Lagunitas Brown Shugga

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

Pours brick red with frothy head. Aroma is barley winesque with vineous alcohol and caramelly malts plus a soft brown sugar background and herbally hops. Flavor is thick creamy and vineous with caramelly malts lots of brown sugar molasses plus a lot of hop bitterness.

nice brown sugar toffee caramel taste. alcohol was well hidden (didn’t guess it was near 9%). sweet malty and light hop bitterness. full in flavor and moderateley full in body. so, that might be why the head was slow to rise (and meager). this is a beer to have when something really pissed you off. thank God!

Pours amber with a half-finger off-white head. Big whiff of alcohol, sweet malt, and light hops against a surprisingly strong background of brown sugar. As it warms, the sugar comes through even more, eventually dominating. Big molasses and caramel malt flavor up front. This is quickly dried up by hops and a generous amount of alcohol. That touch of brown sugar peeks out like a guilty thing at the very end. Leaves you bitter, with a sticky-sweet taste at the roof of the mouth. I’d have it again.

The beer pours an orange color with a small off-white head. The scent was sweet with hops and spices coming on strong. Didn’t tast much like a barleywine to me, more of an ASA with a ton of sweetness. The brown sugar was a little overdone in my opinion. I think that a bit more hops would have balanced out the sweetness.

Pours a beautiful cloudly copper color with little head. Aroma is sweet with a hint of alcohol. A lot of sweetness on the palate. The overall taste is complex. From heavy malt and molasses to hoppy to a alcohol-laden aftertaste. A very complex but delicious beer. Actually rather smooth considering the alcohol content.

Rated 3/31/07: Oh shugga shugga, not the cream of the crop for this style but a nice tasty b-wine at a fantastic value. The aroma is nice with some inviting sweet malt characteristics backed by a heaping dose of aromatic hops, not very prevelant though. Dark copper color with a disippating head and quite a bit of lacing. Mouthfeel is soft for this style but a bit tacky, abv is hidden very well, medium bodied and decent. Standard flavor for a solid American Barleywine; we got some hearty malt with caramel and molasses coupled with some aggressive west coast hops. What’s nice is the light sugary flavor of the brown sugar that grits on your gums and tickles your tastebuds. It’s not overbearing and really comes through as an afterthought. This is good stuff.

Bottled.Thx rlgk Deep golden with a brief head. Light fruitiness with a lot of hops. Fresh, but still sweet and malty flavour. Full-bodied wiht toffee-notes and hoppy bitterness.

Amber color with a beige head. Aroma and flavor of some hops, sugar and fruit.