Great Lakes Lake Erie Monster Double IPA

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

Pours a mostly clear red amber but with some sediment. The aroma is sticky hops and a sweetened malt. The cloying sweetness of the malt is a bit of a detractor from the overall drinkability, but good.

Bottle. Pours a orangey dominated amber with a good head appearance. Nose is subdued pine and citrus. Flavor is very well balanced for my tastes, nice hop profile in conjunction with the their malty counterparts. Also the sweetness added to the overall flavor combination. Really like this one. It was the best of a 6 IIPA tasting. Thanks to jeffmw for the bottle.

On tap @ GLBC and 22 oz bottle 5/22/07: Orange colored liquid w/ a lasting off white head and alcohol legs on the glass. Big hop aromas of pine, citrus and floral! Also a bit resiny. The toasty and bready malts also come through and evens out the aroma as it warms. Just a touch of caramel. Some light alcohol notes, and pretty clean of fruity esters, other than hops & alcohol. Very well balanced flavor w/ bready malts and resiny/piney/citrusy hops. Starts a bit sweet, and finishes lightly bitter and semi dry. Some slightly chewy malts up front and light caramel, but has a lightly bitter and earthy herbal hop aftertaste.. Fuller medium body, lower CO2, warming alcohol. A pretty good, well balanced IIPA. Not as hoppy as some (good thing for me), but I think more well balanced than most overall between bitterness and flavor.

Bomber sampled at Hopdog’s basement bar with Hopdog, Jasonmech77, and TomDecapolis. I had been seeking this one out recently and was enthusiastic about trying this one. Pours a hazy amber with an off white head. Mouthfeel has some a very faint syrupy texture. Initial flavor of pale malt, which is sweet with hints of toffee. The middle has a solid, but not overdone fresh hop bitterness. Semi-dry hoppy finish. This was good, but I had higher hopes for this since it was coming from Great Lakes.

22 oz. bottle via trade with sliffy - Pours a hazy amber color with a 3/4 finger thick off white head. Light spotty lacing. Aroma is floral, pine, and citrus hops. Flavor has a good bit of malt sweetnes with some hops in the background. Thick mouthfeel. Medium body. I was hoping for a little more, still a good beer. Thanks Dan.

22oz bottle acquired in trade with OhioDad (thanks for answering my call for this one!). Poured a medium and cloudy amber color with an averaged sized off white head. Aromas of pine, all around juicy, sugary, and caramel. Tastes of light pine, caramel, sugary, and citrus. Alcohol content well hidden. Definitely on the sweeter side.

Bottle. Thanks to jsquire for sending me this and to hopdog for sharing his bottle. Pours a cloudy light orange body with thin head. Light candy aroma - hops. Taste is a jumble of hops, yeast, a little sugary, caramel. This one wasn’t bad but with all the things this beer has, it doesn’t seem to work that well. It was more of a hop mess.

Thanks to hopdog for sharing this. Pours a hazy deeper orange with a smaller bubbly off white head. Aroma of pine, sugary malts, earthy, yeasty and grapefruit. Flavors of the same. Smooth and alcohol well hidden.