Lagunitas Brewing Company - Undercover Investigation Shut-Down Ale

Hey gang!

It's Wednesday. Sitting around doing a whole lot of nothing. What better way to fill the time than drinking a good craft beer? Exactly, I can't think of anything either.

So tonight, I'm drinking one of the newer beers from Lagunitas. Tonight, I'm drinking their Undercover Investigation Shut-Down Ale! This is an American Strong Ale and it came in at 9.75%. So in other words, it's a big beer and in some other, other words, I'm looking forward to it. Let's get into it!

The Undercover poured out a really nice ruby red to mahogany color. There was about 2 fingers of a white head with a ton of tiny, tightly packed white bubbles. It's sticking around for quite a bit which is a little surprising for a bigger beer. There is a lot of carbonation streaming up from the bottom of the glass, almost like a champagne. It's actually kind of cool to watch it. Overall, this looks like a really nice beer. Let's get the nose.

The first thing I get is a sweet character. Reminds me a lot of brown sugar or even a sugar cookie. It's really nice. I'm getting a nice spice character as well. Sort of belgianesque. Has a bit of a coriander tone to it. I'm picking up some nice bread like characters. I'm picking up some alcohol on the back end. It's over 9% so it's not a surprise to find it lingering around. This is a really interesting smelling beer and honestly, not what I was expecting. Let's get drinking!

This is nice. Right away there's a nice hop bitterness. It's not overpowering. It's not subtle. Definitely there. It's very nice. Behind that I'm getting that spice character. Coriander and maybe a slight all spice character. It compliments the hops nicely. No belgian yeast to speak of (which I'm fine with, not my favorite) but I was picking up some characteristics on the nose. I'm getting some tobacco like tones on the back end. It's kind of a nice way to finish off the beer. I'm not picking up any alcohol here which is kind of dangerous. I'm pretty sure this would creep up on you real quick and knock you on your ass.

So overall, the Undercover Investigation Shut-Down Ale is really solid. I had read some comments over at Untappd with people comparing it to Arrogant Bastard. I don't really get that comparison. It's very different in my opinion. It's got some nice spice, some sweetness and a really enjoyable bitterness. I wouldn't say this is my favorite Lagunitas beer by any means, but it's really good. If you can find this in your area, I'd definitely recommend picking this one up.

Rating: A