Lakefront Eastside Dark

pours clean and dark with minimal head. smells sour/skunky, like a pale lager, and tastes much lighter than it looks. very smooth, but is not anything like a dunkel should be. maybe i need a fresher bottle?

Rerate 8-1-2005, based on new nuances I’m turning up with this one. Nice deep rose / mahogany in color and only a brief presence with the head. Aroma is chocolate, cedar panels, caramel, toffee and copper kettle. Flavor evolves, rounding out a nice, sweet caramel and chocolate malt complexion. Hints of peat and smoked malts enter at the tail end to add a slight earthiness persona, but then somewhat diffuse to a chocolatey toffee sweetness. One of Lakefront’s bests.

Well, I just be gol darned if America doesn’t make some FINE Dunkels! The aroma here, to me, isn’t so much coffee as it is smoky, rich dark nutmeats, souring, getting moldy, along with a hefty bark element. Rich, very slight sweetness lingering in the aroma. The flavor contains swirling brown sugar and iron-y moassess, raisin, and great gobs of thinnish caramel and roasted malt. Noble hops close the deal by thinning the ending palate (they impart some peppery spice, a bit of pencil shavings). Only drawback, and this may be on account of this being an old bottle, is it’s slightly more sour than it should be. The appearance here is gorgeous, the fluff on the bone white head was so large, and fades in moderate time to a small ring.

Pours a dark brown, opaque, with a decent sized head. Aroma is sweet and roasty. Flavor is choclate, coffee, bitter cherry. Nice and full in flavor, and coated the palate quite well.

Clear dark ruby brown with a medium diminishing light brown head. Aroma of nuts, caramel, cherry, toast, red apple, herbs, and drip coffee. Medium watery body with a moderate amount of carbonation. Flavor of nuts, plum, black cherry, red apple, toast, milk chocolate, drip coffee and a hint of spice. Very good.

Dark reddish brown appearance, decent head formation. Dark bready, malty, coffee aroma. Rich malty full flavored palate, cocoa, coffee roast, a touch of tea, roasted and nutty in the finish with a mild bitterness. Not too heavy on the palate but packed with flavor.

Bottle. Nicely malted beer. Mostly a gritty chewy malt. No coffee, or chocolate flavors that I could find. Nicely done beer.

In the bottle at the 2004 Crescent Moon Vintage Beer Tasting. Dark brown in color. Burned flavor. Dark tan head. Light in body and mouth feel. I’m not too impressed with this one. Maybe it underwhelms me because it did not age well over the last decade. RE-RATE: Just tried a bottle made in November 2004. Guess what? Not much better! Zero head and a dominant sour taste.