Lagunitas Lucky #13

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

Draft @ Mugs Anniversary. Bigger than I remember. Lots of hops. Aroma and taste. Some sweet some bitter. Some citrus some pine. Very well balanced. Creamy translucent pour. Love imperial pints.

Lah-goo-knee-tuss....Floaters!!....red/a with beige head....quite hoppy aroma, malt undertones as well, but mainly hops....hoppy flavor with quite a malty backbone....nice bite combined with creaminess, nice balance...citrus rind finish

22 oz. bottle: This beer pours a deep copper that near brown with a thick, creamy head. Citrusy hops make up the majority of the nose, but they aren’t really all that bright. Sweet caramel and toffee as well. Thick, chewy mouthfeel and the plethora of hops in the body make me think barleywine. A bolder proportion of caramel malts offer lots of sweet bread, caramel and sugar babies. The body is rindy with bitterness. This is alright, but I liked the Imperial Red better (if we are comparing "Large Red Ales.")

Bottle (22oz). Shared with tupalev, my bottle. Ah, Lagunitas - they rarely disappoint. Deep hazy copper with an average lasting rocky/foamy straw-coloured head. Thick roast caramel malt aroma, quickly bypassed by solid resin/citrus hops, alcohol increasingly noticeable as it warms. The taste follows, more alcohol and less malt than the aroma, the hops take on a drier, funkier character - even a wee bit lactic in the finish. Chewy body, mildly acidic, only mildly carbonated, with a slightly burnt linger. Excellent, nice to get some variation in the hops.

Bottle. Pour is a beautiful reddish-brown with a tan head that sits at a little over one finger. As the head is dying, some of the foam is clinging desperately to the side of the glass. Aromas are very hoppy... pine and grapefruit are the main attractions. Flavor is unique... the hops that was foreshadowed in the nose is definitely there, but the malt presence is of toffee, peat and wood. I can’t say I’ve ever experienced this combination of flavors before, and it is quite good. The alcohol is perceptible, but it comes out more as a flavor than a warm feeling. A little bit of an astringent bite to it.

Pours with a reasonably tightly beaded, initially three-finger thick, amber tinged tan colored head that forms a lacing pattern as it slowly recedes. The beer is a lightly hazy, dark cherry red color. The aroma has quite a bit of crystal / caramel malt character that is noticeable as I pour this brew. This is mixed in quite well with the hops, and in fact the hop character becomes much more dominant as I move in for a more focused exploration of the nose. Aromatic notes of resinous grapefruit, candied orange peel, syrup soaked lychees and interestingly enough something like candied cherries. The last I think is the point where the caramel malt character and hop notes meet. The hops also contribute, on a much more subdued level, notes of pine, a green grass character and a touch of menthol. As my nose gets used to the beer, aromas of toasted grain, biscuit malt, deeply caramelized malt sugars and a touch of warming alcohol become noticeable.

A rich mix of malt and hops, this has always reminded me a bit of Arrogant Bastard. The beer finishes with a certain astringent bitterness, and a toasty, slightly roasted malt note; both of these help to dry out this beer. Up front this beer is sweet with notes of caramel, brown sugar, and a touch of raisins. These notes are not all that easy to pull out though as there is a ton of hop character oozing out every pore of this beer. Competing notes of grapefruit, lychee and tangelo meld into and become subsumed by an aggressive, pine & menthol like, herbal / turpene driven hop stank. This beer has a medium heft to it, that in combination with the tongue scouring hop character and touch of warming alcohol, definitely make this a brew that is somewhere between a quaffing and a savoring brew (perhaps leaning more towards the sipping side of the spectrum).

This is perhaps a bit rough around the edges, some of the hops are definitely on the rough side of the spectrum, but sometimes that is just what a hophead wants (who needs those pansy-assed low cohumulone hops anyway). The mix of fruity hop driven notes, aggressive herbal hops, ample bitterness and dark malt character make this an engaging brew. I really like the depth of malt character here, or perhaps what I mean is that I love that the malt & darker malt notes play a significant role here. The malt character sometimes comes off as being a bit simplistically heavy on the crystal malt notes, but it still adds a significant character to this brew that even stands separated from the overwhelming hop character. Mighty tasty, and certainly serves as a hop fix for this oft-times hop head.

Purchased: <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/Places/ShowPlace.asp? Liquors, Tucson, AZ

Bottle courtesy of and shared with Hogtown Harry. Burnt malt, caramel, alcohol in aroma. Nice dark copper, very little white head. Taste: more burnt malt, hops, caramel, lots of alcohol in taste. Simple straightforward strong ale - good stuff Lagunitas! Maybe more malt than I’m used to in their strong ales...

Bottle: Poured a deep red color ale with a large purer white foamy head with some good retention and some good lacing. Aroma of intense bitter hops with some notes of citrus. Taste is also dominated by some citrus and grapefruit –like hops with an intense bitter ending. Malt with some caramel characteristic is quite subtle with some semi-sweet notes. Body is above average with some nice carbonation.