Lagunitas Brown Shugga

Formerly brewed at Lagunitas Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Petaluma, California USA

Serve in Snifter

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Pours dark amber with a large, fading head leaving some lacing. Nose shows lots of malt, with golden syrup, muscat, oxidised notes, raisins and bready characters. Also some hops are noticeable with soft piney/resinous hints. Similarly malty flavours with the focus on brown sugar and golden syrup. Afterwards some booze shows, mixing with a mild bitterness. Syrupy body and mild carbonation works wonderfully.

Dark orange pour with off white head. Aroma of molasses and caramel. Taste of toffee, caramel and a bit of vanilla. Hoppy aftertaste although not as much as other barley wines. Good beer.

Hazed orange pour with off white head and lace. Dried fruit, molasses, and if sweet was a smell I smelled it. Super sweet caramel start, raisins, bread, and a nice resiny bitter. Full bodied and smooth. So nice.

Bottle. A friend recommended this to me. Nose is nice with sweet potato, citrusy hop, pine, honey, and caramel. Poured a mahogany/red/amber color with very minimal head and lacing. Taste was o.k. Lots of citrus, sweet potato, zapote, toffee, caramel. A hint of brown sugar comes in the finish. Not as sweet as I thought. Little alcohol flavor for the ABV. Nutty. It’s ok, but not my favorite. It would be good with a thanksgiving meal.

deep dynamic brown coloring with off white head. nut, toffee, raisin, no noticeable alcohol flavor. medium to thick body and mouth feel. pretty sweet, not much hop wise. I like the gnarly wine a lot more.

Dark and sweet. Very bready with flavors of caramel and malt. Raisins, cherries and prunes as well. A little too sweet for me.

UPDATED: DEC 22, 2011 Loved it ! Had at The Monk’s private tasting. The name says it all. Thick caramel brown pour. Aroma of burnt and caramelised brown sugar. Taste is sweet and resinous with massively sweet caramelised brown sugar. Can not believe this is 9.99%. Taste more like it’s 5-6%. Awesome

Appearance: gorgeous rubies, reds, garnets, mahoganies, and brown sugars all melted into one. Off white crusty head with a bubbly collar and lace crawling up the sides of my glass.
Nose: caramelized brown sugars and spice, cinnamon if you please. Spiced red apples and more cinnamon if you please. Golden sun-dried raisins, raisin bread moist and delicious. Candied sugars without the tooth-aching saccharine quality. Approrpriately brown sugar forward and woven inward, outward, and all around.
Palate: clean and delicious. Plums, cherries, and spice ohmy – cinnamon and brown sugar. Has a mulled cider quality with a whole cinnamon stick included, of course. Apples, more plums, and plump juicy golden raisins. Medium weight with a full lightly chewy mouthfeel. Warmth spreads through my chest. Essence of seasons, the transition of fall into winter. Homemade cinnamon apple sauce, skins included.
Final Thoughts: for a long while now Lagunitas has been hit or miss with me, though as my palate horizons broaden, so too does my appreciation for what Lagunitas offers the beery community. An amazing beer which screams for food.

Bottle. Amber with some particles, creamy head. Aroma of caramel, pine, prunes, citrus, dough. Taste is sweet - but not as sweet as expected - and fruity with raisins, figs, dates, then grass and moderate citrus and pine. Alcohol very well hidden. Only slightly sticky. Bitterness is just less than balancing (which is fine). Sweetness that yields to just brown sugar at the end. There’s a surprising lack of intensity about the malt flavours - it’s restrained verging on soft-focused. Shruggo.

On tap at the Common Table Dallas. It pours a mahogany colour with thin off-white head. The nose is of sweet over-ripe fruit: plum, cherry and raisin, as well as caramel and grass. The taste is tangy plum, sweet dark cherry, brown sugar, molasses, caramel, wood and alcohol warmth. This is far too sweet for my taste. I almost slipped into a sugar-fuelled coma....