Lagunitas Cruising with Ruben and The Jets

Brewed by Lagunitas Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Petaluma, California USA

Pours brown with a small short lasting tan head. For an imperial stout, this looks like shite! but I wasn’t really expecting one based on the beer’s description. Aroma of wood, anise, chocolate nibs, cinnemon...peculiarly absent of chocolate and roast qualities. Reminded me of DFH’s Chicory stout, but without moderation. Tastes sweeter than the aroma lets on, but similar with woody and spicy caramel and a burnt sugar sweetness. Pokey astringency and mild heat. Finishes woody, dry, acidic and peppery and no really pleasurable. Medium bodied, high carbonation, slick and uncreamy. Interesting, but this is NOT a dessert beer even though it seems like that’s what it should be.

pours a dep brown with a small tan head. notes of milk chocolate, cocoa, coffee. somewhat grainy yet very smooth mouthfeel.

(bottle from Springs Liquor Outlet in Colorado Springs). Pours a black color. Medium size tan head which diminishes quickly. Light malt and heavy alcohol aromas. Moderate carbonation. Light sweetness and bitterness. Avg duration.

Poured a deep brown color with a medium sized tan head and chunky yeast floaters. The aroma was of roasty malt and some yeasty notes. Chocolate with a light tartness and hint of smoke. The flavor had some yeasty notes (almost Belgian like) with roasted malt. Light tartness with some chocolate. Medium bodied with warmth in the chest.

Fruit and chocolate on the nose, pours dark brown. Lots of sweet fruit, chocolate.

Pours out of the bottle a dark reddish brown and has a little head w/some lacing. To the nose is sweet, maybe a little chocolate and oak. I can really smell the alcohol in it. First taste is sweet w/maybe a hint of bourbon, but the chocolate really comes out in the end. Very complex and growing on me w/every taste. I would not be opposed to buying it again. Cheers!

A friend brought this over. Liked the label. Coffee, chocolate and rhubarb. Not too complex, but pretty good.

Pours dark brown with a creamy 2 finger tan head that has good retention, as with a few other Lagunitas brews I have had this stuff is infested with protein globs. That fact is pretty strange considering this an imperial stout that came out what, like 6 months ago? You would think it would keep a little better. Aroma is roast, light coffee, trail mix with dried fruit, toffee and amaretto. Flavor is lots of chocolate, some coffee, a little dark fruit, some spice and some earthy and bitter hops. Palate is medium thickness, syrupy and feels almost slimy to the finish, an occasional protein glob is noted as well. Sometimes those are o.k. by me, but in this case they have a hard feel and got stuck on my tonsils a couple of times... gross. Overall I am not impressed, the flavors sort of seemed to clash, the aromas were too weak and of course the globs of goo didn’t impress either.