Great Lakes Burning River Pale Ale

The beer named for the notorious Cuyahoga River is the subject of this week’s review. In 1969, the Cuyahoga River, a polluted, dirty mess, caught fire for the last time. Sure, it only stayed on fire for about a half hour, but still: the river caught on fire. The resulting media attention led to the Clean Water Act and other environmental protection laws. Great Lakes Brewing Company, chose to commemorate this crowning glory in its city’s history by naming its flagship pale ale in honor of that mighty river.

Based in Cleveland since its inception in 1988, Great Lakes Brewing Company churns out an amazing range of both ales and lagers, consumed both in its brewpub onsite and bottled and kegged for accounts all over the midwest and as far east as upstate New York. No, Great Lakes beer is not legally available in New York City. But I kind of don’t mind that, myself — now, when I travel to points west, well, lookie there, a top-notch brewery’s beers might occupy taps at any good beer bar!

Burning River Pale Ale pours a clear, brilliant orange-gold, capped with a finger of thick, sticky off-white head. I get a mildly piney hop aroma, plus a bit of pot — no, really, marijuana and hops are in the same plant family, and fresh hops tend to smell like dope — mixed with a breadlike sweetness from the malt. There’s more pine in the flavor, too, well-balanced by the emerging malty sweetness. My palate is beaten up a bit from the bitterness, which comes across rather roughly thanks to a somewhat thin body coupled with the carbonation levels of the beer. The finish is also rather rough, and absent any real malty presence, drying. Beautifully drying, requesting that I take another sip. And who am I to argue? This is such a well-crafted pale ale, I’d be a fool not to.

In terms of the American pale ale style, Burning River can be considered near-classic. It’s got the clean hoppy nose, the body balances a solid malt backbone with loads of citrus and pine from the hops, and the bitterness contributed by the hops coats the palate without going overboard. At 6% alcohol by volume, it’s maybe on the strong side for a session beer — one you’d be comfortable drinking all evening — but I promise not to judge you.

I picked up this beer in a sampler twelve-pack at Binghamton’s Sam the Beer Man; I’ve been going there for years, passing by a few times a year while driving to Mom’s, but they only recently started getting Great Lakes beer. The standard sampler puts together four excellent Great Lakes Beers: the Dortmunder Gold Lager, Elliot Ness Amber Lager, Edmund Fitzgerald Porter, and the Burning River, all simply outstanding beers in their styles and each worthy of your time (just watch the Best By Date). There’s talk that the brewery will move into the city soon, but until then, look for them in Cleveland and other big cities on your Midwestern travels.