Lagunitas Brown Shugga

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

Pretty red brown with a white head. Smells of lots of brown sugar with a bit of citrus hop. Tastes like a perfect winter brew, with lots of sugary spiciness and alcohol.

Dark copper-red, off white lumpy foam. Aroma is spicy hops over a sweet fruity maltiness, brown sugar, caramel, toffee. Taste is again very sweet, brown sugar, caramel, apples, toffee, good spicy hop bitter finish.

Bottle from Total Wine. Pours a very dark amber/brown with a rim of tan head. The lacing is loose and spotty. The aroma is pleasantly sweet with hints of citrus and a subtle bite of piney hops. Flavors are additionally sweet with a backbone of herbal notes surrounded by zested citrus peel, sugar, biscuits, cranberries, and pine resin. Full bodied with a long finish and soft carbonation. This is an interesting brew; I’m not used to a sweeter barleywine but it works well here.

Enjoyed on tap at the Map Room in Chicago. This is a pretty potent ale, very reminiscent of Dogfish Head’s 120 Min IPA in all honesty. This is definitely a beer you do not want to drink after you’ve had a few...unless you want to wake up with a wicked hangover.

The beer pours amber brown. The head is cream colored, average sized and laces somewhat. The beer smells like cascade hops, molasses and sugar. The sugary smell seems to brighten of the hops. The taste is a little heavy in the mouth, sweet, bitter and hoppy, with a hint of smoky molasses. The finish is much cleaner than I expected. A sweet satisfying winter brew.

A - Fruity hops and malt. Brown sugar. Cherries, peaches, raisins, sharp citrus, and sweet malt. By golly, maybe some cinnamon. Very inviting. Cross between a barleywine, DIPA, and an ASA. Slight astringent alcohol. A - Oily looking dark amber pour into fancy Sam Adams glass, and standard pint. Sits oily. Not much of a tan head. Kind of dead, with few slow rising bubbles. F - Very, VERY sweet. Almost stomach ache sweet after a couple. Sugary. Duh! Big fruity maltiness and sticky, syrupy mouth. Brown sugar linger, along with hops. Cherry, caramel, dark fruit, orange peel and other assorted citrus. Great hop variety to try and balance things out. Over the top. Kind of messy. Wonder where they messed up the Gnarleywine? P - First one was overwhelmingly sweet. Not always a bad thing, but leaves mixed feelings here. Kind of cloying. Again, fairly heavy and syrupy. The carbonation did its best, and was appropriate, medium to light. The hop bite is excellent, as I like my barleywines. O - Filling. Like able, though not very drinkable. 9.84% hidden well under all the sugar. GREAT seasonal, and winter warmer nonetheless. Sweetness isn’t SUCH a turnoff in the right session. A 6er is definitely meant to be split, cause it will catch up. I love west coast beers, but Lagunitas is a little too consistent in the hop profile of their ales. I generally look forward to this.

This beer pours a deep mahogany with a thin tan head that dissipates quite quickly. The aromas are caramel, nuts and a little spice (cinnamon). The flavors are bread, light cinnamon, and caramel. This was reasonable, but I’m not a big fan of the barleywines. Cheers!

Pours dark ruby red with a great head. Flavor is strawberries followed by ridiculous sweetness followed by nail polish remover. The alcohol is overpowering. Tried this twice, will not try again.