Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
Sampled at the 2nd annual Michigan Winter Beer Fest, Lansing. AKA Framboise Lambic. Very pleasant and easy-to-drink, with Rodenbachy vinegar and musty tones paired with slightly tart raspberries. The addition of sugar at the end of the fermentation cuts the tartness too much, and gives this a bit of an alco-pop palate. Wild beer for the masses, but a good introduction to funky yeasts for drinkers not familiar with the style.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 5.5
Sampled at the 2nd annual Michigan Winter Beer Festival, Lansing. Walled off by the Founders-crazed masses, I was fettered by my need to validate something put out by GRBC. This wasn’t my answer (alas). Murky orange body, thin off-white head. Basically this started with light bourbon and a punch of generic, citrusy and piney hops, quickly thinning to a watery mess. Light, bitter finish. Everything these guys produce seems watered-down. Perhaps their spartan, stenciled banner that looked like it was drawn up an hour before the fest should have tipped me off to yet another round of disappointing beers. At least their framboise was good as usual, though they could ditch the addition of table sugar.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
Rating #1600.
Sampled at the 2nd annual Michigan Winter Beer Festival, Lansing. This booth was tough to get to, but the line was for Founders...not too much to get excited about here. Chocolatey and roasty, light bourbon flavors, and alcohol. A very thin, wispy Imperial Stout. Quick finish with little heft. Not at all impressed.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 4 | Flavor - 4 | Texture - 2 | Overall - 4
On tap at GRBC. Dick Cheney himself would blush at this beer’s lack of character and integrity. Translucent orange-brown body, thin buff head. Light nutty, toasty aroma. Bland, lifeless body with toast and light biscuit, and maybe a smidgen of chocolate. Strange watery, grainy finish. No palate development whatsoever. Served in a tulip glass, perhaps to give the impression this beer merits introspection. It’s quaffable, I must admit. It’s water.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6
On tap at GRBC. Slightly hazy straw-orange body, medium tight off-white head. Piney bitter hops nose. Biscuity body with light malt sweetness and loads of perfumey, strongly bitter, earthy hops. Outside the hopping there’s little to comment on, other than the fact that IPAs are like hamburgers- even a trained lemur can make one taste decent.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7
On tap at GRBC. Quite a bit different than the bottled version according to badnewsbeers, but I liked this quite a bit. Deep red-brown body, thin cream head. Peaty, smoky body, quite earthy with breads and touches of dark fruits and berries to fufill the "twigs ’n berries" character so typical of scotch ales. Medium-bodied, fairly rich and flavor dense for a GRBC beer. I did not detect much alcohol. Well done.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
On tap at GRBC. Orange-brown body, medium off-white head, decent carbonation. Sour, funky aroma with fruit and unfermented sugars as well as a touch of oak. Tart bite followed by sweet fruitiness, plenty of sugar, but infused with the brie cheese notes created by the wild yeast strain. My suggestion would be to lose the extra sugars added to entice the crowd that fears sour beer. Still, it’s nice that a local brewer is producing something out of the ordinary.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
On tap at GRBC. A traditional witbier, nothing out of the ordinary or "Americanized" about it. Hazy yellow-orange body, medium off-white head. Sweet orange peel aroma with notes of grass and biscuit. Grassy body with nice touches of coriander, orange peel, and clover honey. Relatively light-bodied but pleasantly so.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
Poured from a quaint little 7-ounce clear bottle. Deep red-brown (almost sanguine) body, thin/medium off-white to light cream head (my bottle doesn’t look flat). Big brown sugar, caramel, tannic aroma. Oaky sourness makes a strong impression, and the overall effect is quite English and old aleish. I could sniff this all night. Flavorwise, the oak and vanilla really dominate, with an undercurrent of brown sugar and a touch of fruit. Alcohol is also big. I was expecting a bit more character in the flavor after enjoying the aroma, but sour, tannic oak pretty much overwhelms the malts and hops, which probably should have been used in more substantial quantities to offset the wood. I still think this "works," however, and would pair nicely with a cigar. Interesting beer.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
From a growler. Deep brown body, thin tan head. Sweet chocolate aroma with hints of roast. Body is rather thin, but there are nice notes of milk chocolate and a touch of coffee cream in addition to rather light roast and earthy hops. A bit like Arcadia’s London Porter in its sweet yet earthy body. This brewery always seems like a work in progress, but this special offering has none of the metallic off-notes that plague some of the beers in their regular lineup.