Great Lakes Grassroots Ale

Brewed by Great Lakes Brewing Company
Style: Saison
Cleveland, Ohio USA

12oz bottle. Very bubbly. Flavor and aroma makes me think of the spent grain and hops slurry left after brewing, in a good way. My first thought was ’grass’ but this might be because of the name. Quite a lot of body, which takes away somewhat from the drinkability that I was hoping for. This is more of a meal then a thirst slaker. Yay beer!

12oz bottle. Pours a rich nearly clear golden with a dense white bubbly froth 3.5. Aroma is pretty boring, sweet and sour cereal, smells a bit cloying, coriander, and maybe something a bit herbal. Flavor follows, strangely sweet, cereal, weird bitterness playing off the too strong coriander, really chalky tasting, sweet without flavor. Med/light body with a much fuller mouth-feeling, medium corse abundant fizzy round carbonation, a bit chalky in the palate as well. Eh... what the hell is the point of all these trendy American macro saisons if they are so relatively sugary that you can’t taste the yeast, spice or hops...

12 oz bottle. Pours a very light golden but not much carbonation so the head is slight. Aroma is diminished- even though it is spiced- doughy pale and pils malts, with an herbal hay and farmhousey grassyness, dulled out saison yeastiness- phenolic, and a slight spicy grassy chamomile, flowery thing going on Not much going on with the lemon balm or lemon basil. Whoa- flavor takes a pretty big turn though- tons of spice herbs, wood, grass, weeds, a spicy chamomile and almost a peppery phenolic yeastiness- so much woody, hay, earth, dirt (kinda like beets actually), leather, and some slight astringency and bitterness from the herbs. Strange saison- not all that enjoyable actually- too earthy and dirt-like.

Draft. Pours a fuzzy bright orange with a nice white head. Aroma is fruity and sweet with a nice malt backbone. Notes of herbs, maybe sage, really stand out. On the palate it is dry and sweet. The finish is dry leaving very little aftertaste. This beer was different than I expected. Not the same a a Belgian Saison by any means. It was a good attempt to do something different, but it is not something I could drink daily.

12oz bottle. Hazy orange with an off-white head. Intensely fragrant herbal aroma, astringent and full of garden herb nuances. Pretty nice, certainly a departure from the typical Belgian Saison. Some golden Candi-sugar/yeast smoothness, but the herbal characteristics simply dominate. Certainly has some enjoyable complexities, but overall a little too gimmicky and unrefined.

Orange pour with a little head and lacing. Aroma is sweet and fruity with notes of malt and spice. Taste is much the same--spices and fruits, especially mixed berries. Refreshing. I think this is an underrated brew.

Experienced at the brewery in a large hexagonal glass. The beer pours a medium yellow color with a nice white head. The aromas are pleasing, giving notes of lemon/orange marmalade, along with a touch of malt, and a bit of spice. Unfortunately, that slight ripple of spice turns into a tidal wave on the palate. The spicing dominates the flavor, leaving little room for the tremendous complexity added by saison yeast. Additionally, I found the finish to be too sweet. Overall, not a bad effort, but in need of fine tuning.

bottle. pours a clear golden yellow with a decent amount of white head. has a nutty, lemony aroma. very tart at first. aftertaste of peanut and lemon grass. very odd tasting but decent.