Hello everybody and welcome back to the Brew Review.
Let’s start off with a little site update today. The site is growing pretty well, although a lot of you early commentators have started doing more lurking that commenting so start commenting again, and we definitely wouldn’t mind if you told your friends. We were able to secure our first sponsor so thanks again to Chris Hedges for forking over some of your hard earned dough to advertise on our site. We have got a really big promotion coming up with Old Chicago Pizza in Merrillville and Champaign; details coming soon. And we will be at the Brickworks Brew Pub in Hobart on Friday filming a tasting with the brewmaster and hanging out enjoying some good brews, so come on down to see us. Finally this will hopefully be one of the last 3 written reviews as I am going to be trying to move on to video reviews, I just need to buy a viddler account so that I can upload more than 500MB a month though.
On to the beer. In today’s review I taste another Hoosier beer; Indiana based Mischawaka Brewing Company’s Lake Effect Pale Ale. Just about finished up with my Indiana sampler pack and overall I have been pretty happy with what my states brews have to offer. The Lake Effect Pale ale is a good effort, and although the packing is kind of lame I enjoyed the beer.
About Lake Effect Pale Ale
My Review
The Pour
Lake Effect had a decent pour, nothing too exciting. A very deep golden color with a small head and no lacing. I thought this beer was a little light in color for a Pale Ale, but they do come in all shapes and sizes.
The Nose
The nose was dominated by malts with a hint of hops, but again less that what I would have expected from a Pale Ale. It was a bit aromatically challenged and I see hope the palate comes through big because I am already a little dissapointed.
The Palate
I said it before Lake Effect is a good effort. It is a solid beer that is absolutely drinkable and you and your friends will enjoy it, but it lacks on my palate. It is missing some of the finer points that I would need to give it a big score.
Caramel malts dominated on my palate. Some biscuity malts where in there too. I have no problem with a malty pale ale, but I generally looking for the malts to be the base, the foundation to a big hoppy finish and that just wasn’t the case. To me the hops are basically non existent until the very end of the swallow were you get a little skunky aftertaste. Which always leads me to wonder if the hops are European? It wouldn’t surprise me at all as European hops generally don’t’ have the big pine needle flavoring that was lacking in this beer.
The Rating
Definitely a solid effort, but it stands in the middle of the pack. There is absolutely nothing wrong with it so it doesnt’ get failing marks. 3 out of 5 beers.
Find out more about Lake Effect by visiting the Mishawaka Brewing Company. And be sure to subscribe and comment on this article.
OUTSTANDING on the upcoming events. That is awesome. Looks like you are going to have a good run at this. Are you doing some off-line marketing for it as well? And I would assume that each establishment will be promoting as well.
Good to hear you are moving to video. Let’s see your mug up on the screen tasting these wonderful beers. Should add a lot of personality to your blog and the presentations as well.
As for the review, I notice that you are really stepping your game up talking about the pallet and taste that you are experiencing. Good to see you growing. Might have to check out one of those sample packs you are buying and see what I like and don’t like.
Looking forward to your current top 5 beers and the updates.