Lagunitas Lucky #13

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

Serve in Snifter, Trappist glass

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   add pic

Nice rich copper color with off-white head. Nose of roasted sweet malt with a bit hops. Flavor was more hoppy and citrus than aroma let on. Kind of sneaks up on you, but it was a pleasant suprise. Good balance between the two, with full flavor until the finish.

I’m a sucker for commemoratives. I own the 1936 P.T. Barnum and Stephen Foster/Cincinnati Music U.S. dollars, and cherish the USPS stamps with the unlikely images of Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, and Charles Bukowski. I loved Lagunitas’ Frank Zappa commemorative beer series, which is why I bought this one. It’s good but not as outrageous as the aforementioned. 22 oz. bottle pours a clear copper color with a small off-white head and very little lacing. Smells like an IIPA with citrus and piney hops. Aroma is the same, but with caramel, alcohol and a bit of yeasty bread added. Taste is on the bitter side, with malts coming out in the finish. Medium body and average carbonation. I think I would have liked this better if it had been labeled as just another IIPA. It is a very good one at that, but not in the league of outrageousness like early my idols Zappa, P.T. Barnum, Monk, Mingus, et. al. Still well worth trying.

Very malty strong ale. Pretty smooth. A beer you could drink a lot of even with the high alcohol content.

Bomber from Ray’s in Tosa. Pours a super-clear golden orange with a white pockmarked head. Some nice lacing. Aroma is quite sweet citrus fruit, pine, some resin and hints of herbal or vegetal items (oniony?). Taste has straight sweet hoppy layers, with the main part being lemony grapefruit, and also syrupy pine with a lot of toast. Not much malt presence in this one. Finishes with a lot of bitter length. Alcohol only fainty present. I would say this is Lagunitas hoppiest brew, and a solid double ipa.

Pours a clear golden color with a white head. Smell is floral and the taste is malty with a slightly hoppy aftertaste.

Clear orange red with a nice valnilla-colored head that left a strong film and nice lace. Rich malty aromas with caramel, brown sugar, toast and a hint of tropical fruit. A hop bomb and a malt bomb all in one - certainly there is huge bitterness, but it is almost hidden behind big caramel and toast malt sweetness. Medium body, lively carbonation, warming alcohol and a big hops vs. malt finish.

One tough as nails American Strong Ale (Alt beer). It’s good though, completely welcoming. What a Bitch!

On tap at The Holy Grail in Plano, TX. Taste is smooth and malty, with hints of breat, wheat and light citrus. Decent.

Poured a lovely clear gold on tap with solid carbonation but little head or lacing. The aroma was of citrus and sweet, wheaty malts. Taste followed smell but not quite as intense a flavor as I was expecting.

From the tap came a deep golden brew with a thick head. Aromas of grape fruit and malt. Medium bodied with flavors of grape fruit and sweet malt were not as strong as the aromas but still tasty.

Tap. Clear dark golden with big puffy white head that lasts and good lacing. Smells like grapefruit and pine. A little like cat piss. Flavors of grape fruit and passion fruit. Finish more to that sweet side- medium bodied.