Great Lakes Nosferatu

When drinking this, I just couldn’t figure out what the heck style it was. The colour was mostly red, maybe a bit of amber. There was a medium off white head that formed and dissappeared. the aroma was primarily citrus. the taste wasn’t the great, in my opinion. Heavy handed citrus and resin flavour with an odd malt flavour that seemed to contain a urnt caramel like flavour. This followed up by a dry and slightly alcohol like finish. I think the flavours could have been great, I just don’t think it was put together well.

great beer, pours deep red with a off-white 1 finger head. crisp, citrus/pine aroma. taste of hops and a slight toasty maltyness. great mouthfeel, really coats everything and a great dry hoppy finish that sits in the back of your tongue.

Bottle. Pours red amber with off white head. Aroma is citrus, hops and floral. Flavor is citrus, floral, hops, caramel, malt.

Bottle, from a Maudite glass. Great ruby appearance. Could use a litle more carbonation. Tastes of malt and fruit, nicely balanced with hops, warming alcohol. Different but delicious, by far my favorite Great Lakes brew.

One of my favorite beers of all time. It’s not quite blood red, but light passing through it is red on my hands. Looks filtered. Smells great if one-note, mostly citrusy hops. It tastes sharp up front, then I get strawberries (a first for a non-fruit beer), citrus, sweet malt, finishes long and sugary sweet. Medium low carbonation. You don’t reaaly taste the alcohol, but you certainly feel it. Got a case of it at the brewery, but you can find it in Chicago now, where it is around $11 a four pack. It’s best at the brewery, where they give you a full pint of it, but that also means this beer has kicked my ass across Cleveland a couple of times, so know you are warned.

This beer is hard to pin down -- I think its father was a Belgian Strong Ale and its mother was an IPA. It might have some Marzen ancestry as well. Wonderful stuff. Lovely mahogany color, very bold hoppy taste with some strong malt too.

On tap. I thought this was a re-rate as the 4-pack I had a few years back was not very good. The tap version was excellent. Dark amber color with a surprisingly robust head. Reminds me of Founder’s Old Curmudgeon. Very chewy beer. Deep malt taste with hops coming out at the end to lend a hammer of a bitter finish. A deep complex beer to be savored and sipped.

On tap at Smokin Joe’s. Dark brown with ruby red highlights. Aroma is very sweet and fruity with loads of molasses, toffee and dark fruits. Intensely hoppy flavor balanced with some toasted malt. Very nice.