Great Lakes Nosferatu

Brewed by Great Lakes Brewing Company
Style: American Strong Ale
Cleveland, Ohio USA

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.

Deep, clear ruby color. Mild carbonation with a big, foamy tan head. Sweet malt and rich hop (grapefruit/pineapple) aroma. Flavor is sweet and rich like caramelized dates and some toasted malt. Great hop flavor and bitterness from start to finish - loaded with hop flavor, but it is almost soft (no hop bite at all). For 8% alcohol, it is well hidden with just a little bit of alcohol peaking though the balanced hop finish. Medium to full body, very smooth. I really liked this offering from Great Lakes. Damn that bottle went down fast! So good... 12 oz bottle (best by Nov 23/06) from The Party Source.

via trade with 1FastSTi - Pours a clear deep amber color with a good size light tan head. Leaves some nice lacing as the head settlesNice foral hop and toasty malt aroma. Has a nice malt flavor with some esters. Medium body. Very good beer. Thanks Blake.

I have been waiting for this beer to come out again for quite some time. A deep red color, and nicely hopped. I can;t wait to have it at the brewery in a couple of weeks.

deep ruby bronw color w/ a small tan head. Well fruity aroma hints of grahm notes of fruity pebbles some roasty malts. Flavor is well hopped very fruity still has cereal hints and some reoastiness lots of odd berries. A wierd flavor but pretty good.