Great Lakes Burning River Pale Ale

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

12 ounce bottle from Barley and Hops. Pours a clear copper color with a medium white head. A sweet bready aroma, caramel and light hops. A nice flavor; easygoing, bready sweet caramel malts, light hops, refreshing. Enjoyable.

A - Pale, ripe citrus, hop, grain, caramel, malty bread undertones, and soap. Smells IPA for the most part. A - Clear orange with short lived rocky white head, receded into a foam. T - Light and fruity. Great variety. Citrus and piney hops, caramel. Kind of generic, papery caramel malt/grain base in the middle, that lets the hop character really shine. Starts citrus, mid caramel and malty, and finishes with a slight few-second bitter that fades to cloying malt. Will not deduct there. It tones things down a bit, but delivers as part of the whole. P - This packs a nice bite @ 65 IBUs. Good body, medium-thinnish. Very session able to me, though slightly filling. 6% not an issue here. Nice. O - As for price and value. EXCELLENT. As an IPA. Close, but no cigar. As a Pale Ale, pretty F’n good. Don’t let the ratings fool you, this is only SLIGHTLY above average, though I’m thankful for the distribution, price, and availability. I could do quite a few of these out of bottle, without noticing. Hits just about everything on my flavor agenda. Could appeal to the masses. Kind of sticky. Malt a bit off somewhere. No Alpha King. But deserves a respectable rating.

Pours a crisp gold color, with a big frothy white head. Big piney crisp citrus hop aroma fills the air. Very zesty. The flavor is quite similar, great hop bite and bitterness for this pale ale. Nice grapefruit citrus aftertone with hints of malt character as well. Nice little alcohol presence too as the 8% is evident. I quite enjoyed it!

Tap at a little burrito shop in Davis, WV called Hellbender. Amber color, white head. A very welcoming hopped aroma with hints of grapefruit. Flavor is a nice soft caramel malt. All followed by a sharp bitterness. A bit too sharp for me to really enjoy this beer. I got it down, just a bit too off balance for my palate that particular day. 25 oct 09

Marketed as a Pale Ale, really this is an IPA ( GL already has an IPA, commodore Perry). Pours a pale amber. heavily hopped, hints of pine. good palate, but very "sticky" on the lips. great notches formed upon drinking. A truly unique taste.

Beer acquired from trip to Westlake in September. Decent appearance for an IPA, but not super great. Aroma is light. Pretty good flavor, but not amazing. Smooth drinking IPA. I give this beer about a 7 overall.

(Bottle, Monk’s Café, Wallingatan, Stockholm) Pale amber colour with frothy, beige head. Fruity, floral, hoppy nose with orange peel, grapefruit and grainy malt. Fruity, floral taste with notes of orange peel, grapefruit, grainy malt and fresh hops in the finish. Medium body, fairly dry. Lovely balance between the subtle grainy malt and the citrussy hop character. Nice beer.

I’m not getting the high ratings. Ok malty APA that did not do much for me in terms of hops or taste.