Lagunitas Cruising with Ruben and The Jets

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

Bottle at the brewery during RBSG09. Dark brown with a light beige head. Chocolate and light pepper in the aroma. Sweet and spic flavor with chocolate and a medium bitterness. Medium bodied and syrupy with medium carbonation. Doesn’t quite come together, but still ok.

Pours like a stout, black with an inch thick creamy tan head, that settles after the second sip. Tons of sediment in suspension. Peppery aroma with a hint of chocolate. Sweet flavor, very syrupy and sugary. Strong alcohol bite. Hard to chug.

Bottle. Poured an opaque dark brown color. The head was light brown and thick with good retention and lacing. Smelled of raisin, fig, and malted milk balls. Medium to full bodied and sweet with a hint of roasty bitterness at the end. Smooth mouth feel with milk chocolate, molasses, roasted nut, and vanilla notes. There was also a distinct hint of dark cherry at the end. Not too shabby.

Black body with a chestnut brown underpinning and creamy chocolate head. Piquant, deep, earthy chocolate nose with a distinct spiciness to it. Malt ball essence wafts in on the follow-up pitch. Well-rounded chocolaty and malty body with light to medium chocolate. Crisp chocolate bean dust on the finish. Absolutely dangerous at 8.6% as this one is smooth, delicious, nuanced, and endlessly quaffable.

The Zappa commemoratives have been a disappointment, but this stout isn’t too bad. Good solid chocolate and barley aroma, with a little coffee thrown in.For flavor, the chocolate-pepper combo is not too bad, but the elevated alcohol actually detracts in this case. Mouthfeel is thin and the finish is a bitter pepper.

bottle, pours black with a tan head. Vanilla and licorice nose Sweet roasted malt, honey and a little bit of vanilla in the finish. Soft carbonation. A little too sweet for me, but it’s ok.

Another job well done by Langunitas. poured darker than I initially thought. smooth light crisp aroma of some mocha elements. looked like a porter with little to no head. tasted smooth and light but a definite back to it that brought a complexity of dark fruits and chocolate hiddden behind it.