Brewed By: Lagunitas Brewing Company in Petaluma, California
Purchased: 1 Quart (32 Fl Oz) bought at Binny's in Illinois; 2014
Style/ABV: American Imperial IPA, 8.0%
The Lagunitas' taproom is just days away from opening to the public in Chicago, and I could not be more excited. Tonight's beer seems completely appropriate to commemorate the occasion. 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.
The Lagunitas Sucks "Brown Shugga' Substitute Ale" was originally brewed in 2011 due to "construction-induced" capacity issues. The bottle reads: "We brewed this beer to replace our holiday release in the cold and capacity-bound winter of 2011. It was quickly sucked out of our brewery leaving our capacity problem a little worse off than before! Oh well...It's good to have friends! Cheers and share this one with an amigo."
Haha. Share with an amigo. 32oz, oh yeah baby. That's like half a growler. And this beer ain't no thang at 8.0% ABV and 63.21 IBUs. That .21 matters.
The Sucks pours into a sexy, hazy, bright orange/yellow body, kicking up two fingers of juuuust off-white head. In bright light this looks like a drink worthy of being poured in Heaven, with radiant gold pouring from the glass, sustaining bright white head, cloudy wisps of bright white lacing, and laid back carbonation going up. But the real beauty of this beer lies in the aroma and taste, which you get immediately on the pour.
This smells like classic Laguintas and then some. Really, this is everything you want in an over-the-top beer. There's HUGE guava, grapefruit, orange, and sweet pine jumping off the beer's aroma. The hops are big and floral, with tons of resinous and dank punch. There's a little hemp on the nose, with tons of candy hop sugars. This has substantial malt backing, like many of Lagunitas' offerings, but it comes across as sweet sugars complimenting the huge and sweet hops. Just fantastic stuff...this smells as good as I remember it.
This might just be the most drinkable and refreshing 8% beer in the world. Stupid drinkable...this 32oz won't last long. For all the dank hops, and big sugars...this is surprisingly clean and attenuated. Notes here include generous amounts of candied guava, orange, sweet pine needles, grapefruit, pineapple, suggestive tropical fruit (from mango to peach), giant sappy resin kisses, maple syrup, and some caramel malt backing that veers into cakey land for just a moment. But the fundamentals here are the big sweet hops, all up in your face on display. This is like going to the hop museum of art, or something. I don't know. I don't do analogies.
Again, this bad boy is crushable at 8.0%. I don't know what that says about me as a person or this beer, but there it is. This is medium-light bodied, with quite a bit of carbonation as evidenced by my belches. The carbonation combined with the glorious hoppy notes help move things in a forward direction. You want to take another sip because this is stupid drinkable and delicious. Palate depth here is above-average, and the complexity is kind of middle-of-the-road, even for the style which is not very complex in general. Up front are BIG sweet hops with guava, orange, grapefruit, tropical fruit; that rolls into more sweet hops, with cakey caramel, some bread/biscuit, pine, hemp; the back end has some growing bitterness, with lingering hops and malt sweetness. This finishes relatively dry and attenuated...it cleans up nicely all things considered.
Haha. Share with an amigo. 32oz, oh yeah baby. That's like half a growler. And this beer ain't no thang at 8.0% ABV and 63.21 IBUs. That .21 matters.
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| Lagunitas Sucks (Brown Shugga' Substitute Ale) |
The Sucks pours into a sexy, hazy, bright orange/yellow body, kicking up two fingers of juuuust off-white head. In bright light this looks like a drink worthy of being poured in Heaven, with radiant gold pouring from the glass, sustaining bright white head, cloudy wisps of bright white lacing, and laid back carbonation going up. But the real beauty of this beer lies in the aroma and taste, which you get immediately on the pour.
This smells like classic Laguintas and then some. Really, this is everything you want in an over-the-top beer. There's HUGE guava, grapefruit, orange, and sweet pine jumping off the beer's aroma. The hops are big and floral, with tons of resinous and dank punch. There's a little hemp on the nose, with tons of candy hop sugars. This has substantial malt backing, like many of Lagunitas' offerings, but it comes across as sweet sugars complimenting the huge and sweet hops. Just fantastic stuff...this smells as good as I remember it.
This might just be the most drinkable and refreshing 8% beer in the world. Stupid drinkable...this 32oz won't last long. For all the dank hops, and big sugars...this is surprisingly clean and attenuated. Notes here include generous amounts of candied guava, orange, sweet pine needles, grapefruit, pineapple, suggestive tropical fruit (from mango to peach), giant sappy resin kisses, maple syrup, and some caramel malt backing that veers into cakey land for just a moment. But the fundamentals here are the big sweet hops, all up in your face on display. This is like going to the hop museum of art, or something. I don't know. I don't do analogies.
Again, this bad boy is crushable at 8.0%. I don't know what that says about me as a person or this beer, but there it is. This is medium-light bodied, with quite a bit of carbonation as evidenced by my belches. The carbonation combined with the glorious hoppy notes help move things in a forward direction. You want to take another sip because this is stupid drinkable and delicious. Palate depth here is above-average, and the complexity is kind of middle-of-the-road, even for the style which is not very complex in general. Up front are BIG sweet hops with guava, orange, grapefruit, tropical fruit; that rolls into more sweet hops, with cakey caramel, some bread/biscuit, pine, hemp; the back end has some growing bitterness, with lingering hops and malt sweetness. This finishes relatively dry and attenuated...it cleans up nicely all things considered.
Rating: Above-Average (4.0/5.0 Untappd)
I'm feeling a Strong Above-Average on this. This one isn't mind-blowing...actually --- you know what --- it fucking is; this is pretty mind blowing. This isn't the best Lagunitas hop bomb, though. That might go to their Lucky 13.alt. Or their ridiculous Imperial Red. The Lagunitas Sucks stands on its head and holds its own. This is a fantastic beer...a fantastic American Imperial IPA...it's a national craft beer treasure, and a beer that everyone should go out and try. There are definitely better Imperial IPAs out there, for various reasons, but there is also nothing quite like the Lagunitas experience. And you get that here. If my rambling makes no sense, go out and get this beer. You can easily put down this 32oz bottle solo. So do it. This is a fantastic beer to pair with pizza, wings, patio barbecue, Mexican food, and anything with some spice. I can't recommend this beer enough.
Random Thought: I love this 32oz format. Seriously, we need more of this.
I'm feeling a Strong Above-Average on this. This one isn't mind-blowing...actually --- you know what --- it fucking is; this is pretty mind blowing. This isn't the best Lagunitas hop bomb, though. That might go to their Lucky 13.alt. Or their ridiculous Imperial Red. The Lagunitas Sucks stands on its head and holds its own. This is a fantastic beer...a fantastic American Imperial IPA...it's a national craft beer treasure, and a beer that everyone should go out and try. There are definitely better Imperial IPAs out there, for various reasons, but there is also nothing quite like the Lagunitas experience. And you get that here. If my rambling makes no sense, go out and get this beer. You can easily put down this 32oz bottle solo. So do it. This is a fantastic beer to pair with pizza, wings, patio barbecue, Mexican food, and anything with some spice. I can't recommend this beer enough.
Random Thought: I love this 32oz format. Seriously, we need more of this.
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