For several years now (2017) Lakefront Brewing has been issuing beers in their My Turn series where they allow employees to take turns making a beer of their choice. And two of those were smokebeers that SmokeBeerMinistry was fortunate enough to get and review. This beer, NATHAN, smells spot on. Rich campfire smoke wafts all around with a deep ruby hue peeking through glass. The other smokebeer SBM reviewed, Luther, was a light beer and shared similar campfire notes; which you can read about here. But NATHAN was the one to win a major award from the Los Angeles Beer Competition, Gold, I think. And they deserve it too. This beer holds on to crisp beer flavors enough to allow you to drink three or four (or five) of these while grilling out in the evening, instead of pulling you down for the last beer you’ll have that night. And, while I expected to have more useful notes on this beer, what I actually only have before me here as I write, is the tough task to transliterate what a SBM member scribbled on a piece of cardboard in some state of inebriation. I’ll give you the highlights of what I can decipher: Meel ee you wahk kay, Toni Erdmann, there is a storm outside, I’ve been drinkin, this is great beer, proper smokebeer, and Ruby, ruby, ruby, ruby soho. That’s all I got. High score for a team out of Wisconsin, which should be expected. 6 out of 7 smokestacks.
| Brewer | Lakefront Brewery, Inc. |
| Beer Name | Nathan – Smoked Dark Lager |
| Brewer’s Description | Nathan’s our bottling room technician. He conducts the chaos of clanging glass and hissing air as bottles get filled with beer and stickered with labels. So, you have him to thank for getting our beer into the bottle that ends up in your hand. The inspiration for Nathan’s My Turn™ hit him while drinking an Eastside Dark™ around a campfire. This dark, caramelly German-style lager has just enough smoked malt to give it an interesting depth, but still finishes crisp. |
| Food Pairings | Grilled or smoked entrees, bbq pork ribs, bacon-wrapped grilled shrimp, smoked salmon, ziti with grilled portobello mushrooms and caramelized onions |
| Brewer Location | Milwaukee, WI |
| Alcohol content by volume | 5.5% |
| IBU (International Bitterness Units) | uhh |
| Beer opacity rate 1 – 7 (light – dark) | 3.5 |
| Smell smoke? 1 – 7 (No – George Burns) | 6 |
| Sausage detection? Y or N | Y |
| Smokepower taste: 1 – 7 Smokestacks | 5.5 |
| Beer thickness 1-7 (water – used motor oil) | 2.25 |
| Overall Happiness Rating: 1-7 (low – high) | 6 |
Their website is slow… or its just me:
http://www.lakefrontbrewery.com/beer/my-turn-series/nathan
And here’s a link to their award, down on page 9, which, while scrolling I thought, “this is kinda ridiculous”:
http://fairplex.com/docs/default-source/default-document-library/2017beerresults.pdf?sfvrsn=0
SmokeBeerMinistry 