Lagunitas Lumpy Gravy

Much thanks to my wife for getting me this for Valentine’s Day...what a woman. Reddish amber pour with lacing-making off-white head. Sweet fruit with hops near the end. Flavor is pineapple and d’anjou pear with hoppy malts. Finish is malty...nice drinker.

Glugs out of the bottle thick and syrupy, dull red with a frothy tan head. Sweet and fruity aroma with some resinous hops and a hint of coffee. Quite sweet but tempered by an appropriate bitterness. Very fruity flavor with pineapple and other caramel and toasted malts. I guess this is being sold as a "double brown" ale. In my experience this is a hard one. To balance the toasted and caramel malt flavors, which aren’t enough to make a good beer, with American hops and then double it is a tall order. This doesn’t fall too short.

Bottle and served in another NB worthy glass: Close to ruby hued with a tight frothy head and good lace. The aroma has notes of blackberry and pear, hint of pineapple, herbal and grassy hops, caramel and rye bread, and a hint of ginger root. The taste is moderately fruity and malty, nutty too. The midsection displays a hint of mineral and alkaline before a dash of bitterness show up to round out the profile. The mouth feel is sharp and biting and quite dry and tannic on the finish. Not a bad brew but not very deep either. Seems to fad off when it should have stepped it up a notch, drinkable enough.

22 oz bottle from Bottlework’s in Seattle. Pour is clear brown amber with a smallish off white head. Aroma of caramel malt and some bitterness. Taste is mostly the caramelly sweet malt, though there is some almost black pepper spiciness mixed in also. The finish has some hop bitterness. The body was medium, and was quite drinkable. Nice one, I’ll support anything that supports Frank.

Bottle. Pours a brownish color with a medium sized tan colored head. Aroma is caramel, alcohol, raisin. Flavor is boozey, caramel, rasin, biting hops. Palate is medium, medium carbonation, finished hot, lightly sweet. I really did not enjoy this one. Rarely do I pour anything out but I tossed the last third of the bottle.

Love that Zappa album cover on the label! Keep them coming, Lagunitas! Who is next - Captain Beefheart? Jimi Hendrix? Dark amber brew with a light, foamy head. Very fine aroma - floral plus a little yeast. Velvety mouthfeel. Full flavor of chocolatey, smoky malts, and the right amount of hop bitterness. Very nice - it gets 4 points from me!

Clear copper beer with a 2" head. Rich, hoppy aroma with pine accents. Medium bitter taste or hop, and caramel and nut. An even more bitter finish. One of the better nutty, malted sugar ales out there.

Bright copper-wire color with a filmy off-white head. Sweaty, syrupy, caramelized malt aroma with modest spice notes. Malt profile suggests a bock, but a quick volley of volatile hop compounds assert themselves shortly thereafter. Lots of syrupy malts and phantom lager characteristics. Crass, but creative and drinkable. Lagunitas should use that as a slogan.