Lagunitas India Pale Ale

Orange amber color, thick off-white head. Citrus hop aroma. Flavor of grapefruity piney hops. Nice, very bitter IPA.

Hmm.. says they used 43 different hops and 65 different malts. They really should have stuck with just a good few. It’s not bad, but it has too much going on. Rather dry without much residual sweetness, and light bodied. Not sure why you need 65 malts for that. Grassy bitter hop finish.

Pours a clear copper-orange color under a tight and thick off-white head. Decent head retention throughout the glass with a bit of spotty lacing. Nicely balaced, but somewhat faint aromas of caramel and toasted malts with citrus and pine hop contributions. Was a bit disappointed that the nose seemed a bit tame. Palate was smooth, moderately full and had just the right amount of carbonation. Flavor seemed to surprisingly lean to the malty side for a west coast IPA. A bit more assertive and richer than the nose. Pleasant notes of caramel, biscuits, malt-balls, grapefruit, orange peel and pine greet the tongue. Finish is well balanced with a bitter-sweet lingering. Easy goin’ down and a pretty decent IPA.

12oz. This was a pleasant surprise. This is what the rest of the lackluster beers I had this evening were aspiring to. Glad I saved this for last. Ever so slightly hazy golden pour with lasting white head. Awesome carbonation that bounces up the side of the glass. Great pine and wintergreen on the nose, moderate in hoppiness which is kind of a relief. The slightest hint of syrup and a notion of cream soda on the lingering finish. I will go back to this one.

On tap, 10/3/07. Slightly hazy amber color, white foam with decent lacing and good retention. Aroma is very confused, very muddled hoppiness and a very strange, almost sourness to it. Flavor is pretty malty, a bit too malty for an IPA, some herbal like hops float around in the background, there’s some nice bitterness in the finish, but the real focus seems to be on the malt. Meh, call it a Pale Ale and I’m sold on it, put huge IPA on the label and dammit man you gotta try harder.

A nice IPA from those who know hops. Their special releases are a bit better than this, but this is a good IPA. Aroma of grassy hops with a bit of sticky malt. Pour was a nice dark orange with a one finger white head. Taste was mostly grassy and earthy hops with a nice malt backbone. The malt balanced the beer out perfectly which I actually don’t like as much as the overly hoppy IPAs. Nice.

Pours a redish gold color with a thin head. Not overly carbonated. The aroma is thin, barely detectable. The flavor is slightly sweet, with a well balanced hop bitterness. It doesn’t try to overpower you with hops, just a good bitter flavor that is clean. Overall a decent brew

Bottled. Hazy reddish orange appearance with low white foam. Hoppy aroma of orange-peels, grass and nectarines. dryish flavour of nectarines grass and grapefuit. with a solid citric bitterness.