Brewed By: Lagunitas Brewing Company in Petaluma, California
Purchased: 12oz bottle from a 6-pack bought at Evolution Wine & Spirits in Chicago, Illinois; 20122
Style/ABV: Strong Ale/Barleywine/Christmas Ale, 9.9%
Reported IBUs: 51.1
Do you know what brightens up the holidays and makes Santa happy? Some Brown Shugga' awwww yeeahhhh. The masters of subtlety are at it again. In case you don't know who Lagunitas are (Pronounced: "LAH-goo-KNEE-tuss"):
The beer pours an orange/brown/amber color, with 3-fingers worth of sticky, thick, foamy, copper-tinted head. The head has nice duration, and is leaving a ton of sticky, IPA-like lacing on the side of the glass as it falls down. In bright light, the beer is orange-amber, and the head takes on some of that orange color. This beer is transparent, and -- MIGHT -- be filtered, and has some nice carbonation in the form of tiny bubbles. At 9.9%, there are some legs.
This is, as you might imagine for a Barleywine-style beer, quite floral and hoppy on the aroma. I've heard that this beer is suposed to be malty...and maybe it gets to be that way with some time; but, this beer is pushing 50 IBUs. On the nose I get citrus, pine, hops, resin, grass, caramel and sugar, candied fruits, and some slight spice that could certainly be brown sugar. You get that "sticky" smell on the nose, with big hop presence.
Holy shit....this is nice. I've heard a lot of people complaining that this beer is too hoppy. This is a hopped up beer. But it's not too hoppy, no sir. This beer hits your palate with malt sweetness, BIG malt sweetness. Then the hops kick in to clean things up, and drop some pine, grass, citrus, and all that goodness. And then you get blasted with a huge, dense, sticky blast of malt and brown sugar. You get spice on the back end, brown sugar, gingerbread...fucking Noel in a glass. I'm getting big sweet citrus; it's a character Lagunitas works into a lot of their hoppy beers. You get caramel-candy-oranges and citrus, pine, grass. It's nice.
This drinks ridiculously smooth and easy for 9.9% ABV. 9.9% ABV...really? REALLY? This shit screams "HANGOVER." This drinks like a smooth IPA, but has a big full-bodied mouthfeel. This is quite sticky, sugary, and hoppy, but the carbonation, hop bitterness, and spice help aide drinkability. Really, I could put down a 6-pack of this in a night, but I wouldn't, unless I did. Maybe for Christmas. Anyway, this is moderately complex, but palate depth is great. Up front is a blast of sweetness, and then hops; the middle rolls into HUGE sweetness, hops, and brown sugar; the back end is big caramel, brown sugar, and hop dryness into a drying finish.
I'm feeling a Light Divine Brew rating on this beer. This is not only a great Christmas Ale, it's a great Barleywine-style, IPA-thing. You know, a Lagunitas beer. I confess, I'm biased as shit when it comes to Lagunitas. I love their beer. But this is just delicious, and makes me want to hang out around the Christmas tree, eat some gingerbread cookies, and watch football by the fireplace. Win, win, win. Food pairings for this include anything from spicy chicken or turkey, duck, ham, sweet potatoes and candied yams, and assorted Christmas desserts.
Reported IBUs: 51.1
Do you know what brightens up the holidays and makes Santa happy? Some Brown Shugga' awwww yeeahhhh. The masters of subtlety are at it again. In case you don't know who Lagunitas are (Pronounced: "LAH-goo-KNEE-tuss"):
I love Christmas beers, and I love Lagunitas...and I concede it's weird to drink a Christmas beer in early November, especially when I still have pumpkin beers laying around. But you know what? Fuck you. Plus, I want a taste of dat Brown Shugga'. I'm going to stop, because this is a family-friendly blog, not a hate crime.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.
If you check out the Brown Shugga' page, you can get the breakdown on this beer. This beer is brewed with "boatloads of pure brown sugar in each batch." This beer was originally brewed back in 1997, when Lagunitas was trying to make their Olde GnarlyWine Ale. They added a bunch of Brown Sugar to the boil in an attempt to "rescue the batch." The result was this lovely beer, which is described as "Irresponsible." Santa likes. Let's get this into a glass...and see if this is the best Christmas beer south of December.
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| Lagunitas Brown Shugga' |
The beer pours an orange/brown/amber color, with 3-fingers worth of sticky, thick, foamy, copper-tinted head. The head has nice duration, and is leaving a ton of sticky, IPA-like lacing on the side of the glass as it falls down. In bright light, the beer is orange-amber, and the head takes on some of that orange color. This beer is transparent, and -- MIGHT -- be filtered, and has some nice carbonation in the form of tiny bubbles. At 9.9%, there are some legs.
This is, as you might imagine for a Barleywine-style beer, quite floral and hoppy on the aroma. I've heard that this beer is suposed to be malty...and maybe it gets to be that way with some time; but, this beer is pushing 50 IBUs. On the nose I get citrus, pine, hops, resin, grass, caramel and sugar, candied fruits, and some slight spice that could certainly be brown sugar. You get that "sticky" smell on the nose, with big hop presence.
Holy shit....this is nice. I've heard a lot of people complaining that this beer is too hoppy. This is a hopped up beer. But it's not too hoppy, no sir. This beer hits your palate with malt sweetness, BIG malt sweetness. Then the hops kick in to clean things up, and drop some pine, grass, citrus, and all that goodness. And then you get blasted with a huge, dense, sticky blast of malt and brown sugar. You get spice on the back end, brown sugar, gingerbread...fucking Noel in a glass. I'm getting big sweet citrus; it's a character Lagunitas works into a lot of their hoppy beers. You get caramel-candy-oranges and citrus, pine, grass. It's nice.
This drinks ridiculously smooth and easy for 9.9% ABV. 9.9% ABV...really? REALLY? This shit screams "HANGOVER." This drinks like a smooth IPA, but has a big full-bodied mouthfeel. This is quite sticky, sugary, and hoppy, but the carbonation, hop bitterness, and spice help aide drinkability. Really, I could put down a 6-pack of this in a night, but I wouldn't, unless I did. Maybe for Christmas. Anyway, this is moderately complex, but palate depth is great. Up front is a blast of sweetness, and then hops; the middle rolls into HUGE sweetness, hops, and brown sugar; the back end is big caramel, brown sugar, and hop dryness into a drying finish.
Rating: Divine Brew
I'm feeling a Light Divine Brew rating on this beer. This is not only a great Christmas Ale, it's a great Barleywine-style, IPA-thing. You know, a Lagunitas beer. I confess, I'm biased as shit when it comes to Lagunitas. I love their beer. But this is just delicious, and makes me want to hang out around the Christmas tree, eat some gingerbread cookies, and watch football by the fireplace. Win, win, win. Food pairings for this include anything from spicy chicken or turkey, duck, ham, sweet potatoes and candied yams, and assorted Christmas desserts.
Random Thought: I buy a Santa's Private Reserve glass, and drink Lagunita's Christmas Ale, and all of a sudden I'm in the Christmas mood. FUCK! I still have pumpkin beer to drink.
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