Great Lakes Lake Erie Monster Double IPA

Brewed by Great Lakes Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Cleveland, Ohio USA

Bottle, courtesy crizay. Pours an amber-dark golden color, nice initial head, fades quickly, yet still provides decent lacing. The aroma is fruity, some floral, definite pine/resinous prominence, and even citrus notes. Malt profile asserts itself in the flavor, much more "balanced" then the previously consumed Manalishi directly before this, bready malts, earthy grain aspects, fruity flavors all accompanying the hop profile already described in the aroma. Mouthfeel is moderate for the style, a nice concoction. Thanks, Chris!

Bottle courtesy of Puddintane. Not much hop aroma with this one. Minimal head. Somewhat sour finish. Hops presence felt more as it warms. Average IIPA.

Received in mystery swap 2.0, poured with a nice copper color, some floaties. Can’t believe this is 9%. Plenty of hop bitterness, but the malt in this one is just right,very nice aftertaste, clean on the tongue, Very drinkable, wish I could get this often, and I’m only an hour or two from San Diego!

Tosa gathering, bottles provided by the Ohio crew: Hazy golden hue with a small frothy head and okay lace. The aroma has notes of fresh pine, grapefruit, mango, pepper, clove, biscuit and earthy esters and vapours. There is a big initial hop bitterness and acidity supported in the middle by a sweet malt background. A nicely worked spicy finish rounds off the palate. The mouth feel is biting and aggressive with a dry metallic finish. This is really nice, once again Great Lakes steps up and hits a homer. A vastly underrated brewery IMO.

Red side of amber with a large head that didn’t stick around too long and left a thin film. The aroma has a strong amber and caramel malt aroma and a nice subtle but strong blast of floral and bitter hops. The flavor has some more of that nice amber malt and a great big hop profile. Floral to begin with then a hint of pine and some lingeri g bitterness that is very flowery.

Thanks for sharing, iowaherkeye. The body was cloudy orange with a light khaki head. The aroma was fairly subtle grapefruit with some apples. I couldn’t smell much else, but it was nice. The taste was rich caramel with some grapefruit and hints of pine. This was nice and balanced with hints of pine. My type of IIPA.

Bottle generously shared by Dickinsonbeer at jjpm74’s gathering. Poured golden with a white head. Sharp aroma of grassy hops with lemony citrus, intense and nice. Flavor is a strong sweet malt backbone supporting sharp notes of grassy and citrusy hops. More balanced between malt and hops than the Wiillimantic and with more good hop flavor. Very nice and drinkable double IPA.

Bottle shared with Hogtown Harry, his bottle. Dark hazy orange, rust, really dark, thick foamy white head. Looks great. Weak aroma - some citrus. Very weird taste - all orange citrus, english style caramel malt up front and then wham! Spicy citrus hops. Reminds me of a UK style Barleywine. Almost tasted a little stale, but we confirmed this was a very fresh bottle, so I guess those are the hops?? Weird stuff, I can’t say I really enjoyed it, even though there was lots going on.