I’ve reviewed three other brews from Great Lakes Brewery, so I won’t say much about the Etobicoke brewery here. If you want to read more about the brewery, check my previous GLB reviews for some information. Although Great Lakes Brewery has won several awards, both for its brews and the brewery itself, the beer I’m reviewing today, their Pompous Ass English Pale Ale, has been ignored at both the provincial and national craft beer award level.
As its name suggests, this beer is in the style of an English pale ale. I’ll be enjoying mine cold, but this is a beer you may want to enjoy warm in order to get the full English ale experience. Now, tell your butler to get your pint glass ready: “It’s time for the tasting, Jeeves.”
Great Lakes Brewery: Pompous Ass English Pale Ale – First Sip
Pompous Ass English Ale pours a cloudy amber colour with a thin layer of foam that sticks around at the top of my glass. I smell citrus mixed with a tea-like acridness as I take my first sip. This beer has a well-balanced sweet to bitter ratio that favours bitterness on the finish. With its low carbonation level, just enough to keep it bubbly, Pompous Ass offers a very smooth mouthfeel, creating a base for its balanced flavour.
Great Lakes Brewery: Pompous Ass English Pale Ale – Last Sip
This brew has a lot of flavour, so keep it away from your lager-only friends. Unlike other beers that have this much flavour, Pompous Ass has a surprisingly low 4.2% ABV rating. This is a light beer in disguise.
I left the final third of my beer to go warm. I found that its predominantly bitter flavour became slightly more pronounced. Aside from that, the flavour didn’t change much. Best to drink this beer from a glass so that you can fully appreciate its aroma and flavour.
