Great Lakes Eliot Ness

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

Draught @ Cole’s. Clear amber with thick off-white head. Bright hoppy aroma over a bready body. Quaffable with medium carbonation. Nice bready character. Diggin it.

16-Feb-06 (12 oz bottle: Obtained 01-Nov-05 in trade with OhioDad, thanks Scott!) "Enjoy by 30-Nov-05" but it’s been in my fridge for the 3 months I’ve had the beer, so I should be fine. With the first sip, it’s caramely and mildly sweet, more flavorful than most other amber lagers, but not just being sweet and caramely. Better balance, too, provided by a mild bitterness. While the beer isn’t nearly as earthy and mushroomy like the last time I tried this beer, I have to admit, after several sips, mild earthy flavors start to build on the palate. Medium bodied from the start right through to the finish, so no thinning with this beer. Medium amber color, good clarity, a finger’s width worth of off-white head on the pour settles to a ring after several minutes. A very solid amber lager, possibly one of the best I’ve tried.

01-Oct-05 (12 oz bottle: Obtained in trade with bkelley68, thanks Brian!) Uh oh, I kind of lost track of this beer, and now it’s seen significant time in the bottle, so I guess we’ll see how well this has aged over the past year. Well, it has a fairly pungent and earthy aroma. And the flavor is earthy, malty, sweet and mushroomy. Medium bodied. Deep amber in color. The light tan head pours to an average size and settles to a small ring, leaving only a few spots of lace. So it’s aged fine by my tastes, but it’s clearly not the same beer, so I should rerate this at some point.

No aroma. Color was med-dark brown, with no head. Color was consistent. Flavor was malty. “Rich malt flavor,” and a little sweet. More “amber” than “lager. ” Slightly dry finish. Palate was not too bad, not too good. Overall, it is what it says. Clearly more of an more amber than lager. Sweet and malty, and not my style.

Hard to believe I haven’t rated this - good thing I grabbed some on the way through Ohio - this is very malt-forward, even for a vienna, but it’s got a nice buttery character, and some biscuity dryness on the back that acts as a good transition to the beer’s hoppy finish - a bit of fruity character and nutty qualities throughout - this brewery does great things with lagers.

The beer after seceding from the bottle pours a deep translucent burnished copper color, the head cyclopean in size, the texture spumescent and the color a resplendent light tan with the lace a glutinous sheet to eclipse the glass. Nose is a slightly musky with a big malt sweet backing and the start mildly sweet with a pleasing malt presence, the top moderate in its feel to the palate. Finish is pesky in its acidity, the hops bountiful and pleasing in their spiciness, droughty aftertaste that lingers long on the palate, a great beer from a great brewery.

Clear, cherrywood red-brown. Nice malty aroma. Sweet and woody, mildly astringent. Goes a bit milky towards the finish. Fruit, mild sourness. Biscuits and trace cocoa. Surprisingly complex - a bit of an ABV sting here and there. Smooth and tangy finish, medium body.

Clear caramel color with a small white head. Sweet caramel and floral hop aroma. Light caramel flavor with lots of floral hops.

A beer that is much better drank cold. Started out with rich malts backup by strong german earthy hop pressence, very smooth, lots of caramel and cookie flavors... as it warmed it lost pretty much all hops and was overcome by almond and cookie flavors. Not bad warm at all but not as strong.