Lagunitas B3K

Formerly brewed at Lagunitas Brewing Company
Style: American Strong Ale
Petaluma, California USA

Serve in Snifter, Trappist glass

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Bomber into tulip glass. Thanks to cquiroga. I’ve had this twice in the past few days and had varied experiences. The first time, with Chris and a well-chilled beer, was better than with Todd and Bill with a thoroughly room-temp beer. On first tasting, I thought it smelled very good, with toasted cookie, yeasty butter, brown sugar all over the place and some plum. The second time I could smell the alcohol a bit, the plum was gone, and the brown sugar was harsher. Both times, I smelled some musty moldy bread that was kind of prickly spicy, but the first time it was smoother and more integrated. Glowing golden amber was clear with a yellow-light caramel color head that left brittle oily lacing and was mostly diminishing. The taste was aight: creamy and buttery at first with soft carbonation, good sweetness, with some pear and plum fruit flavor. The finish was both dope and a failure. I liked how it started, dry with some earthy tobacco and subtle hops. I didn’t like the overwhelming saltiness that almost ruined the beer for me. It was chewy rock-salty, and wouldn’t be denied. If the finish would end about 10 seconds before it does, the beer would be solid (at least, that’s what I thought from the first tasting; the second, the beer was much less complex and uninteresting. In my mind, it’s a bad sign that it gets worse when it’s warmer.)

A beautiful tawny color like that of rich, dark wood with a moch-colored head that sustains nicely and laces the glass well. The aroma is dense, fruity and deep with traces of what appears to be concentrated fruit juice added and a touch of caramel and milk. Unique. Flavor and aroma are one with the addition of some burnt caramel and a solid sweetness on the palate.

Aroma of raisins, plums, cinammon and gingerbread. Appears a ruby brown color with little to no head. Flavor starts sweet and malty, with notes of toffee and molasses. Flavor ends with a big bitter green hoppy finish. Palate is a bit light for a beer of this magnitude, but the alcohol is hidden pretty well. Overall, this a good brew, and it is equal or better than the sum of its parts.

On tap, brought out by the Lagunitas folks at Concordia Ale house (!!).. Snifter. Pours rich mahogany red amber, with a thick, almond-tan head, and good lacing.. Aroma is very complex, with estery maple, caramel, toffee, wet cardboard, and some herbal hops in there for good measure.. Initial sip is amazingly complex, with toffee, honey-maple, with ripe cherries/apple, that gives way to some herbal hop notes, finishing deadly smoooooooth, with the rich toffee sweetness balancing with the hop bittering.. HOWEVER.. as the galss warms, the thick sickly sweetness of diacetal (sp?)creeps up :( and continues to become more and more prominent, making the beer nearly undrinkable towards the end- hence the unusual scoring..