An abundance of hops (cascade is an understatement) fill out this one with a real subtle malt backbone. Taste is mostly citrus grapefruits, nice and tart with an even amount of bitterness. Overall this is one of my favorite IPA’s and another score for one of my top brewers. Too bad it’s seasonal, if you come across it grab some!

Thank badgerben. A yellow color with plenty of foamy white head. Celery and faint hops on the nose. Water with a little hop flavor - orange peel.

[12 oz bottle, sampled while BBQing a 12lb beef brisket]: clear golden orange with yellow hues…thin ivory head that stays throughout the sampling. Grapefruit & pine aroma with bubble gum, lemon grass and zesty alcohol. Bitter herbal flavour with a bit of whiskey and a long, slow hop finish. Fruitiness – strawberries and blueberries comes on strong after swallowing, unique and very enjoyable.

Nice aroma of grapefruit. Color is solid, not cloudy but orange. Not a whole lot of citrus in the flavor, but a solid resin/hops presence. The body is not weak and watery like other IPAs, but is solid with good bitterness. Not complicated though, pretty mono directional. Bitterness could be balanced more.

Today, I found one of the new sixers of ruination. As we all know, ruination is a wonderful beer, but I paid 14$ for the sixer. At just under 8%, I found Great Lakes Commodore Perry IPA at the same time, for half the price. The commodore is excellent, with a sweet toffee flavor to compliment the delicious hops. Ruination a good beer? Yeppers! Commodore Perry in the same league? Yeppers

Bottle and served in my GI IPA, a perfect clean deep golden hue topped by a fluffy head and excellent lace. The aroma was a combination of both grassy herbal hop and resiny fruity hops along with a pale malt and biscuity ester. The flavor matches the nose to a tee with a constant bitterness balanced by a slightly sweet malt layer. A wonderful combination that allows both hop and malt to shine. The mouth feel is refreshing and a tad dry and metallic, I would never guessed the ABV to be 7.5% for it is well hidden. Not a huge over the top IPA but one you could finish off a sixer in an evening with zero problem.

12oz bottle, courtesy of Drew! Pours a clear, medium yellow color; off-white head with excellent retention and lacing, coating the sides of the glass. Plenty of grapefruit / citrus hops in the aroma; slightly herbal. Medium-to-full mouthfeel: dense, chewy citrus hop presence: a bit resiny, with a nice hop bite at the back of the throat; pleasant light malt character underneath; some fruitiness and sugar near the finish. Dense, chewy IPA.

Just tried this out of the bottle. Poured a golden/straw color, I felt it was a bit pale for an IPA but the head was nice and the carbonation was adequate. It was easy on the palette and very tasty with a definite grapefruit taste, perhaps it’s finished with Amarillo hops? It didn’t have the big hop nose of most IPA’s I think this in perhaps more in the British style but it is a very good beer and I definitely recommend it to any IPA fans.