Lagunitas Lucky #13

Poured from a bottle... cool label! Aroma- Really interesting blend of pine and rasberry aroma... I dig it. Appearance- Dark copper color with a thick creamy, off-white head. Long retention. Medium clarity. Flavor- If I could describe the hop flavor in this beer, it would be exactly what I look for in a hoppy beer. Not too bitter at all, but plenty of hop flavor to go around. There is a solid malt backbone that balances this beer well. Yummy! The sweetness gives the hops a juicy feel. It’s like a hop candy. hmmmm hop candy..... Palate- Really easy drinking beer. Medium body, no real dryness. Pretty sweet actually. Low-medium carbonation. Overall- I usually rate beers against the bjcp styles, but there is no "American strong ale" category. That happens alot on this and other websites, but in this case, I think the BJCP needs to add American Strong Ale as a category, just because of the great examples that exist... Arrogant Bastard, Palo Santo, etc... Anyway, this is a fantastic beer. When I smelled it, I thought that I was in for a let-down, but the beer delivered. It is so easy to drink. The only knock is this; the sweetness works for me right now. If I were to buy more of this, the sweetness would be too much. However, it works well for now.

Pours an amber with a medium head. The nose is caramel maltiness with an resiny hop. Comes across the palate is malt, caramel and a medium to light citrus hop. Overall its a decent brew, just lacks the hop kick.

22oz bomber from Total Wine Tampa. Pours deep brown-red with a white head. Nose is hops, spice, malt, alcohol, and a hint of sugar. Flavor is sugar, caramel, spice, mellow piney hops and a nice tanginess. Finish is lingering caramel and spicy sugar. Light to Medium-bodied and enjoyable.

This beer smells a bit like a urine & plum mash. I am a bit surprised by the high ratings I see and luckily it has a decent ABV, and is tasting better by the minute. Perhaps it’s because I am a dark beer lover, but this beer doesn’t do much for me. Not a terrible beer, but certainly far from my first choice.

Pours amber with a medium creamy head. Aroma is caramel maltiness with an resiny hop. Flavour is buttery malt, caramel sweetness and a medium resiny light citrus hop.

Aroma is hops, pepper, and honey. Pours a clear copper color with a small off-white head. Taste is citrus hops, and caramel. Full-bodied with a soft mouth feel and moderate carbonation.

22oz bottle, this beer is a fairly dark pour, with a thickish tan head, beautiful lacing. Aroma is citrus hops, and caramel sweet malt. The flavor is big, hops, caramel, just great. It’s almost a DIPA in my mind except for the amount of malt. Solid beer that I will have again.

Hops. Lots of hops. And malts. And so drinkable. Damn, so drinkable, I’m having a hard time reviewing it. Poured out a thick tan head that really sticks around and leaves crazy lacing. Burnt orange colour. Aromas that revolve heavily around thick citrus (oranges, grapefruit, lime), some pine and an interesting malt backbone (caramel, biscuit). The thing is that on the aroma and flavour there is something different here... almost a gap between the hops and malts... a void? I do not know how to describe it. The flavour is very IIPAish - huge hops with pine, grapefruit, still thick, heavy and sweet malts, same as the aroma. Smoothish mouth feel, thick malts keeps this beer attentive. Never really separated the alcohol from the pine an medicinal hops. Medium full bodied. Leaves hops and some sweet malts in the mouth. This is a mighty fine beer... then again, it’s been awhile since I’ve went down this style road. Incredibly easy drinking and only 8.3%. As yummy as it is, this is not an exceptional beer. It’s good though. Get a case and get f’d up!