Great Lakes Eliot Ness

Brewed by Great Lakes Brewing Company
Style: Vienna
Cleveland, Ohio USA

Thanks polomagnifico. Pours a very nice pretty auburn with a billowing creamy tan head. Smells like autumn, leaves, sweet malt, caramel, pumpkin, sweet spice. The flavor is nice and malty, sweet malts, light grassy hops, pumpkin meat, easy to drink. The palate is a little strange, absolutely zero carbonation in my sample despite the profuse head.

Bottle but I see from other raters can get this on tap, would like to have it on tape also and re-rate. Amber pour Lager, small head nice lacing but disappears quick. Malt and hops mix with a crisp kind of bitter sweet finish. Another from a sampler pack, would like to try this again.

Pours dark amber with a thick frothy tan head. Aroma of malt and molasses. Malt and yeast flavor that turns into a dry hop finish. Light to medium body. Overall a good lager.

It looked pretty...that much I’ll say for it. A deep amber/red pour with a thick head. The aroma was very wheaty and malty. To this point, it seemed as if it would be a terrific drink. Sadly, while the finish was crisp and clean, it tasted very much like rubbing alcohol with a bit of malt and hops mixed in. Judging by the other reviews on this board, I am certainly in the minority, but I’ve tried this drink on several occasions from both tap and bottle and my opinion hasn’t been changed. Not a drink a recommend and, in my opinion, far inferior to a number of offerings from the same brewery.

If a pour can be described as ’pretty’, this is that pour: garnet red with a very thick white head that diminishes pretty quick and leaves very nice lacing. Light wheat and caramel malt aroma. Flavor is more intense than the aroma with a bready flavor up front that quickly translates into a hoppy mixture with pretty strong bitterness. The finish has a great residual sweetness from the caramel malt flavors, one of the better finishes I’ve had in some time! Light, yet smooth on the palate with some slight oiliness. I’ve had a few other offerings by GL in the past, but this is the first one I’ve rated, and I don’t think I can remember one better than the Ness!

Draft at Fatheads in Pittsburgh. Pours a very nice copper amber with a thin off white wisp of a head. Faint bready aroma. Lots of wet grain and bread up front, but that is countered by a nice Noble hop bitterness. There is just the right amount of residual sweetness to compliment the hops. Finish is smooth and clean, with some subtle toastiness. This a very solid and enjoyable Vienna, right up there with Triumph and Boulevard, which are some of my favorite Viennas.

A good amber ale to have any time. Pours a nice red brown color. The head is slight and is an off white color. The flavor is very smooth and consists of a malt and sugar with a somewhat bread like finish.

Bottle dated 2/16/08. Clear amber color with puffy off-white head. Malty, caramel aroma. The flavor is along those lines as well but has a nice hop balance. Finish is fairly dry. The body is medium with average amount of carbonation. It doesn’t come across as too light or too rich.