Lakeside British Ale
Steam Plant Brewing Company / Stacks Restaurant

The same house yeast strain that mangles the golden and pale ales returns to haunt this brown ale billed as the headbrewer’s favorite. It corrupts everything in its path; the nose, the flavor, and the anemic, lackluster body.

The smell attempts a brief nuttiness but is repelled. The malts simply can’t escape their imprisonment behind those punky yeast byproducts. Switch one ingredient in this beer – the yeast – and it might come alive. Otherwise the best it can offer may be found in the cask-conditioned version which showcases an abundance of vanilla in the nose.

The Lakeside British ale was on Cask. They describe it as a British Festival Ale. Served in a pint glass the beer is a good-looking hazy brown with a beautiful beige head.

The nose is of dark fruit, molasses and smoke.

Served at cellar temperature, the initial taste is of raisins and sugared plums. There is also a bit of wood smoke and peat. As you work through the beer a bit of apple taste emerges.

The mouth is soft with low carbonation. This is a decent session beer. I would like to see them amp up the thickness a bit, but I enjoyed this one.