Lagunitas Imperial Red

Brewed by Lagunitas Brewing Company
Style: American Strong Ale
Petaluma, California USA

Bottle from the Foodery in Philadelphia. Nice deep red color with robust off-white head. Strong aroma of hops and strawberries, little floral. Smooth, fruity, sweet and unusual. Possibly the most unexpectedly tasty beer I’ve had.

Enjoyed from a 12oz bottle in a pub glass. The beer pours the expected deep amber color, with a nice and relatively long-lasting white head. A nose dominated by hops come through, with Simcoe and perhaps Cascade or Amarillo being especially evident. The palate is hop-forward, but maintains a nice back-end balance of caramel malt sweetness. Nicely done.

Shared a bottle of this with BeerBaron617. It poured an amber color - not quite red :) but it had a light tan/medium white head. It had a nice sweet and light fruit aroma. Taste, well it was quite good, it had a nice mouthfeel - probably in part from the light carbonation but it also was a nice consistency - not too thick but had some decent body. It tasted sweet - caramel maybe with a bit more malt, but it also had a good amount of hops. Very good.

Pours dark amber-copper with a thin, fluffy, off white head that has good retention. Aroma is citrus, floral, and a little pine over dark caramel and pretty nice toasty grain notes. Flavor is sweet caramel, sweet grain, some earthy notes, citrus and pine with an herbal/ dark fruit character coming out toward the finish. Palate is medium bodied with a slick, syrupy feel throughout and a decent carbonation. Definitely a good addition to their lineup, but they could stand to expand their flavor profile a little, and the palate leaves alot to be desired.

Bottled. Amber coloured.Unclear. Dense light brown head. Sweetness, flowers, pine, light fruits, light caramel and grass in the aroma. Flavour of caramel, cocoa, liqourice, pine, flowers, light roast and grass. Quite intense. Medium to full bodied. Dry. Heavy bitter end.

THOUGHTS: Big surprise… another American strong ale from Lagunitas. But this one smelled an awful lot like a barley wine, but it didn’t really taste like one. Hid alcohol well. TECHNICAL: Bottle. Poured a medium to dark orangey red with a small, off-white head that mostly diminished and left good lacing. The aroma was moderate caramel malt, and candy, moderate heavy pine, resin and citrus hops, brown sugar, slight alcohol,, slight Band-aid, a little apple, a little raisin, that barley wine smell and slight milk chocolate when warmer. The initial flavor was sweet, a little acidic and lightly bitter; while the finish was sweet and more bitter. There was caramel, alcohol, cherry, citrus hops, a little less pine hops, candy, resin, a little rubber and orange. The medium to full body was a little syrupy and very sticky on the lips with very tingly carbonation and a metallic, lightly astringent and lightly alcoholic finish.

Holly hoperrific Bat Man!!!! I’ll get back to the hops in a bit but first what the beer looked like. The beer pours a copper / red, it actually is the same color as cheery wood, the quarter inch of tan head lasted the entire beer and left some pretty impressive lacing but I can’t explain it the body of the beer some how looks cheap kind of like a girl you see at the bar looks good from far but far from good, can’t explain why. Hops, hops, hops that’s all I’m going to and all I can say about the aroma. The beer is very thick and creamy feeling in my mouth but leaves it very dry after the beer has disappeared down my throat. Hops is what I taste and pretty much hops is all I taste, there is a good malt flavor hidden under the intense hops, and what I believe is caramel at the back of my throat and the high alcohol content could not be detected. The beer starts off sweet for the first couple of seconds and then turns bitter directly after the swallow. Wow this was way hopier then I ever imagined it would be, but I enjoyed drinking this beer but don’t think I could handle more then one in a evening. P.S. This beer might have some hops in the recipe.

Brownish red and crystal clear with an average beige head (albiet on a rough pour) that has some decent retentsion but no lacing - slides right back down. Aroma, well, some hops and by some I mean mega hops. Tons of hops. Spicy, floral, strong hops. I also detected some ripe tropical fruit. One dimensional flavour: hops. Massive spice and a strong bitterness. No shortage of flavour, except it’s all hops...anything else present gets crushed. Beer came across suprisingly smooth and then it explodes the throat with tons of spice leaving a really heavy bitter aftertaste. Tingled the roof of my mouth. Decent body. Not sure if I want this again.