Lagunitas Lumpy Gravy

Pours a clear, blood red color with minimal visible carbonation and a fairly small, off-white, pillowy head which is mostly diminishing and minimal lace. Nose is very faint with caramels, a hint of fruit notes (fruit snacks?!), and maybe a bit of floral notes and soap. Flavor starts fine with caramels, some light tropical fruit, and spice, maybe allspice. Floral hops bring a moderate, spicy bitterness but turns astringent with soapy notes. Palate is lively, medium, and a bit watery and chewy, odd. Finishes average length with caramels disappating and leaving soapy and peppery notes; can you say astringent? This is not what I usually expect from Lagunitas, I didn’t even finish the beer. Not one aspect of this beer that i really enjoyed.

Bottle from Foodery II in Philly. I really bought this for the bottle. Pours a nice copper amber with a good beige head. Aroma of dark caramelized malts and dark fruits, accented by floral hops. Medium bodied with average carbonation. This has a good amount of caramel and brown sugar, almost British in character. Mid palate has a good amount of bitterness, but I found it bit on the harsh side. The bitterness carries through to the finish where it becomes soapy, dry, and slightly peppery. My least favorite of the series. I would like to see them keep this malt profile and try some different hops.

This beer pours a deep reddish amber with a thin tan head. The aromas are leather and malts. The flavor is lot’s of malt with almost no hop backbone. Not that great of a brew I had so much more potential for it. This one just fell short for me. Cheers!

Courtesy of Dragonstout. Pours a deep brown with a foamy white head. Aroma is mostly sweet fruit and hop. Tastes of caramel, sweet dark fruit, spice, lots of malt, and boozy. Finished with a sweet warming feeling.

Deep mahogany pour with a 1 finger, frothy, off-white head. Deep caramel malt aroma with just a slight hint of citrus. Lots of sweet caramel malt flavor with notes of molasses, a little peppery, dark fruit and some hop bitterness on the finish. Medium full body with a moderate but soft carbonation. The aroma is a little weak and one-dimensional but there’s a lot more complexity in the flavor. Nothing really mind blowing here but it does make for a nice winter warmer and would go great with roasts or a nice aged cheddar.

1/3/08 @ the Tour @ the Brewery with Bikesandbeer, 8th Brewery of the trip, 1st of 3 of the day. Tap, pours dark amber with a half finger tan head. Nose is full of sweet malts, taste is sweet rich and syrupy, cool bew.

Poured a mahogany color with a firm tan head. Smelled of baked bread, malts and a hint of hops. Flavor was toasted malts, caramel, bread, figs and a mildly bitter hop finish. Medium to heavy body with a slightly chewy texture. Very unique taste, kind of a brown ale and an alt mix. I’ll try any beer that celebrates the music of Frank Zappa, and I’ve had all three of the Lagunitas FZ celebration brews.

750ml Bottle: Lightly sweet aroma. Smells malty with notes of bread, caramel, and nuts. Poured copper/amber in color with a small off-white head that diminished quickly. Lightly sparkling. Clear. Flavor is very malty. Tastes of malts, clove, chestnuts, bread dough, and a bit of bittering hops. Tastes like an Alt. Medium body. Average, slightly chalky texture. Malty finish.