Great Lakes One Off's

 This past Monday, following a trip to Ikea, I persuaded my girlfriend, Kayla, to make a quick stop at Great Lakes Brewery since we were so close anyway.  I wasn't looking for anything specific, just wanted to see if they had any Project X bottles for sale and maybe say hi to my buddy, Rob, who is a sales rep there.  Project X is a monthly series from Great Lakes where they hand bottle a small batch of a beer they only brew every so often - some especially rare batches are even limited to only the one release.  So I walked into the retail store and saw that there were indeed some Project X for sale, but instead of the usual one or two this time there were six.  So while waiting for Rob to come down I decided to get some shopping done and started bringing bottles two at a time to the counter.  The line up was quite stellar I must say and included Miami Weisse, Black Jacques Shellack  Belgian Brown, Great Lakes/Black Oak Etobichoker Double Belgian IPA, Lackey's Flask Citra, No Chance With Miranda Saison and Double Devil's Pale Ale 999.

 The Miami Weisse is an american wheat beer that's quite hoppy and packs a citrus punch.  Lackey's Flask Citra is a bottled version of a beer they make called Lackey's Cask that is an american pale ale, although this bottled version is made with citra hops unlike its cask conditioned original.  Double Devil's Pale Ale 999 is their amped up version of Devil's Pale Ale 666 that can be found in cans at the LCBO and I have to say that I am dying to try this, it taunts me every time I open the fridge - I am holding out on trying this one and the Lackey's Flask for an upcoming tasting group.  I am currently enjoying Etobichoker as I write this and it is a solid brew overall.  Made with fellow Etobicoke brewery Black Oak, it is a very spicy and well balanced Belgian style pale ale that bursts with lovely bitter hop in the finish.  As for the others, I will probably give them a shot this weekend to satisfy my curiosity.

  Thanks to Rob Hern for throwing in a freebie and taking time out of his day to visit for a few minutes and my girlfriend Kayla for helping to carry one of the two large boxes to the car and letting them take up tons of room in the fridge/rest of the apartment.  Great Lakes is located at 30 Queen Elizabeth Blvd and you should check it out sometime - tell them Pino sent you......and they will be confused.