Conway’s Irish Ale
Great Lakes Brewing Co. – Cleveland, OH
6.5% ABV

Before I begin, I’d like to note that this is the 100th post on midwestbeer.com.  We’d like to thank you all for coming back day after day to read our thoughts and reviews on craft beer happenings in the midwest.  We hope to continue doing this for many hundreds of posts to come…

Great Lakes is not a craft brewery anyone should ignore.  They consistently produce exceptional, high quality craft beers.  Eliot Ness and Nosferatu are both on my personal must-have list.  And as you may have read late last year, their Christmas Ale rated best in our 12 Day Seasonal Beer Review.  We’ve also recently mentioned that the brewery has now expanded twice in two years, much to our pleasure.

I recently enjoyed my first Conway’s Irish Ale, and while I will say it’s not my favorite brew from Great Lakes, it certainly is another solid offering from an excellent brewery.

Pour was an expected red amber color, with beautiful crystal-clear clarity.  Head was just slightly off-white with good to average retention.  The aroma managed to remain a bit on the reclusive side.  Some heavy sniffing detected malt up front, and a possible hint of caramel for those with time and imagination.

There was more flavor delivered than the aroma indicated.  Malt and caramel are neatly balanced with some dry, grassy, and pine flavors.  Mouthfeel is smooth, becoming crisp with a mild tingling sensation toward the end.  The first several sips showed the lacing to be prevalent, clinging and drying to the side of the glass.

Overall I can’t fault this beer.  I typically prefer Reds that are not of the Irish variety.  But I’m not surprised it was Great Lakes that may make me reconsider that.  It would seem that no matter what style you prefer, they have something for you, and then some.

Eriq – 3 of 5

Style – Doppelbock
Great Lakes Brewing Co. – Cleveland, OH
7.8% ABV

Our “Not WI” review period continues with the Great LakesBrewing Co. “The Dopplerock.” When Drew Carey declared week after week that “Cleveland Rocks!” he had to be talking about The Doppelrock. This malty wonderland is brewed in the tradition of the Reinheitsgebot and it shows, there is no pretensions. This is one of the best straight Doppelbocks I have ever had. It rivals the Ayinger Celebrator. It’s that good.

A month or so ago I had reported that this was being released, and wished that it would be brought to Wisconsin, as I had not yet seen any of their special releases other than the Christmas beer. Well, thanks to eriq’s expedition to a local Woodman’s, he found some!

This fully rich malty well balanced nectar  pours a nice clear ruby red color with a thick tan head that sicks around for awhile. The aroma is malty, sweet and caramely. The flavor greets you with a sweet, rich malty goodness, with a slight spice and hints of coffee and nuttiness. It’s a fairly potent beer at 7.8% but it doesn’t taste alcoholy, which is a good thing. Mouthfeel is velvety smooth with a slight carbonation. This is a very drinkable beer. I tasted the beer from cold to warm, and it carried all the way through, as any truly good beer should be able to do.

I hope Great Lakes starts to make this a regular, as it is such a satisfying brew. I can’t wait to find some more, as there is no Woodman’s near me. I had this from a bottle, I can only imagine how good it would be from the tap! This continues the tradition of Great Lakes making great beers. Hopefully their recent expansion will allow this.

Brittain – 5 of 5

Great Lakes Brewing Company is at it again! Thay have installed 5 more 300 barrel tanks after having just expanded the rest of the brewing facilities last summer. From their Facebook page:

Five 300-barrel stainless steel fermentation tanks installed in GLBC’s Tank Farm on 3-4-11. These tanks are crane-lifted off of Carroll Avenue in Ohio City and installed through the roof of GLBC’s Tank Farm.

Just last summer, GLBC’s brewing operations underwent a $7M expansion and upgrade that included a new centrifuge, brewhouse additions, filler, rinser, conveyors and packaging efficiency improvements, a new grain silo, flooring and piping and the installation of four additional storage and fermentation tanks. This installation represents the latest phase in the brewery’s overall expansion project. Read more »