Great Lakes Orange Peel Ale

Belgian · Post by **Belgian** » Thu Apr 26, 2007 6:38 pm

I will try it - personally I like when the 'wow ingredient' is actually just part of the flavour and not sticking out a lot.

One reason I sort of liked Trafalgar Celebration Ale was I did not even read the product description - the additions of citrus and spice, I just went with it and I liked it, unawares.

JB · Post by JB » Fri Apr 27, 2007 5:53 pm

The initial response to OPA was even better than we expected, meaning that we've been a little short on the draught end for the past couple days. In talking to a number of bartowelers, consumers and lcboers, we've been quite happy with everyone's response - that said, a surprising number of people found the orange to be perhaps a little too subtle for their tastes. As it's a seasonal brand, nothing's written in stone. Therefore, we've upped the orange in this batch just a touch, so we look forward to hearing your thoughts.
It's been a ridiculous amount of work to get this beer into the LCBO on such a short timeframe, and it sounds like most people are enjoying Hockley's Stout as well. Hopefully the positive response from these Ontario seasonals will encourage other brewers and the LCBO to get more of them to market through channels such as the specialty beer program.
Seasonal beers are a lot of fun, but more work than you might imagine!

Belgian · Post by **Belgian** » Sun Apr 29, 2007 1:08 pm

I got some of the Orange Peel - it is a pleasant enough ale with some decent body to it, a bit of assertiveness in the blended hops and not overly sweet from the pale mats (I figure you don't want the orange effect to come across too candy-ish.)

It blends well with an Imperial Stout (think about it - orange along with coffee/chocolate tones of dark malts.) It might benefit from being a touch drier, but the degree of orange flavoring was about as right as one could expect.

kinguy · Post by **kinguy** » Sun Apr 29, 2007 4:33 pm

Decent enough beer...it didn't blow my socks off, but I appreciate the fact that a local brewer is pushing the envelope a bit with seasonal entries and I'd drink it again. When I tried it on tap, I could taste just a bit of the orange, but couldn't taste it at all out of the bottle. Looking forward to comparing the tweaks in the second batch to the original.

JerCraigs · Post by **JerCraigs** » Sun Apr 29, 2007 9:40 pm

I enjoyed the pint I had. It didn't knock my socks off, but it was quite quaffable. Glad to hear it is doing well.

habfour · Post by **habfour** » Thu May 03, 2007 8:36 pm

Having one right now, quite an inventory at St.Clair/Bathurst LCBO. Very suttle citrus and I agree if I din't know it was citrus I would have thought it was the hops.

Nothing wrong with this brew, so long as you temper expectations.

Cheers !

Ale's What Cures Ya · Wed May 16, 2007 11:56 pm

I don't know if my bottle is off or if my palate is just warped at this time of night, but I can't taste orange anything in this concoction.

Stomp Brockmore · Post by **Stomp Brockmore** » Fri May 18, 2007 10:35 pm

That's okay. Nobody can.

JerCraigs · Post by **JerCraigs** » Fri May 18, 2007 11:28 pm

Stomp Brockmore wrote:That's okay. Nobody can.

Uh, I could taste the orange. It wasnt crazy full of it but you can taste it.

pootz · Post by **pootz** » Sat May 19, 2007 6:27 pm

I must be hyper sensitive to orange too Jer...I got it right off the bat...although it is pretty subdued and takes a few swigs for it to really come out.

I suspect the brewer thought it wasn't as pronounced as he had wished as well thus the second release with "more" orange flavor.

Stomp Brockmore · Post by **Stomp Brockmore** » Sat May 19, 2007 11:47 pm

My comment was more to make the point that, for a beer that calls itself "Orange Peel Ale", I found it hardly all that different from many other English-style pub ales, except for a very faint orange character off the top. Not that I wanted it to be some concentrate-tasting fruit beer, but I definitely didn't feel like it justified it's name.

Ale's What Cures Ya · Post by **Ale's What Cures Ya** » Sun May 20, 2007 9:21 am

Tried my second bottle of this last night. Could taste a faint hint of orange, not what I was expecting. I was hoping for a dominating orange flavour.

Oh well.

Belgian · Post by **Belgian** » Mon May 21, 2007 5:08 pm

You guys are going to make me try it again...

It was fairly orangey for me. Not exceptional beer, but orangey all right.

pootz · Post by **pootz** » Mon May 21, 2007 8:28 pm

Belgian wrote:You guys are going to make me try it again...

It was fairly orangey for me. Not exceptional beer, but orangey all right.

Why not wait till the second batch with more "orange" is released then compare 1st and second releases?

My thinking is that the brewer went sparingly on the extract on the first release fearing over-powering the ale's natural tastes and underestimated the proper balance he wanted...oh well, live and learn...I will revise my rating after I taste the second promised release.

DAN-D-MAN · Post by **DAN-D-MAN** » Fri May 25, 2007 7:55 am

I've had this beer on tap at C'est What about 4 or 5 times now over the past month and I really like it. I just had the bottle version of it over the weekend and it's also very good. I'll be getting more of them as this'll be an excellent hot weather patio brew. Look forward to trying the extra orange version.

Kudos on the bottle artwork BTW! For those of you who haven't seen it yet, the printing on the bottle is similar to Steam Whistle or Rogue brews where it's embossed on the bottle. Very professional looking design considering it's just a seasonal.

I'm still waiting for someone to make a Pineapple beer.

The Bar Towel

Great Lakes Orange Peel Ale

New Batch of OPA now on tap!