Great Lakes: Lake Erie Monster

New on tap at 8th Street Grille. I got a sample of this last week while visiting Thursday as they opened to check out what was new on tap. 

Appearance: golden orange with a soft bubbly cream colored head. A prominent haze is evenly distributed throughout but the carbonation is still easily visible as some even accumulates on the side of the glass, like soda. Lacing cascades down the glass after each sip, creating layers of foam on the glass.
Aroma: sweet tropical fruit permeates the nostrils but remains restrained with a sugary light malt presence. Mango is most notable. Honey too.
Taste: the front permeates a rich honey flavor with a fruity sweetness immediately apparent. It's as if the hops are so strong that they begin to impede at the front of the beer, imparting a fruity, mango like sweetness. The mid taste hardly differs, only to propagate the tropical apricot and mango flavors, and even some coriander/orange. Towards the end one can get faint notes of rind, but it remains hardly a knowledgeable over the sweetness. Then, in finish, some characteristics of malt finally present themselves in the form of Belgian candy and brown sugar. The aftertaste holds a conglomeration of all of these characteristics, but most apparent is the finishing rind bitterness. The balance for this beer is impeccable especially with the alcohol.
Mouthfeel: rich creamy mouthfeel with a subtle carbonation, enough to tickle the surface of the tongue and fuel flavor. Body is quite heavy, but all factors aim towards balance, making this beer surprisingly drinkable.
Overall impression: wow, hop bomb, but with a very appealing fruit character I've had little experience with. Mango and honey are the most dominant notes within, followed by LME extract like sweetness and brown sugar. There is so much sweetness, that the 80 IBU's hardly over bitters the palate. Stellar beer, great lakes!