Lagunitas India Pale Ale

Brewed by Lagunitas Brewing Company
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Petaluma, California USA

Despite the sheer mind-boggling number of breweries in California alone, not that many of them have widespread national distribution. While the west coast may see far more of their beers, the east coast sees very little.

Rays of amber orange sunshine illuminate my visage while a comforter of soft white foam lazily melts into a thin ring under our dual gaze. Like a sweet swamp mist, her nose smothers with sticky orange, honey, and hop oils while lemon zest bares her teeth from the safety of cover. Wet and sticky; just the way I like it. As I am sucked into her heavy depths, I am met with a surprisingly medium body which denies to a certain extent the heavy weight of her nose. Sticky, juicy, pulpy orange drips while lemon sparkles and glints in the background, revivifying my laden tastebuds. Each quaff is clean-cut with whispers of fresh-cut grass while hop oils kiss all porous surfaces. As she warms, grassy, lemon bitterness with a concentrated purpose of honeycomb, orange pulp, and succulent hop oils slowly rise to the occasion. Deliciously quaffable, I find my glass emptier far sooner than I anticipated. My mouth thirsts for more, but alas, I shall have to wait until a later date to renew our scandalous love affair.

I think I enjoyed the Lagunitas IPA more than I did their Maximus. The balance of flavors, texture, and aroma is excellent. Not too often are regular IPAs big, wet, and sticky without being Imperial. I am extremely pleased and shall have to hunt down some more.

Bottle from Sun Devil. Hoping it was old or something because this was underwhelming as hell. Aroma was non-existent, flavor was like a sweet pale ale or a plain cider: very subdued, like watered-down juice. No hops, grainy finish.

smells a ilttle hoppy with that lagunitas sweetness that i’m not sure i like. a little raisiny. pours very thin almost lager colored. the taste is hoppy at first and then just kind of fruity raisiny at the end. its just too fruity and top heavy there’s no guts to this one.

Bottle. Poured an orange color with a small to medium off white head. Aroma was quite good with caramel, sweet malt, citrus, melon/pineapple, and fruit. Flavor was good, but not quite as good as the aroma. Alot of sweet malt and caramel, perhaps more pronounced than the hops. Melon, earthy, and citrus hops in the finish. Solid amount of sweetness. Solid beer.

Pours orange. Aroma is indistinct of malt and flowery hops. I am guilty of trying Hop Stoopid before this, which in retrospect is an obvious mistake. Comparatively, this IPA comes out too bland, too muddy, too inferior when sizing up Hop Stoopid. I suppose taken alone it is not all that bad: just more caramelly-red fruit fruit than I would like out of an IPA. The bitterness does come in at the finish, but rather passively and inharmoniously.

Fantastic Cascade aroma and flavor, but milder bitterness which I appreciate in an IPA that I want to drink more than one of. Citrus, pineapple, a touch of sweetness, and dry to accentuate the great hop flavor

Bottle. Golden brown pour body underneath a fizy white head with good lacing. Aroma of pine hops, exotic fruits, and earthiness. Flavor was fruity hops, pine, earth and dirt. Pretty good IPA.

Bottle. Pours with a clear, copper body and covered by a fluffy, barely off-white head that leaves decent lace. Aroma is pungent with pine C-Hops, caramel, dust and lightly estery. Taste is pine hops, light citrus, caramel and tea. Creamy bubbles and mouthfeel.