Great Lakes Brewing Red Leaf Lager

Brewed by Great Lakes Brewing (Ontario)
Style: American Dark Lager
Etobicoke, Canada

Judging by the varied reviews this beer must vary lot to lot...that seems to explain it to me. Sampled twice at the goodbeer festival. Poured a copper color (where’s the "red" here?) slight head that disappeared fast. No real nose to it... wisps of caramelized malt where barely detected. Has a weak mouthfeel...light body some sweet malt tastes...hops subdued...quick clean finish with no aftertaste. I tried it again after sampling other beers but I got the same impression...this is as mainstream as they come...I didn’t bother with their golden horseshoe lager as I suspect it would be similarly mainstream and at this stage of the game I’m lagered out where commonplace commercial tasting extract beers are concerned. This isn’t bad but it’s not good and has no distinctive qualities...we need another mainstream bland extract beer alike another tax hike.

341ml brown bottle. Medium brown shade, thin tan head which vanishes instantly. Very light but sweet malt and caramel aroma. Flavour has a dash of malt, some brown sugar, caramel. Ends dry with some graininess. Drinkable, yet unexciting.

341 ml bottle. pours reddish brown with a small head. some malty aromas but not that nice. bland flavours. drinkable but thats it. wont buy again.

Cheap alternative to Rickards Red on tap. Not much going on, it has more flavour than a normal lager and a much nicer colour, but still fairly bland.

Deep red amber clear pour with a short creamy white head. Sweet apple and wood aroma with traces of peat moss. Looks alright but very plain. Sweet grapes and apple. Not much hop. A little earth and ..... nope nothing else. Lots of carbonation though. Bleh.

Why does the T.O. Festival of Beer have to have so many sucky beers? Creamy, frothy pour and a maple syrup colour to it, some cookie and toffee notes and a sticky body. As it warms, however, it begins to fall apart, with a cheap homebrew taste to it. Had potential but went nowhere.

Tasted at TFOB. Dark colour, I see the style here is American dark. Over carbonated composition. Light malty taste, little or no apparent hop flavour.

341ml bottle from my Ontario Craft brewers pack. Pours a dark amber colour with a large beige, almost pink head. The aroma is metallic, caramalts, and a touch of hops, with a hint of something sour? The taste is kind of bland, mostly just malts, but the finish and aftertaste is cool and refreshing. I’m never all that impressed with American dark lagers, and this is no exception. Yeah, it’s smooth and easy drinking, but would it kill them to add some sort of distinct flavour(s) at all? VeloVampire is right, the seasonal brews from Great Lakes are definitely something special respectively, but beers like this really are benign, run-of-the mill and unimpressive. Too bad.