Lagunitas Brewing Company - Lagunitas Sucks - Brown Shugga' Substitute Ale

What's up everyone? It's Wednesday night. My hockey team lost tonight. It's sort of a shitty day all around. I'm cheering myself up with a beer that I've had a couple times recently but I just haven't remembered to review it. So I figured tonight was a perfect night for that.

Tonight I'm drinking Lagunitas Sucks - Brown Shugga Substitute Ale by Lagunitas Brewing Company out of Petaluma, CA.

That name is way too long, so we're just going to say "Sucks" or "Lagunitas Sucks"... which for the record, they do not. They're an awesome brewery that pretty much can't be beat for the price to quality ratio. I might be saying that wrong, but you get the idea. So let's get the Sucks poured and see how it stands up to the other offerings from Lagunitas.

Sucks comes in at 7.85% abv and pours out a clear golden yellow. There was about a 2 finger foamy white head that stuck around for a bit leaving behind a semi decent sticky white foam like lacing. There's a semi decent cascade of carbonation bubbles streaming up from the bottom of the glass. Not a ton like some of the other Lagunitas beers, but I've found with a lot of the danker IPA, that cascade effect isn't as prevalent. This looks like a pretty standard DIPA. Let's get the nose.

First thing I get is big grapefruit. Just massive amounts of grapefruit juice and zest. Right behind that is a massive amount of the dank onion and garlic bitterness. I mean, this smells like a freshly chopped onion and some freshly peeled garlic. There's a slight bit of caramel sweetness as well that sort of sits in the background of all this dank hop smell. But yeah, I keep going back to try and get something else but I'm just blown away by that dank onion and garlic. It's completely overpowering that initial waft of grapefruit. Let's see if this tastes as dank as it smells.

Wow, sure enough I'm immediately picking up a grapefruit citrus character but that is immediately beat down by dank onion and garlic. It's really strong in this beer. Maybe stronger than I've experienced in a DIPA. It's super fresh tasting though which I think really makes it more enjoyable. If this were "old" I'd imagine the onion and garlic would be awful. As dank as those hops are, they don't linger like the smell. The dankness gets replaced in the middle/back end of mouth by a really nice citrus sweetness. Grapefruit and some tangerine characters with a bit of zest thrown in. It's very well balanced. Sucks finishes pretty dry and overall is just a really good tasting DIPA.

So overall, Sucks is a fantastic beer. It's incredibly balanced especially considering it goes from citrus to dank to citrus and really just flows perfectly. You get a nice variety of hop profile within a single sip of beer. Lagunitas really knows what they're doing with their beers. I've never had a bad Lagunitas beer. With that said, as dank as this is, I'm not a big fan of the dank hops. But, that's just me. This is a world class DIPA and should be enjoyed by anyone who enjoys hops.

Rating: A (very solid)

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

Lagunitas Brewing - Cappuccino Stout

Do you like coffee? Yes? Do you like HARD CORE COFFEE?!?!

I don't know where I was going with that, but if you also answered yes with some kind of enthusiasm, hell, ANY kind of enthusiasm, you might be interested in my beer of choice tonight. Tonight, I'm drinking the winter seasonal from Lagunitas Brewing Co, Cappuccino Stout. This is a 9.2% stout brewed with coffee. 

Big surprise, I know. Coffee in a stout? That's something completely wild and crazy! It's never been done before in history! Obviously, unless you just discovered beer you know that's a complete false statement. 

So without anymore useless filler, without anymore random ramblings, without any... ok, enough bullshit.

Cappuccino Stout pours out pretty dark. It's a stout so there's not really a shock there, I know. There might be the slightest hue of mahogany at the bottom of the glass but I think that's more attributed to my shitty lighting here at my desk. There was about a finger to just over a finger of a somewhat thin off white head. It faded away pretty quickly leaving behind a soapy lacing that's fairly sticky. 

The nose on this beer is somewhat interesting. I'm not getting a ton of coffee on this beer. It's a bit subtle. Definitely not in your face like some of the other beers I've reviewed in the last couple months. I'm getting a bit of a bitterness coming through. It's definitely reminding me of used coffee grounds. I do get a little chocolate coming through but it's more of a sweet chocolate. There's also a biscotti like smell coming out. It's very much like almonds actually.

Taste wise, right away you get bitter coffee. It has a bit of bite to it. That's immediately followed by what I'd describe as a coffee bean character. Maybe even a chocolate covered espresso bean. It's somewhat sweet but has that hidden bitterness that comes up and bites you right away. Middle of the mouth I'm getting even more bitter coffee. Slightly burned, slightly like an espresso. It's bitter and black. Back end of this beer I'm getting that hint of alcohol coming through accompanied by a chocolate sweetness. As that fades I get that biscotti character I smelled on the nose. Very nutty. If you can get past the bitterness of the HARD CORE COFFEE, you'll probably dig it too.

Overall, I think this is another solid offering from Lagunitas. For the price, I don't know if you can beat them. I think I paid $5 for this beer. I don't think I've ever paid much more for one of their bombers. Great beers and great prices are always a good thing. Cappuccino Stout reminds me a lot of my morning coffee with the occasional biscotti to go with it. In fact, I sort of wish I had one to go with this beer. 

Rating: B

Solid B from me. This is good. It's different. It's not an Imperial Stout but it's good. Try it. You should like it.

Wife doesn't understand why people would ruin coffee, or in this case, HARD CORE COFFEE, with beer. Figures....