Lakefront Eastside Dark

Brewed by Lakefront Brewery
Style: Dunkel
Milwaukee, Wisconsin USA

Very mild aroma. Slightly smoky flavor with pronounced hoppiness. Very drinkable

The aroma has herbal hops (mint), coffee, raisins, toasted malt, and caramel. The appearance is dark red/brown with a small head. The flavor is sour and not much like a Dunkel except for the very faint chocolate and toasty qualities. The palate is thin with a bitter aftertaste. This is not a good beer and closer to a Lambic than a Dunkel in taste. And what’s up with the commercial description? It doesn’t even come close to describing the taste of this beer. Do the marketing people even taste this stuff?

(12oz bottle, bottled 1st week November) Creamy, medium beige head. Aroma is medium sweet, metallic, some coffee, light caramel. Taste is medium sweet, coffee/roast, caramel, some earthy/grapefruit, light metallic. Light-medium body, light acidity.

Slight malty aroma. Copper red appearance with a moderate off white head that disappears quickly. Weak caramel taste. Slight creamy on the tongue that becomes watery at the bottom of the glass. Uneventful with a nasty after taste as the glass empties. What were they thinking when they made this stuff?

12 oz. bottle, "Bottled during Feb." Nice dunkel smell in my tumbler, a bit of phenol perhaps, no yeasties. Darker ruby color than most stuff passing itself off as "dark beer." Column of bubbles supporting a thin creamy head. Taste has some toffee and caramel grains to it. Now, I let this sit for 15 minutes while doing other computer stuff, and found this somehow settled to a lightly carbonated, almost cask type texture. Not quite the coffee roast they claim, but still pretty smooth and enjoyable. Then again, this may be an older bottle.

Bottle. Classic lager smell, like I just sat down at a Wisconsin German restaurant. Sweet and malty aroma with hints of plums and raisins that also show up in the flavor. Pours a sparkling, gold-tinted brown color with a medium amount of gray/beige head. Sharp, almost sour hop taste balances the fruity, malty sweetness. There is also a smokiness from the roasted malt. Pleasant coffee-like bitter aftertaste, reminiscent of a porter. Clean, crisp, drinkable, and refreshing in the palate. Despite its classic German scent and the fact that it is a brown lager, Eastside Dark tastes remarkably like a brown ale. Still, the lingering lager character makes this an unusually satisfying brew and one well worth trying.

Lighter appearance than I was expecting. Light coffee aroma which, upon hitting the tongue, disappoints. Slight caramel character to it, but the hops just don’t seem to balance this one out. Eh, average in all respects.

Translucent toast-colored body, thin off-white head. Toasty aroma with caramel and brown sugar. Cerealy sweet body with toasty notes and light hops bitterness. A pretty good sip.