Great Lakes Grassroots Ale

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

Pours gold, with a white head. Aroma is not good, like bad veggies. Flavor is not quite as bad, but it sure isn’t good. This is just not good, and I’m surprised they actually released this from the brewery.

Pours golden with a white head. Lots of sediment in the pour and carbonation in the body. Dear lord, this beer smells like vomit. Aroma is of regurgitated malt, spice, grass clippings, and soap. This is going to be goddamned awful. Taste is of dusty malt, spice, rotten fruit, a big bag of wet yard waste, soap, and possibly butthole. Lingering rotten fruit taste. Finish is very peppery and harsh. Mouthfeel is fizzy and hard to get down. Absolutely horrible. No redeeming qualities.

12 oz. bottle via trade with miketd - Pours a hazy light golden color with a one finger thick off white head that lasts. Very light lacing. Aroma is yeast, spice, and herbal hops. Has a vegetable flavor. Medium body. Leaves a odd aftertaste. This beer is different for sure. Thanks Mike.

Blah...what a weird beer. I love beers that are experimental like this, but I just don’t love THIS one. Aroma was aswesome. Lemon, coriander, grass and flowers. Very complex. Pour was also a cloudy medium gold with lots of rising bubbles and a two finger white head. Taste was not as interesting. Very muddled with too much going on. Thick and syrupy mix of flowers, lemon and a strong vegetal aftertaste. Tastes like liquified grass, flowers and cooked carrots. Decent carbonation but that thick mouthfeel hurts.

Pours golden yellow with a white head that clings to the glass well. Aroma of grass, old straw, and some dying flowers. Also, frozen peas. Flavor is spicey with a huge vegetal note. Literally tastes like a heap of cooked vegetables. This is bascally fucking awful and i can’t believe I have a six pack of this. Generally, I’m not the biggest fan of this brewery, but their stuff is atleast drinkable. This shit is not.

12 oz bottle (2009) in a shaker; pours a slightly hazy golden yellow w/ a foamy shampoo (white) head that rapidly diminishes into standard lacing; aroma/odor is of chamomile, coriander, lemon and most overwhelming, green beans; flavor is again dominated by green beans, cabbage and other veggies- pretty awful tasting to be perfectly honest; medium in the mouth, ending w/ a long kick of that awful green beans flavor. I maintain that Great Lakes is one of the more underrated breweries out there and their beers are always solid, but this begged for the drain halfway through. Their categorization of a saison is a bit much- lacks the subtlety to be a saison. Expected better stuff from these folks.

Bottle. Hazy, dark gold body below a rapidly diminishing white head. Sweet aroma with hints of coriander, lemon, brown sugar, grain. The flavor is moderately sweet and lightly bitter. It finishes moderately sweet and lightly to moderately bitter. Medium body, syrupy texture and lively carbonation. Not a lot of depth to this beer. Way too thick, sweet and wet in the finish for a saison and uninspired for a spice/herb beer. Not a drain pour, just disappointing. Great Lakes makes some great beers. This is not one of them.

[Tap] Pours a golden yellow with a thin white head. Bananas dominated the aroma with a little spice coming through. Taste was very much like a light wit beer. Yeast and spice up front with some citrus accents. Mouthfeel was thicker than I expected and a touch on the oily side The finish was clean but left a faint "filmy" feel on the tongue. Not a bad beer, but was completely different than any other Great Lakes brew.