Granite City Two-Pull! Specialty Brew

Brewed by Granite City Food & Brewery
Style: American Dark Lager
St. Louis Park, Minnesota USA

On tap at their Eagan, Mn. location. Pours a light copper with a light white head. Hint of nuttiness in the aroma. Flavor has a nice subtle sweet flavor to it with some nuts and a back end of butterscotch. Clean, smooth mouthfeel.

Sampled at the brew/pub during my one night stay in Fargo. It was evident that the Mai Bock would dominate this beer. Light bodied. Just alright.

Draught from GC in East Peoria, IL. This one tastes and smells mostly of the light lager (I assume thats how is tastes because I never actually sampled the light lager on its own). Anyway, its a light beer that smells lightly of malt and corn. Refreshing and interesting, but nowhere near a great beer. Fun and unique.

Omaha. My one fail when presented with a sampler and told to guess the brews. Not a bad effort without the beer list. Dark golden to amber in color with a wispy white head. Some dark caramel and grains in the aroma. Starts with some caramel and leads to a hint of herbal hops. Seems to have lost the fruit in the mixing of these two.

Sample at the Creve Coeur, MO brewpub. The beer is a copper-briwn color with a thin light beige head that recedes quickly. Stringy lacing on the glass. Mild earthy malt aroma with notes of caramel and corn. Light body with flavors of sweet caramel malt and mild hops. The finish is short and sweet malt. Overall the brewer is basically taking 2 mediocre beers and somehow making them even less appealing.

This is a blending of GC’s Maibock and pale lager. Why, I don’t know. It has a nice white, frothy head, but the body is a pale yellowish brown. (Their Maibock should probably be listed as a dunkler.) The aroma starts with corn, has some chocolate, a bit of toasty malts, and ends with corn. The lighter brew dominates the flavor, corny and sweet, but the bits of bock (the dark malts and chocolate) compensate somewhat to give it a small degree of balance. This pint was both my first and last.

<font size=-4><a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/Places/ShowPlace.asp? City Food & Brewery, Orland Park, IL<font size=-1>

tap - Wickster nailed this one already. It’s a mix of a poor beer and a mediocre one. The result is of course somewhere in between. The bock definitely carries the flavor as their Northern Light is far too mild to contribute much. This brew is sweet, light bodied, and easily downed. Note: in my experience this beer was not blended by the brewers. The bartender just pulled two tap handles.

On tap at Rockford, IL.Granite City. This is a 60/40 mix of their Northern Lights and their bock beer. Pours an amber color with a small off white head. Aroma of corn and faint hint of malt. Taste is pretty much the same with a little caramel thrown in. Not bad but rather bland and uninspring.