Lighthouse Brewing Company (MI/US) Reviews

Tmoney99	3 Lighthouse Broken Putter Brown Ale Draft sample at brewpub from notes Fall 2002. Poured a clear dark brown color with an average frothy off-white head that was mostly lasting and produced good lacing. Moderate toasted malt aroma. Medium body with a thin smooth texture and soft carbonation. Medium roasted sweet flavor with a medium sweet finish of moderate duration. Drinkable average brew. Sunday, November 29, 2009
Tmoney99	2.9 Lighthouse Lumberjack Amber Ale Draft sample at brewpub from notes in fall 2002. Poured a clear amber color with an average frothy white head that mostly lasted with good lacing. Medium hop and sweet malt aroma. Medium body with a soft texture and soft carbonation. Medium bittersweet flavor with a medium sweet finish of moderate duration. Another smooth session brew. Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Tmoney99	2.6 Lighthouse Salt City Slugger Draft sample at brewpub from notes in fall 2002. Poured a hazy amber color with an average frothy white head that mostly lasted with good lacing. Medium grainy hop aroma. Light to medium body with a smooth texture and soft carbonation. Medium sweet flavor with a medium sweet finish of moderate duration. Smooth drinkable session brew. Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Onslow	3.9 Lighthouse Salt City Slugger Found a 6 pack of this in the clearance aisle at the local Harding’s supermarket. Deep gold pour – looks like a lager. Malty aroma with very faint hops. Flavor is surprisingly full bodied, considering the appearance. Starts with sweet caramel and finishes sweet with well balanced, slightly spicy, hops. Good stuff! Thursday, July 9, 2009
ClarkVV	2.9 Lighthouse Salt City Slugger Either 02 or 03 bottle, not sure. Had at Box Bar in Plymouth. First a light golden pour, but after swirling up the bottle conditioned remnants, it was a very hazy yellow/gold. Good white head. Aroma is light and sweet, some sweet corn, light hops and honey wheat bread. Flavor was light and very neutral with an almost coarse/salty texture. Tons of carbonation and overall nothing spectacular, but not bad. No flavors really jumped out at me, maybe some light bready flavors. Finish is lightly sour. Thursday, January 29, 2004
Gunshy	2.9 Lighthouse Lumberjack Amber Ale A light gold color and a small white head. An aroma of hops and caramel. A flavor of hops, malt and lightly of caramel and grain. Light finish. Wasn't terribly impressed Saturday, January 25, 2003
brownalegirl	3.3 Lighthouse Broken Putter Brown Ale Well, they roasted the heck out of this - lots of smoke and toasted nuts. Too busy a brown for my top marks - I like 'em subtler. Wednesday, December 18, 2002
Gunshy	2.8 Lighthouse Broken Putter Brown Ale This beer poured a dark brown color and formed a off white head that formed little lace. The aroma was of hops, malt and butterscotch as it warmed. The flavor, also as it warmed, was of malt and butterscotch. The finish and body was a bitter lighter than others. Not bad if your looking for a session beer, but nothing special. Thursday, November 28, 2002
bubslang	2.7 Lighthouse Broken Putter Brown Ale poured a nice brown, smoky aroma, burnt chocolate malt taste, with little hop balance, this just didn''t work for me Wednesday, October 9, 2002
AleConnoisseur	3.4 Lighthouse Lumberjack Amber Ale This is what I call a good beer. It has a good taste, however not hopped enough. Overall this is a good heavy beer. Friday, September 20, 2002
Schroppfy	3.1 Lighthouse Salt City Slugger A good year and a half ago, I had this on tap in Traverse City, and thoroughly enjoyed it. This brewery does have a house flavor and body, but unfortunately, the malting isa bit stale. Good mouthfeel, as Hennes suggests. Better than average. Nice tiny little lasting head, with raised bits. Friday, September 13, 2002
Zach Diesel	3.1 Lighthouse Lumberjack Amber Ale eh not BAD persay but wasn't worth getting my fake id taken the first time I tried to sample it Monday, September 9, 2002
Schroppfy	3 Lighthouse Lumberjack Amber Ale Yep, serious caramel malts alright, and unfortunately pretty weakly hopped. But the worst thing (and on balance this was quite drinkable) was the corny, super grainy way it warmed up. Hmmm. Not too crisp and clean. Saturday, August 31, 2002
hennes	3 Lighthouse Cherry Porter Light and even tasteful use of cherries here in a beautiful dark porter with deep garnet highlights. The house porter is edgy and bitter and the cherries in this mainly serve to blunt the sharp porter edges. It does get syrupy as it warms, though. Not too many folks can make a cherry brew that doesn't, in my experience. Friday, August 16, 2002
brownalegirl	3.1 Lighthouse Lumberjack Amber Ale Great mouth feel but really not very flavorful. Sean was reaching hard to find those sesame tones. I also feel he spent an inordinate amount of time studying the label in order to give you all a "proper" description ... Thursday, July 18, 2002
hennes	3.3 Lighthouse Lumberjack Amber Ale You really can't comment on this brew without mentioning the titillating label on the bottled version. I hear the brewer's wife modeled for it, but I suspect they augmented her natural endowments somewhat. If not for her well placed suspender straps, this thing would be soft porn brew. Before you fall all over yourselves trying to get a bottle, though, here is what it drinks like: rounded, toasted sesame malt flavour in a decent body - not as substantial as the label might suggest, but a decent body, to be sure. Thursday, July 18, 2002
brownalegirl	1.7 Lighthouse Salt City Slugger Tastes like an old gym locker where someone left an orange, a banana, and several pairs of well worn socks many years ago. Thursday, July 18, 2002
brownalegirl	3 Lighthouse Sand Pail Ale I'm becoming corrupted. Not only am I starting to order pale ales, I'm starting to like American hoppy versions like this one. I've been around you all too long. Thursday, July 18, 2002
brownalegirl	3.7 Lighthouse Northern Lager This is really called "North Country Lager" - Sean got in too big a hurry to add the Lighthouse beers. In any event, it tastes to me a lot like his dad's maple syrup, which is boiled in a big iron kettle out in the woods and picks up some of the flavor from the iron and hardwood smoke. Thursday, July 18, 2002
hennes	3.4 Lighthouse Victorian Porter As bitter as the Northern Lager is sweet, a very quirky porter with burnt and hop laden edges. Thursday, July 18, 2002
hennes	3.6 Lighthouse Black Smoke Stout The Lighthouse brewery is located in the fine and distinctly unfudgified northern Michigan town of Manistee. It's in a beautiful old brick building on the river and makes this big black, totally opaque roasted as all get out stout. Thursday, July 18, 2002
hennes	2.7 Lighthouse Northern Lager Very sweet. And that is its main downfall. It has a pleasant enough nutty, smoky, almost brown ale flavour, but it's just too sweet and it syrups sadly as it goes. Thursday, July 18, 2002
hennes	2.9 Lighthouse Sand Pail Ale Interesting cloudy weisslike appearance and a fine creamy mouthfeel. Otherwise it's your average APA - decent hops but a lame cracker crust malt action. Thursday, July 18, 2002
hennes	3.1 Lighthouse Broken Putter Brown Ale Rerated on tap: Bright copper color with a big roasted attack swirling with some smoke and some chocolate. And yes, labbatblueleaf, the amber was so succesful in the brewery that it is now available bottled across Michigan. Original review 4/12/02 I've heard great things about this brewery in Manistee, but haven't been there yet. However, they are now bottling two of their brews so I was glad to get a chance to taste. The brown ale leans heavily on the toasted nut flavour of its malt, and this is nice at first, but I ended up finding it a bit murky and unbalanced as I finished the bottle. Thursday, July 18, 2002
hennes	2.5 Lighthouse Salt City Slugger I'm just not grown up enough as a beer drinker to get the difference between a kolsch and a blonde, I suspect. I'm told this, too, is a well done kolsch style beverage, and I find perhaps more fruitiness and less cardboard-stale malt than is usual with a blonde, but that may just be the power of suggestion. It does have a nice soft mouthfeel, the signature of this pleasant little brewery. Thursday, July 18, 2002
Ale Boy99	3.6 Lighthouse Lumberjack Amber Ale Probably the best beer they have. If you are a fan of heavy beer, this is their best. Wednesday, July 17, 2002
Ale Boy99	3.1 Lighthouse Salt City Slugger A good beer for first time microbrew visitors. Nothing special, but better than mass produced beer. Wednesday, July 17, 2002
Ale Boy99	2.8 Lighthouse Broken Putter Brown Ale Hennes' inital review hits the nail on the head. What more can I say!....... Wednesday, July 17, 2002
jskendzel	3.2 Lighthouse Salt City Slugger I keep wanting to taste Goose Island's Blonde Ale when I sampled this beer. It wants to be but just isn't. Overall, a good body and nice malty characteristics. I thought the beer tasted great, and was refreshing to drink. A little more hop characteristic and this would be a whole lot better. Some fruity notes at the end. Wednesday, June 26, 2002
labattblueleaf	2.8 Lighthouse Broken Putter Brown Ale Tastes a little "mediciney" but definitely has that brown ale flavor. PschProf was right in saying it has a hint of chocolate. To correct Hennes, they are now bottling three of their beers that I know of. (Lumberjack, Salt City Slugger, and this.) Wednesday, June 5, 2002
Schroppfy	3 Lighthouse Broken Putter Brown Ale Please read Hennes' initial review. He has it spot on. Nut, dark malt, a hint of chocolate, but overdone. A bit like Acme Brown to me. Saturday, June 1, 2002
olympian	2.7 Lighthouse Salt City Slugger My numerical score makes it sound worse than it is. It's a very pretty blonde ale, with a wonderful mouthfeel, but there isn't much of anything else there: Very little aroma, very little malt, very little hops. Pleasant enough to drink, but 100% forgettable - it comes in about five notches UNDER "subtle". Thursday, May 2, 2002
labattblueleaf	3.6 Lighthouse Lumberjack Amber Ale Good amber beer. One of the more pleasant one's from my perspective. I have had both this and their Salt City Slugger and have thought both are excellent. Haven't had the Broken Putter yet. Strong flavor from an amber. Wednesday, April 24, 2002
labattblueleaf	3.5 Lighthouse Salt City Slugger Faint carmel flavor, slightly bitter and sweet. Excellent sipping beer..... Saturday, March 2, 2002