Lakefront Bridge Burner

midlife crisis · Post by **midlife crisis** » Fri Mar 08, 2013 4:08 pm

This may not be news to those of you who shop regularly in the U.S., I don't know, but holy crap is Lakefront Bridge Burner ever good! What would we call this, style mavens? An Imperial Brown perhaps? It has wonderful roasty, semi-sweet dark malts and a delicious sturdy hop backbone. Best new (to me) beer I have had in some time.

matt7215 · Post by **matt7215** » Fri Mar 08, 2013 8:02 pm

my review:
bomber from the LCBO. pretty nice play between the c hops and malt bill in the nose. the flavour lacks punch. the finish is astringent. meh. not terrible but i dont find it all that appealing. i was really hoping to like this one given the price point for a bomber of 8.5abv ale but it just doesnt do it for me.

id say its an imperial american brown ale, not that thats a real style. it drinks similar to DFH's india brown.

the hopping is too low to call it a black ipa, and its not malty enough to be a proper brown ale.

midlife crisis · Post by **midlife crisis** » Fri Mar 08, 2013 8:18 pm

Wow. Different strokes. To me it was pleasingly semi-sweet (ie not at all astringent). I agree it's not a black IPA, it had more interesting malt flavour than a black, so was better. IMO.

Droogy · Post by **Droogy** » Sat Mar 09, 2013 1:09 pm

American Strong Ale is the classification on untappd to my recollection. it is very nice

JeffPorter · Post by **JeffPorter** » Sat Mar 09, 2013 7:28 pm

Can't make a decision on this one...

The aroma might be the best part of this beer. There's a mild juicy hoppiness, and a bit of chocolate and dark fruit from the malts.

But I'm not sure the taste lives up to the aroma.

It could be a little "bigger" (in hops, in malts, in mouthfeel, etc) but I think the selling point for this I think is the balance.

The hoppiness of it seems to me to be more than 30 IBUs, and the maltiness isn't crazy either.

Mind you I'm having trouble figuring out if it's that the ingredients are working in harmony so that nothing is competing, or if the flavours are a little muddled.

I get the astringency in the finish that Matt was talking about. The only way to cure it is to drink more.

I think I want this beer to either be a little more hoppy or a little more malty. I don't care which one, I just want a little more of something. Hard not to compare it to something like Apocalypse Later.

Good, but...I don't know, maybe there's something I'm missing here.

MatttthewGeorge · Post by **MatttthewGeorge** » Sat Mar 09, 2013 9:38 pm

I'm really liking this one, but I tend to like messy beers (DDC CDD comes to mind - not style but it's kinda messy too). Beautiful citrus nose but on the palette it's only on the front end, followed by semi-sweet high alcohol malt with a touch of bitterness. Overall I gotta buy more!

cratez · Post by **cratez** » Tue Mar 12, 2013 3:20 pm

The flavour while solid is a little restrained for the weight and style (ASA) but the aroma is very robust and unique. It smells almost identical to a Spanish Grenache that I reviewed on here a few months ago, with juicy cherry, red plum, and raspberry coming to mind. Didn't get any citrus on the nose, though the hop flavour and bitterness have a vaguely citric quality. Not a world beater by any stretch but it's interesting and cheap enough for me to buy more.

spinrsx · Post by **spinrsx** » Thu Mar 14, 2013 9:45 am

had this last night, very enjoyable.. like a beefed up version of the great lakes 666 DPA. for 5$ a bomber, I'll be buying more

anyone think this would age well? become something like a barleywine once the hops fade?

matt7215 · Post by **matt7215** » Thu Mar 14, 2013 10:27 am

spinrsx wrote:had this last night, very enjoyable.. like a beefed up version of the great lakes 666 DPA. for 5$ a bomber, I'll be buying more

anyone think this would age well? become something like a barleywine once the hops fade?

I dont think this has enough of a malt body to age well

mintjellie · Post by **mintjellie** » Sat Mar 16, 2013 6:17 pm

30 IBU? Really? This was really bitter. So much more bitter than I would have imagined.

Not saying I didn't like it. I did like it. Just that it's more bitter than I would have thought.

I don't think I would want this aged, I like that bitterness.

Bytowner · Post by **Bytowner** » Wed Mar 20, 2013 9:51 pm

I really enjoy this one. Puts me in mind of one of the Fuller's strong beer range with just a bit of brashness.