Great Lakes Grassroots Ale

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

12 oz bottle. Pours a hazy golden color topped by a small, foamy white head that settles to a thin film. The aroma is very vegetal with hints of chamomile and an unwanted pungent smell of stewed peas. The flavor follows suit with more of the stewed peas and other weird vegetal flavors. Medium bodied with subtle carbonation and lengthy, spicy finish. This is the 2nd time I’ve had this and the first time just thought it was a bad bottle. Now I know that it’s just not good at all.

12oz bottle shared by SoLan. Pours a hazy gold with a small off-white head. Nose and flavor both dominated by vegetal canned peas. Let it sit 10 more minutes, still unpalatable. A summer 2009 release, drank in November 2009; can’t have gone bad that fast? The mouthfeel wasn’t overly carbed, so it didn’t seem like a typical infection, but some is not right here.

12 oz. bottle from The Party Source. Pours a hazy orange-gold color with a small eggshell white head and lots of visible sediments. Aroma of Belgian yeast, straw, grass, honey, citrus, coriander, farmhouse, and floral notes. Flavor is vegetal and yeasty, with notes of citrus, banana, straw, grass, dirt, and sweet malts. Medium bodied, with a dry, yeasty mouthfeel. This one is appropriately named- earthy and loyal to the farmhouse ale style. It just has an odd flavor and lingering aftertaste of grass and yeast.

Clear amber with a fleeting head. Big earthy herbal grassy celery salty aromas. Minerally vegetable herbal spice rack, dusty pale malt flavors. V8 beer. Thanks Juice for this bottle.

12 oz bottle. Pours a slightly hazy dark gold body with a small fizzy white head that retained as a thin covering. The nose is a weird mix of flowers and herbs found in the kitchen with a very light wheat and yeast accent. The flavor is just a melange of flowers and household spices with a bit of yeast and pepper on the back end. Not much of a Saison going on here I have to say. Could be worse, at least it was flavorful.

12oz. Bottle: Aroma of grass, spice, yeast, Brussels sprouts, rotting corn, lemon basil, herbs, and a hint of metal. Poured amber in color with a medium to large-sized, creamy, dense, off-white head that diminished but lasted throughout. Cloudy. Sparkling. Full of small, medium, and large-sized particles throughout. Good lacing. Flavor is lightly sweet. Tastes of Belgian yeast, pale malt, spices, rotting corn, herbs, slight coriander, lemon basil, and chamomile. Medium body. Lightly sticky texture. Soft to average carbonation. Lemon basil, chamomile, rotting corn, and slight yeast finish is slightly dry and slightly sticky.

Not a beer for the immature palate. Pours a bright orange with a bubbly off white head. very earthy aroma. A very complex taste of moss, chamomile, and coriander. also a slight citrus taste. Very Unique taste, and quite good. Great Lakes once again makes a reat beer.

Location: 12 oz bottle from jcos, 10/26/09

Aroma: Quite a fragrant citrusy, farmhouse nose, its got some lemon, spice, and some vegetal earthiness
Appearance: It pours a hazy yellow color with a creamy white head with good retention
Flavor: The flavor is a really rather citrusy sweet, similar to the nose, but with much less earthy funk
Palate: The body on this one is medium, and this beer has a nice smooth mouthfeel
Overall Impression: This is one of those beers that’s nose gives one impression, but that’s flavor is quite a bit different. I liked them both though. The nose works pretty well, and so does the flavor. I actually thought this one was a little underrated when I looked at the score. It’s a pretty nice beer.

**Just submitted a Photo for this one as well, as it was missing one.