Lagunitas Brown Shugga

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

Its funny, when I saw this on the board at my favorite local bar it described it as a brown ale. First taste, total barleywine inspired brew. Tastes like a home brew, a well made home brew, but I don’t think it’s sure what it wants to be - kinda like Madonna.

Bottle pours an amber color with a white head. Has a medium body with a medium mouthfeel and laces as you drink it. Smells like brown sugar. Taste is pungent upfront with a hop blast and finishes with a sweet malt base that this brewery is known for. Tasty.

The aroma is like grapefruit, toasted malt, carmel, and bread. The appearance is amber with an average but nice head. The flavor is like the aroma. The palate is smooth. Overall it’s nice but too astringent.

Bottle. A fairly solid barley wine style ale. Pours a somewhat opaque copper color with a very small/almost non existent white head. Notes of very sweet brown sugar, yeast, and hops to top it off. Overall taste is quite reminiscent of smell. Nothing really makes the taste stand apart from the aroma, which I would consider a downside. I really wish something would pop out when I tasted it, but unfortunately it didn’t happen. Its still a solid beer, but it could definitely be better...

draught. tapped a clear light brown with thin tan head into a chalice. aroma notes of caramel, toffee, maple syrup, and citrus. had a cloyingly sweet sticky malt flavor. a bit of floral and alcohol flavors also present. long bitter finish. good but way too sticky.

Hazy dark amber color, with a big creamy head. It has a perfumy and spicy (vanilla) hop aroma, sweet and malty, inviting. It has a powerful body, with a good malt and caramel flavor; compared to other American Barley Wines, this one has the alcohol that wins over the hop; anyway, it’s well bitter and the alcohol is not too much. It has a balanced final with caramel. Very good, solid, straighforward.

Appearance: Pours a dark mahogany-hued body with a small beige head. Smell: Earthy, sweet-smelling caramel maltiness with bright citrus, maple, and spruce notes. Taste: Caramel malts with a hard candy sweetness. A drizzle of maple syrup. A nice mergence of citrusy grapefruit and Valencia oranges. Spicy spruce component. Lightly acidic. Moderate, resinous hop bitterness. A bit of hot alcohol warmth around the bittersweet finish. Mouthfeel: A bit beyond medium-bodied. Medium carbonation. Drinkability: Not nearly as graceful and seamless as some of the great barleywines, but decent enough for the price, I suppose.

Pours dark reddish brown with small tan head. Aromas of malt, molasses and brown sugar. Initial flavors of sweetness and hops and finishes with malt and alcohol. Decent, but there are alot of better barley wines out there.