Lagunitas Brown Shugga

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

Pours copper with a beige head. The nose is citrus and pine hops, tons of caramel, some molasses, & candied fruit. Comes across the palate as citrus hops at first followed by a sweet brown sugar with molasses. With a mild hop finish that lingers. A medium bodied beer. Overall a good barley wine.

355 ml bottle, at tasting with yngwie, gunnfryd and Beer2000. Abv is 9,9%. Bown color, nice off-white/beige head. Aroma is malty, almost butterscotch, hops, alcohol. Flavor is sweet caramel malt, hops, butter. A very nice beer.

Pours copper with dark amber highlights and a yellowish beige head that has great retention and leaves specks of lacing. Aroma is citrus and pine hops, lots of caramel, some toast, molasses, candied pineapple and lime. Flavor is sweet citrus up front followed by sweet toast, brown sugar, molasses, mild dark fruits, fruit cake, herbal hops. Palate is medium thickness and somewhat oily. Finish is citrus and slightly bitter hops with molasses and toasted sweet grain.

Draft at UJ’s: Poured a reddish amber with not much head. The aroma was sweet caramel. The flavor was sweet, dark fruits, some hop character, and a strong alcohol finish. Overall, very flavorful and sweet. A Nice brew.

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.