I have a general rule that if something shows up in my fridge three times or more it’s time to blog it. So when I came back from Kazansky’s with the latest seasonal by the disturbingly reliable Erie Brewing Company in (cough) Cleveland I knew where this week’s blog was headed.
The Moondog name comes Cleveland’s proud moment in history, the Moondog Coronation Ball:
[A] concert held at the Cleveland Arena in Cleveland, Ohio on March 21, 1952. It is generally accepted as the first major rock and roll concert.The concert was organized by Alan Freed, a disc jockey and considered to have coined the term “Rock and Roll” at WJW-Radio, along with Lew Platt, a local concert promoter, and Freed’s sponsors. More tickets were printed than the arena’s actual capacity, in part due to counterfeiting. With an estimated 20,000 individuals trying to crowd into an arena that held slightly more than half that – and worries that a riot might break out as people tried to crowd in – the fire authorities shut down the concert after the first song by Paul “Hucklebuck” Williams ended.
Rock-and-roll and beer usually brings to mind thin American lager going flat in overfilled stadium cups. Yum. Instead of making what rock-and-roll beer usually is, the brewers at Great Lakes made what it ought to be. Definitely a session beer at a practically Utah-friendly 4.0% ABV, Moondog aims for the English best bitter style and settles for a smooth, well-hopped intermediate between a real bitter and excellent American lager made by brewers like Heavy Seas. Moondog pours a clear yellow amber with elements of hay and light honey on the nose. In the mouth the malt wins out over hops, giving out a pleasant citrusy sweetness and just enough of an aftertaste to remind you to pull another bottle out of the sixer. Highly recommended when you want to sneak a sixer into a late-spring Jethro Tull show in a grass ampitheatre, and practically anywhere else.
Refined tastes at BA concur.
r4d20
I spent 4 years at CWRU and Great Lakes is Clevelands best kept secret. All of their beers are simply awesome, but I cant find them outside Ohio and Western PA (to the east – haven’t tried the west).
mr.ed
GLBC has a tavern/restaurant on premises in an old building in the Ohio City section of Cleveland, across the Cuyahoga river from the Jake and the Q sports venues, featuring a nonsmoking atmosphere, good service and food, and of course the beer. If you’re near Cleveburg, it’s only about 20 minutes from the Ohio pike. Not open Sundays anymore, but that’s being reconsidered for fall. Free tours, too.
I’m partial to the Edmund Fitzgerald porter. If you would see me, you’d know I’ve tested quite a few beers.
John Patterson
Yes Great Lakes makes excelent beers that are of much higher quality than the majority of the mass-produced american and canadian beers. The moondog ale is excelent and having consumed several of them last night i have to testify that yes, all beer can give you a headache. The factory itself is hi-tech.
Joel
Is it possible to get Great Lakes outside the Ohio/PA area? I’ve never seen it much to my displeasure. All their beers are stellar.
physics geek
I have to admit a preference for their Glockenspeil, but you can’t go wrong with either beer. Unfortunately, the only time that I get to drink Glockenspeil as at the GABF; they do not bottle it. ::sniff::
sleigh
I am a convert to GLBC Conway’s Irish Ale, which is unfortunately seasonal. While everyone around me is infected with March Madness, I just drink until I can stand hearing about college basketball (I’m not a native of KY and attended a Deep South Football U). It’s a nice change from my true love, bourbon.