Lagunitas Cruising with Ruben and The Jets

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

Appearance: Pours out a dark brown body with a thin, wispy, off-white head. Smell: Sweetish nose of roasty malts, bittersweet chocolate, a half teaspoon of prune preserves, star anise, and the half-hearted zip of stale spice. Taste: Dark, roasted malts, perhaps a thin undertone of black malt, along with tastes of bittersweet chocolate and black licorice. Medium sweetness throughout. Splash of prune fruitiness. Earthy, lightly roasty bitterness midway mingled with the white pepper’s extremely subtle powdered mustard character. Further flavors of chocolate and sweet malts on the finish. Mouthfeel: Medium-plus body. Medium carbonation. Drinkability: Not bad! For me, it doesn’t seem too far removed from the Imperial Stout in their regular line-up, except with the additions of chocolate and white peppercorns.

Sweet aroma of dark choolate and roasted malt. Not too much pepper presence. Only at the end of a glass or two did I notice the slight burn/tingle on my tongue and throat. Taste was very mild for what the beer is. Not robust at all, pretty simple.

Dark brown pour with a thick tan head and nice spotty lace. Sweet malty aroma. Thin bodied. Chocolate, roast, and cardboard. I wish they would stop paying tribute to an excellent musician with mediocre beers....

Bottle at Funky Buddha/Case and Keg tasting. Let me just say that this beer is an amazing disappointment. dark brown pours leads to a pretty crappy beer. lb4lb is right about the cardboard flavor and the finish is terrible and damn this is one thin beer. Bleh.

Pours chocolate brown with a big light tan lasting head. Smell is Dull and choclate like malt with some metal and cardboard and soy sauce. Not as fresh as expected in the nose. Taste is slightly chocolatey with some earthiness and dull cocoa like cardboardiness. Some tartness to the flavor. Not picking up on the peppercorns. Creamy, rich body and soft carbonation. Overall, just ok, with a hint of alcohol in the finish, that I don’t care for.

Bottle. Body-opaque with a half inch foamy head. Nose-malty, lightly toasty, metal. Taste-grape juice, light Tootsie Rolls, medium to high CO2, not too sweet, light malt balls, light toasted coconut, raisin, unsweet dark fruits, and grape blow pops. A damn enjoyable beer. Nearly flawless.

bomber. good looking black-brown color with orange edges. well formed tan head is a little thin, but looks good. sweet malty nose. lots of molasses and chocolate with some fruity pruney notes. moderate hop bitterness allows the sweetness of this beer to shine. tastes more like an eastern european lager, like okocim porter. thats fine by me as i am a big fan of the style. slightly sappy mouthfeel from the residual sugar.

pitch black with decent tan head. sweetness to the nose. moderate/low carbonation. a lot of crystal malt in this, likely 40L due to the fruitiness. just a mild roasted character and a very faint chocolate lingering. a lot of residual sweetness, either too low IBU or too high finishing gravity. not that well made