Lagunitas Imperial Red

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

12oz bottle. Pours a deep copper with highlights of amber and red and a medium-sized, light tan head. The aroma is thick and sticky with both caramel malts and delectable hops - excellent. The hop aroma is candy-like, citrusy, and herbal. The flavor follows the aroma: deliciously hoppy but with a very big malt backbone that provides some bready notes but also a good bit of balancing malt sweetness. There seem to be a generous level of fruity esters, too - which go great with the green bittersweet hop/malt levels in the beer. The hop bitterness is very firm and fruity. The finish is medium - dry and very bitter from the hops, but also quite full from the thick body and residual sweetness. The mouthfeel is quite full in body - silky and smooth with a nice level of carbonation that accentuates the bitterness and tickles the tongue. Overall, a really great hop-bomb amber.

This is almost the bizarro Lucky 13. Lucky 13 was a hoppy red where it seemed the roasted malts were more prevalent than the hops, though both were strong. The Imperial Red had a lot more hop flavor than I was expecting and very little malt.

Nice reddish colour with a small off-white head. Hoppy, rather inviting aroma with a thin malt background. Light, malty taste with some fizzy hoppiness. The finish is a bit sharp from the hops, dry and bitter. The aftertaste is sweet and feels a bit empty. Overall a rather nice beer though, hides the alcohol well and is suprisingly easy to drink.

Bottle at Redlight. WOW. Really nice hoppy and floral aromas. Smelled very evergreen. Really liked the citrusy taste. Very light body. Very sweet with malt very present. Really liked this one.

Another beer shared by robert at stateline... Light brown in color, small head. Taste was suprisely good. Very malty, hoppy but overall a sweet taste. Sugery sweet. Good texture and a solid beer overall. Thanks robert for sharing all the brews!

Bottle. Pours a red body with with a white head. Lots of hoppy citrus and pine. Light malt body with some etoh as well. Carmel and passion fruit. Good Beer.

12 oz. bottle from Wine Warehouse. Ruby red pour with a small off-white head that fades quickly to a ring around the glass. Big hops in the aroma. Very big. Resin, citrus, pine. Some earthy malts in the background. Taste is brown sugar, caramel, cassis and nuts with some lemon-citrus hops. Full bodied, smooth, with alcohol very subtle. A winner from Lagunitas!

12 oz. stubby bottle, vintage 2007. Well, I may never get to share a "Frank Zappa vertical" until I have everything up to "Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch," but I have other Lagunitas to bide my time until I can get enough friends together. Like this one. It pours a somewhat murky reddish brown, raising a sweet sticky malt and sugar smell. Thin barley wine style foam layer. Holds glass closer to detect a fair amount of bittering hops before the standard West Coast load. Hops still smell a bit fresh, and not at all out of balance. Taste is malty but with a grapefruit backing that seems to come from malt and ferment. Sticks to the upper lip, pricks the roof of my mouth with bubbles. Even over-chilled (I want my own beer fridge again!) it brings on some raw alcohol warmth. Some grape wine, bits of cherry and tart apple, and now, I think, some English hops, too. In order words, a beer with a lot going on. If I had a bomber of this, I’d just call it a night.