Brewed By: Lagunitas Brewing Company in Petaluma, California
Purchased: 22oz bomber bought at Jewel-Osco in Chicago, Illinois; 2013
Style/ABV: American Strong Ale, 7.85%
Reported IBUs: 59.00
Isn't that Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? About Lagunitas (Pronounced: "LAH-goo-KNEE-tuss"):
Lagunitas is a brewery I dabbled with when I hit up their controversially named "Kronik" (Lagunitas Censored) back in November 2010. The Lagunitas website has some cool info on the brewery and the beer, and can be found here. The brewery was founded in 1993 out in Lagunitas, California, and has since moved to Petaluma in California. It seems like Lagunitas is run by a bunch of deviant madmen geniuses, and the brewery appears to be a true grassroots movement, if you catch my drift.
According to Lagunitas, the WTF is a malty, robust, "jobless recovery ale." This is a big, Imperial Brown Ale, that is "rich, smooth, dangerous and chocolatey." Clocking in at 7.85% and packing 59 IBUs, this beer is no slouch. I'm going to be paying attention to the 59 IBUs, which is getting into IPA-territory.
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| Lagunitas Wilco Tango Foxtrot |
I love it when I'm right. This one is basically an Imperial Red, and I was greeted with a ton of hops when I popped the top. This one pours a muted, reddish color, with hints of brown. Even in low light, this beer is carbonated, and has moderate carbonation. The head was another giveaway, as this kicked up 3-finger's worth of super soapy, sticky head. There's still a finger's worth of head clinging on, and a ton of sticky lacing running down the sides. In bright light, the beer is a reddish/brown color, with a ton of effervescence in the form of tiny carbonation bubbles. The head remains off-white, and there's a ton of sticky lacing. How is this not an Imperial Red Ale?
The aroma is a nice blend of bread, toast, biscuit, nondescript malt, and a ton of hop spice. I'm getting pepper, lemon, lemony pepper (<-try me), and a fuckton of rye. I think rye is the dominating spice on the nose. There's some caramel, and some fat, resinous citrus; woody oranges/grapefruit.
This is basically what I expected. A hoppy, spicy, bready, Imperial Red ale thing. You get a ton of grapefruit, orange, and citrus rind. The citrus hop-kick gets pretty soapy and bitter, and eventually finishes woody and dry. This has great flow through the palate. The big flavor here is the rye bread, with bready rye hitting you up front. The citrus then comes in as a secondary character, along with some nice hop and rye spice. The whole thing cleans up nicely with hop dryness and some nice wood.
This one is medium in the mouthfeel, with good palate depth, and moderate to low complexity. This is more in line with the Imperial Red Ales/American Strong Ales (ala Arrogant Bastard) compared to Brown Ales. Where's the cacao and/or chocolate? For 7.85%, this drinks good. The 59 IBUs is very evident, but it's enjoyable. This is very much a "Lagunitas beer." Up front is a dash of malt sweetness (a blast of chocolate?), spicy rye, and bread/toast; the middle is rye spice, hop spice, pepper, lemon, and citrus; the back fades to woody citrus, and some dryness. All around, really drinkable and nice.
I'm feeling a Decent Above-Average on this. This one is very reasonably priced around 6 dollars a bomber, and would pair well with a good burger, some wings, fried chicken, pizza, assorted bar foods, and Americanized Mexican foods. I could even see myself pairing this with some bread or pasta. This is nice stuff from the Lagunitas wheelhouse. It's also drinkable, and available...worth checking out.
Random Thought: Seriously though, I don't get it. That's whiskey. Right?
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