Review: Lakefront Brewery Fixed Gear American Red Ale

Brewery:  Lakefront Brewery

Locale:  Milwaukee, WS

Craft Circa:  1987

Style:  American Red Ale

ABV:  6.5%

IBUs:  34

UPDATE:  2012 GAFB Silver medalist for American-Style Amber / Red Ale

Label:  A good or bad thing that the labels of Lakefront are inconsistent.  Hard to spot Lakefront brews in a crowd. 

Overall:   Where were you in 1987?  I was cheering on Barry Bonds as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates before his neck became the size of a mutant experiment gone wrong.  I believe my favorite song at the time was “The Gambler”.  And I believe I was taking my first sip of beer from my dad’s MGD.  Well Lakefront Brewery was brewing beers.  Now when the American Red Ale hit the market I haven’t a clue; but it’s a fair beer.  Where else you going to find ‘fair’ and ‘Barry Bonds’ in the same paragraph on the world wide web?

It’s slightly bold and smooth as it should be for a Red.  It came off initially a tad sour, but mellowed out as you progress.  The flavor comes and goes, and actually as I was typing up some notes a flavor or two popped up like an arcade gopher.  At one point I even got a hint of something that may have come from a whisky barrel.  I know that isn’t the case, but this is a learning process for pinpointing specifics, especially on American Red Ales.  Overall it was a worthwhile beer to explore if the hankering for a Red persists.

An American Red Ale, also called American Amber Ale, is a richly flavored, sweet, hoppy beer popular on the West Coast of the United States, and especially in the Pacific Northwest. It usually features a reddish or orange color and a sweet malt flavor from the use of caramel malts, and a strong hop character often including grassy notes from dry hopping.  This is taken from HomeBrewTalk.com; a wonderful site for the beer intrigued like us.

Quite honestly I did not mind the brew a bit.  I usually do not consume red ales, and I bought this through a 6-pack sampler, but it was everything an American Red should be with a little bit more attitude with the 6.5% ABV.  Smooth enough that you can take down these in the masses.  Just don’t be making out with any mannequins. 

  

… also from 1987.  It was the #1 song ending the week of April 4^th believe it or not. 

Acquisition:  6 pack - $9

  

~gY