Great Lakes Imperial Dortmunder - 20th Anniversary Beer

12oz bottle, enjoy by 10/08/08. Thank you 1faststi for the bottle. Clear golden amber with a one-finger offapwhite head, fair retention. Aroma of biscuits and honey up front, with a lot more alcohol than I?d have thought. Some grassy noble hops are also fairly easily identified. Flavor continues to be a little alcoholic--acetyldehyde? Enough hops kept the biscuity honey sweetness at bay, especially in the dry finish. Bitterness peaked at a 3. Low carbonation with a medium body. I appreciate the experimentation, but this beer is a testament to why there aren?t more imperial dortmunders.

2008-08-16. Crisp gold body, fluffy white head. (3+) Muted aroma, yeast, pale grains, malty, very light perfume touch. (6+) Flavour is similar, good amount of hops, floral, lightly grassy with modest bitterness - lots of noble hops. (6+) Average plus palate suit the beer. (3+) Decent, but the areas in which it excels are flavour profiles that are not to my tastes. Bottle, shared by rudolf

Pours a clear copper gold with no real head. The nose was sweet, grassy hops, light alcohol, a little corny(?), some malt background. The flavor is lightly bitter, grassy hops, sweet, has that corny taste to it as well. Regardless, it tastes like a beefed up dortmunder. Stick with the original.

Pours a dark copper gold with some red at the edges, some white bubbles appear, this looks a little more viscous then the original Dortmunder, no sediment, has malt and bread aromas of the regular Dortmunder beer along with syrup and faint honey sweetness that I find in ESLs, also, has the same hop aroma which gives some citrus, grass and hay fragrances, thought I sniffed a faint vegetable aroma in the background but it was not always there, yup, this is an ESL, has the sweet alcohol flavor and somewhat sticky texture on the tongue, some ESL are really sickly sweet on the palate, this one seems to have malt and bread flavors to balance some away from being just a sickly sweet ESL but still I found this beer to be a bit much on sweetness, anyway, I just do not like these type of beers, has some hop bitterness and grain flavors to, mouth feel is thicker and heavier then medium, I kind of wished this beer would have been brewed with a bigger aroma and flavor that encompasses the Dortmunder without the sticky sweetness but I guess that cannot happen, I love the GL Dortmunder Gold, it is one of my favorite beers but this does not shine like that at all, I am surprised Great Lakes did not chose another brew for their 20th, they are great brewers.

I know I’m a little biased because lager is not my favorite style, but my first imperial lager experience is nothing to write home about. Aroma is very faint but color is a nice dark yellowish-orange hue. Minimal head with no lacing. Taste is thick and malty; very filling. Leaves a slight tangy feel on your tongue but it leaves you with a foul aftertaste. I enjoy most Great Lakes brews, but this one just wasn’t for me.