Lagunitas Nuevo Noir

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

I picked this bottle up fairly recently when I was in Colorado for the 2005 GABF.

Pours an amber brown body and a delicate off white head. The aroma greatly suggests of brown sugar, ripened plums and cherries. The flavor adds hints of a light yeasty doughyness, a biscuity maltyness that brings loads of breakfast cereal flavors; toffee, beet sugars, hints of coco and almonds. There is a hint of a woodsy hops in the finish to add a bit of spice and bitterness. The palate is sticky and meadium bodied… a rather nice brew!

So what it seems we have here is a brown ale that may have used some belgian style yeast. I struggled to find words to describe the taste. Nothing bad about this beer but actually quite unremarkable.

Light brown colour. Aroma leads with woodsy American hops before proceeding to light bubblegum, floral esters and a light toffeeish malts. Soft, fairly light body. Nothing especially Belgian about this - it occupies a geographical No Man’s Land that befits Lagunitas’ innovative outlook. However, it’s rather restrained. I’d go so far as to say timid. It’s a decent product in terms of craftsmanship but lacks a sense of purpose. It’s defining element is not having a defining element and that’s not good.

Clear light brown; creamy off-white ring. Sour-like tannin brown ale aroma. Not sure what it is…. Very balanced. Very complex. Sweet buttery brown ale. Not sure…. Its sweet and buttery, with some hints of something. I really like it… its nicely sweet.

Bottle shared by Jason . Clear brown body, very thin white head. Spicy, fruity aroma. Raspberry, dried cranberry, sweet mapley syrup. The flavor continues the sweet trend with licorice, syrupy caramel malt, and a touch of spicy hops.

Brownish in color small whispy tan head some visable carbonation. Smells hot some alcohol and spice malts hints of maple syrup & brown sugar. Some light nuts. Fairly average palate decent coat. A nice carmel flavor some light walnuts touch of brown sugar. Pretty darn good.

The beer pours to a dark mahogany body with a thin whispy off-white head. The aroma is brown sugar and malty and spicy and English walnuts and cranberry. The flavor is like the best brown ale I’ve ever had. Nutty and malty. Plus, it has some spicy belgian characteristics. Very balanced and tasty. The palate is smooth, medium full, and spicy. I could drink lots of this.

Dull aroma that I did not care for. Dark brown cola color, some bubbles, little head. Kind of sweet, bitter flavor, kind of nice. Decent body, with the right amount of carbonation. Overall, it’s pretty good.