Here it is, the brew porn! These are the beers I drank or heavily sampled. Below each beer shot is my tasting notes and impressions. The photo captions have metrics and a description from Great Lakes Brewing Company’s tap list. Let me know what you think of the format in the comments!

Bock is quite simply one of my favorite beer styles. I see a bock and I order it. That said, they can go awry, and a bad bock is awful. Great Lakes Brewing Co. makes the Rockefeller Bock, and it is amazing! The smoothness of this beer, made with lagering yeast, is delightfully apparent; beautifully bottom fermented. A wonderfully thick feel to the beer conveys caramel and toasty flavors from the malt, dark but not too dark. The finish is really well balanced and leaves an almost butterscotch aftertaste on the tongue. I strongly recommend this beer for any fans of malty beers, people who don’t like hoppy beers, or lovers of bock like me. Bocks go great with strong food like sausages or other seasoned meats. They provide a balancing sweetness to a savory meal, but overpower more delicate flavors.

Belgian ales are characteristically fruity and floral. This signature flavor is produced by the strain of yeast used during fermentation, truly amazing critters! The Abbey Ave. Dubbel is a very well rounded dubbel. Sweet, strong and with a slight sourness, the beer has a lovely cloudiness coveted in Belgians. I could taste bananas, mangos, and a hint of apple from the yeast’s contribution. The carbonation was light and champagne like. The finish was slightly bitter which may have indicated the Belgian was served younger than my preference, as the beer will mellow with age. A great example of a Belgian dubbel. I don’t usually have dubbels with a meal, simply because they can be quite overpowering. The strong sweetness makes them an excellent after dinner drink. I occasionally enjoy a dubbel for dessert. If it tastes strongly of bananas, I like to pour it over my cereal for breakfast. Ok, the cereal thing was a joke, but I feel the pairing potential of a strong Belgians has yet to be tapped. Like dubbel and Bananas Foster, using a rich dubbel in place of banana liqueur called for by some recipies. I feel like dubbel and curry could go places, or even a beernana bread. I’ll keep thinking on this for future posts.

Eliot Ness Amber Lager is the beer I had with my meal. Ambers are perfect with almost any food because they don’t shock the pallet, but at the same time contend with a range of foods. Great Lakes Brewing Company’s amber lager hits the amber malty goodness perfectly. It’s a not too dark and not to light smooth lager, truly drinkable. I strongly recommend this beer to american light beer (Bud, Miller, etc.) lovers looking for an introduction to craft beer, people who like amber beer, or just as a beer to quench a thirst for beer.

I must make a confession. I drank these beers in the wrong order, from a tasting perspective. Irish reds are much more subtle in flavor than the other beers and food I had had to this point. It’s like trying to enjoy fireworks right after traveling to outer space to see a supernova. They are all great, but the magnitudes are very different. The beer has a pleasant malty taste, but it was a little too neutral for when I was drinking it. If I were to find myself back at Great Lakes Brewing Co. when Conway’s Irish Ale is on tap I would open with it before moving on to stronger beers. So much craft beer is strong in alcohol and flavor, I forget that some things on a tap list may need to be enjoyed with deference.

An excellent dessert beer, the Rackhouse Ale is aged in bourbon barrels. The sweet, rich, and malty taste makes me wonder if they forgot to empty the barrel of the bourbon before aging the ale. The beer is thick, almost unctuous. A surprisingly smooth finish for a beer this strong, and not a hint of bitterness. The sweetness, the chocolatey roast, and the maltiness leave a playful aftertaste of a chocolate malted milkshake. A great adult beverage to bring out one’s inner child. I highly recommend this to anyone looking for a strong sweet drink!

-Peter