Great Lakes Miami Weiss - Great Lakes Brewery

peensteen

Ontario (Canada)

3.93/5  rDev -0.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Had a 8oz glass at the session craft beer festival.

Looks like an average Hefe Weisen nothing spectacular in terms of looks, unfiltered so its nice and cloudy. The smell is out of this world thick with yeast and exploding with hops smells more like an IPA that a Hefe weisen, blew me away in that category. The taste is where this comes to shine. Has all the citrus and spice notes typical of a wheat beer but with a generous hop kick. Very easy to drink excellent beer for the season even though it was raining at this particular morning (the sun did come out when they started pulling the cask of My Bitter Wife though) I hope they keep brewing this.

Get a pint if you see this on tap. This is truly a wheat beer for the IPA lover.

Serving type: bottle

07-17-2010 04:41:12 | More by peensteen

Derek

British Columbia (Canada)

3.98/5  rDev +0.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

I've had this a few times now... about time I reviewed it.

A: Hazy, golden bronze, white head, good retention lace.

S: Huge amarillo hop aroma with some nice tropical fruity esters.

T: Plenty of leafy hop goodness, but I think it could use a touch more 'flavour' hops to round it out. It just doesn't have the same depth as a Gumball head. Good bitterness.

M: Smooth, moderate body has a light acidity and a dry finish.

D: Hell of a drinker.

This is a great American wheat, and a very sessionable strength.

Serving type: bottle

07-06-2010 00:33:36 | More by Derek

eat

Quebec (Canada)

3.65/5  rDev -7.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Bottle picked up recently from the brewery. This stuff pours beautifully, with no shortage of rocky meringue-like head. I'd say this beer ties with Dennison's Weisse for best head in Ontario. I guess that's fairly typical for bottle conditioned beers. The body is opaque and a dull-straw colour. Great retention and tons of lacing.

The nose almost lives up to the appearance with loads of banana, lemon rind, pineapple, guava, celery, light caramel and spice. This actually smells fairly similar to Schneider's Hopfen Weisse, recently released by the LCBO.

The flavour is a bit of a let down, to be honest; but only given the expectation set up here. There's a pretty solid grassy bitterness, but it's not completely balanced out by anything else; sort of left on its own. There's not really much weisse character coming through, it almost comes off as a hoppy pale ale lacking in malt. Under the hops is some light grain and a pepperiness (celery-like) but no significant malt. The finish leaves some lingering, drying herbal bitterness. This one could definitely use some tinkering. I like the hops but there needs to be more of everything else. All that said, it's not too too bad.

The feel sort of average: light-medium body and moderate carbonation.

I can't remember having tried many beers where the appearance and nose were so far off from the quality of the taste. Strange. They have you expecting an amazing beer only to find a mediocre one. Still, it's pretty drinkable. I'd be interested to try a reworked version of this beer. Otherwise, I don't think I'll be picking it up again.

Serving type: bottle

07-04-2010 05:24:43 | More by eat

kwjd

Ontario (Canada)

4.1/5  rDev +3.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Had on cask at C'est What. Pours a golden-yellow with a nice white head that sticks around. Had a nice citrus hop aroma that I wasn't expecting, to go with the wheat. Tastes of grapefruite hops, banana and some other fruits were mixed in there. Very delicious.

This actually reminded me a little bit of Gumballhead. Not as good, but still the slight reminder means this is a really good beer.

Serving type: cask

06-30-2010 18:26:26 | More by kwjd

pootz

Ontario (Canada)

3.83/5  rDev -3.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Bottle: I'm told this is bottle conditioned but I assume this is cask brew finished in the bottle rather than the a cask.

Pours a cloudy golden ale in the flute with a solid puffy cap...great lacing. Nice soft natural carbonation. Aroma is unique for a Weizen this has a pungent bouquet of fruity esters mingled with PNW hops; exotic fruits-banana-citrus...light biscuit aroma. Soft mouth feel... biscuity, citrus resinous hopping, dry citrusy finish. Bright flavors but not the fruit basket the aroma promised...lacking spice phenols.

I got a couple of these and I suspect as a bottle conditioned weiss it may take a couple more weeks to have all the flavors develop. I'll sample it again then.

Serving type: bottle

04-21-2010 23:47:49 | More by pootz

bobsy

Ontario (Canada)

3.73/5  rDev -5.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

First bottle conditioned beer in Ontario (to the best of my knowledge), so this is quite the coup for Great Lakes. It was originally brewed for a Project X cask night that I missed, but fortunately they bottled some only last week. From what I've heard it was intended as the brewery's take on Gumballhead, so I'm expecting a hopped-up beast that transcends the style guidelines.

Hazy amber body with a creamy white head that puts down some good streaks of lace. Awesome nose - resinous and fruity with strong pine, mango, pineapple and tangerine notes. Really a great one to breathe into. Flavour is decent, but can't live up to the heights of the aroma. A slightly generic bitterness takes on a leafy nature, and the fruit drops out almost completely, though light pineapple flits in and out. Strong malt and wheat backbone provides support and substance. Medium body and carb.

Pretty decent, and a nice drinker, though it misses out on the top tier by struggling to deliver on the promise of the aroma. I like the direction these guys are heading though, and not many Ontario brewers are willing to up the bitterness as high as it is here.

Serving type: bottle

04-19-2010 13:31:50 | More by bobsy