Lagunitas Imperial Red

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

Bottle. Shared with my best friend, mrest88 (too bad he isn’t a Hophead!). I love imperial reds, and this one is no different. Pours with a clear red body and a light brown head that leaves good lacing. Aroma is hops (fresh) with lots of caramel and some ripe fruits. Taste starts nicely sweet with caramel and fruitiness and then finishes with a nice and controlled hop bitterness. A bit on the fizzy side of things.

Pours with an amber hue with no head. The beer has very good lacing as well! Hoppy aroma with lots of caramel. The flavor is pretty much bitter straight through. Almost too bitter in my opinion! Syrupy texture, with lively carbonation. In my opinion this beer was a little to hoppy and bitter for my liking. Recomended for people who like bitter beers though for sure!

a nice clear red beer with an off white head. nice spicy hop aroma. flavor is malty and hoppy. great lingering hop finish.

Poured a medium orange color with medium tan head. Nice full body with a good hit of hops. Very easy to drink.

12 oz bottle - pours a medium orange color with medium sized tan head. Aroma has fair amount of lightly toasted malt, with light caramel, notes of pumpkin and cinnamon, fair amount of herbal hops. Flavor has chewy malts, toasted caramel, roasty notes, with a balanced finish. Overall a decent brew, nothing earthshattering, but good.

12oz bottle. Pours a deep copper with highlights of amber and red and a medium-sized, light tan head. The aroma is thick and sticky with both caramel malts and delectable hops - excellent. The hop aroma is candy-like, citrusy, and herbal. The flavor follows the aroma: deliciously hoppy but with a very big malt backbone that provides some bready notes but also a good bit of balancing malt sweetness. There seem to be a generous level of fruity esters, too - which go great with the green bittersweet hop/malt levels in the beer. The hop bitterness is very firm and fruity. The finish is medium - dry and very bitter from the hops, but also quite full from the thick body and residual sweetness. The mouthfeel is quite full in body - silky and smooth with a nice level of carbonation that accentuates the bitterness and tickles the tongue. Overall, a really great hop-bomb amber.

This is almost the bizarro Lucky 13. Lucky 13 was a hoppy red where it seemed the roasted malts were more prevalent than the hops, though both were strong. The Imperial Red had a lot more hop flavor than I was expecting and very little malt.

Nice reddish colour with a small off-white head. Hoppy, rather inviting aroma with a thin malt background. Light, malty taste with some fizzy hoppiness. The finish is a bit sharp from the hops, dry and bitter. The aftertaste is sweet and feels a bit empty. Overall a rather nice beer though, hides the alcohol well and is suprisingly easy to drink.