Lagunitas Brown Shugga

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

I found this one to come on way too strong. I see it is considered a barleywine which I don’t think I’ve had before so maybe it is the style. Nice molasses brown color; a little thick but not syrupy. I can’t see this being sweet at all. This is my first Lagunitas and I know people like them....but I don’t like this one.

12 oz bottle. Hardy copper/amber pour with a nearly non-existant white head. Non-descript hops with slight malt and brown sugar aroma. Flavor dominated by hops, not overly bitter, just overly present. Not sure how anyone could get sweet out of this. I want to sit and disect this but it’s just an IPA with some brown sugar. Clean finish sure, drinkability good especially for the abv. Probably great if you’re a straight hop head. The base of the beer tastes like EVERY SINGLE other beer I’ve had from Lagunitas. Malt and roast are just too words they don’t like to incorporate. It’s like they just keep taking their IPA and adding different small items and calling it a different named Strong Ale. Everybody is always so high on this brewer and I guess I just don’t get it. West Coast bitter beer, the thought being this is crisp and clean and organic in some instances. Rambled enough. I was unimpressed with this and will age 1 but look to donate the other 4 I have. Even their capuccino stout was just a heavy brown. Ok, now I’m done.

220z bottle pours brown, carb but no head. Aroma of dark malt and sweet carmel. Flavor is lasting: starts out brown sugar sweet then with alcohol warmth.

12oz bottle. Pours a ruby color with almost no head. Lots of carbonation. Aroma is of bubblegum, caramel, malt, hops, spice, and citrus. I expected a very harsh taste, but got a very sweet and drinkable beer instead. Nice hop bite, with bubblegum, spice, caramel malt, and lemon. Nice underlying malt taste. Lingering alcohol bite. Well worth drinking.

Tasting it blind, it would remind me of any number of Barley Wines that I have tried but with more sweetness. I’m sure I’ve had a Barley Wine that has this much of a touch of sweetness before, but I can’t really quite place it. Aside from the name and marketing it’s not particularly unique, but the name fits and it’s good stuff - a Barley Wine-caliber bitterness combined with a prominent sweetness really is a good balance/combination.

bottle at Ft Wayne locals tasting - Pours orange-ish with a slight head. It smells of caramel malt and hops with a touch of citrus. It’s funny the different impressions in the ratings here as I see some people saying it’s very sweet with little hops presence and others saying it’s practically an IIPA. My notes say it’s definitely a hopped up barley wine with the sugary malts in the background and a bitter finish. Ah well. It’s good.

Nice sweet malty beer. The beer has a slight haze appearance, but it is fairly transparent. Nice thin head sitting on top. I guess I should have looked at the bottle a little more because I did not realize this was a barley wine. My brother purchased it, and I am just weezing of his gig. Anyways, Nice balance of hops and malts in the aroma, although the malts dominate. The sweet sugar flavor actually does come through. Wow, very sweet and malty. The hops have no place in this beer. There is a slight bitterness, but that sugar taste comes through perfectly. It is very sweet and good. What an excellent idea for this barley wine. Creamy palate. A fine barley wine. Overall, sugar a malts dominate. Very sweet and candy like.

Bottle. Pours a deep clear orange color, lingering foamy head. Flavor is big sweet caramelized sugar and tons of malt. Definitely has a barleywine aspect to it, but with tons of un-fermented sugars. This stuff is almost like liquid candy. Full bodied, a bit chewy. Watch out, this stuff will creep up on you and kick your ass due to high ABV!