Lagunitas Brown Shugga

Brewed by Lagunitas Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Petaluma, California USA

12oz. Pours deep red with little head. Lacing is kind of sloppy. Caramel aroma and... brown shugga! Hops and alcohol dominate the flavor. Pretty sweet, and the 9.5% shows through- but it’s welcome in the depths of winter.

12oz bottle. Pours clear amber with a medium off-white head. Caramelly aroma with lots of sugar and some alcohol. Caramel malty flavor with a decent hop finish. Not bad.

Pours copper with a slight reddish glow and a small off white head. Nice sweet (brown) sugary aroma with a burst of dark fruit and spicy kick. A moderate hop presence and a slight bit of alcohol rounds out the nose. Flavor starts with a quick burst of spices and cinnamon. Some definite sugar and molasses give a nice round sweetness to balance the spices. Some other sweet flavors include toffee and sweet over ripe fruits. Finishes with a woody and hoppy character and a slight of alcohol presence. Medium to full body and a sticky mouth feel. All around very good barley wine. Not too overwhelming despite the high alcohol. Very well rounded and tasty.

This beer has it all going in, nice look and smell, and brown sugar! How could you go wrong? Something about all the right pieces just didn’t come together like it should with a very weird flavor. I wouldn’t get this one again. Cheap as hell though.

Pours a medium copper hue, forming a small foamy head that quickly dissipated. Aroma pungent of malts, candy brown sugars and floral hops. Flavour of brown sugary goodness, spicey floral hops and mild toffee malts. Exceptionally smooth beer, alcohol well hidden. Would love to try on tap version. Modest hint like DIPA, hopstoopid? (which I love)

Pours a clear, dark copper red with a medium beige head. Big sweet aroma of honey, brown sugar, and sweet malts along with some Cascade hops. Flavor is very sweet upfront with a nectar like honey and sugar flavor. But the bitter hops do come through to balance in the finish. I think the fact that it wasn’t fully fermented to Gnarleywine leaves it a little sweet and sticky, but it’s still a very tasty barley wine. Maybe a little too grassy at the end.

From bottle during beer tasting. Brown colored strong ale with a sweet nose of brown sugar and grain bread. A surprisingly well-balanced ale with accents of toffee, milk chocolate, and dark fruit.

This pours out an amber-brown color with a decent sized head for the style and abv with some spotty lacing. The aroma is a little mild, hops, sugar, pine. The beer starts off sweet and sugary with some caramel malt then a blast of piney hops follow to dry, but soft finish. Pretty big hop profile here, definitely a bit sweet, but not too sweet and no alcohol burn at all. This is rather easy drinking for such a high abv beer. Lagunitas seldom lets me down. Good one.