Lagunitas Sirius Ale

A good showing from the guys at Lagunitas. While to me, their beers are up and down, this is definitely in the up range. An aroma of subtle herbal hops, fruity, and a touch bready. Appearance is amber in color, clear with a nice one finger white head. Mouthfeel was nicely done with enough smoothness to win me over. Flavor was vanilla mixed with an odd dry herbal quality with a slightly dry, hopped finish. Hides the alcohol suprisingly well. Nice beer!

This is a cream ale huh? Smells more like an IPA with a super aroma of citrus - lemon and orange peel as well as some grapefruit. Flavor is nice citrus with a small amount of sweet malt and grain. I guess a little bit of that cream ale flavor is in there, but it is miniscule. Anyway, this would make a great IPA as it was nice to drink.

Bottle. Pours hazy golden/copper with medium off-white head. Aroma is resiny hops and citrus hop scents along with pungent toffee malt scents. Flavor has lots of fruity, citursy hops - pineapple, mango, orange - but there is also a full clean, toasty and lightly sweet malt flavor balancing it. I really liked this beer.

Pours a very clear orangish copper color with a cream colored, thick, slightly rocky head that has good retention. The aroma is of Cascade hops, apple vinegar and cardboard. The flavor is much better than the aroma, with flavors of citrus, pineapple, a caramel malt sweetness, and some solid, bitter, piney hops. The finish is not crisp, but not sticky either. Oily (close to "cream") is probably the best way to describe it. Overall quite a weird beer as far as a style bender, but not bad by any means.

12oz, no date. High gravity cream ale--sounds interesting. Hoppier than what I think a cream ale should be. Clear orange amber with a 1/2 finger off-white head. Tangerine and pineapple hops are the first aromas I pick up on. There is also pine and a lemon tang. Strawberries and something herbal are also in there somewhere. This smells somewhat like Weyerbacher 11. Flavor is still pretty hoppy and fruity with some caramel malts. I get plenty of hop flavor, though the bitterness doesn’t show up until the finish (at the back corners of my tongue) and peaks at a 3-4 (out of 10). Medium body with moderate carbonation. Pretty good beer overall, but it has no characteristics of a cream ale to me, though I do love me some Lagunitas.

Bottle. Clear amber color with a lot of pale white head. Smell is fairly muted; mostly just citrus notes. As for the taste I get a lot of hops, some cream; very IPAish. Finish is bitter, smooth, and oily.

12 ounce bottle in a pint glass. Pours hazy pale copper with off-white head and lace. Aroma of fresh hop flowers. Very mild, light malt character with reasonably dry but not bitter finish. Very light taste in all. Some lingering throat bitterness. Medium light body, medium carbonation. Not altogether impressive or distinct in any way, but fresh and drinkable, especially for its strength.

Draught: Aroma of hops, citrus, Cascades, pine, and a tiny bit of lavender. Poured amber in color with a medium-sized, rocky, creamy, white head that diminished slowly. Very good lacing. Clear. Sparkling. Medium to heavily bitter flavor. Tastes of hops, caramel malts, berries, citrus, and maybe Cascades. Medium body. Sticky texture. Average carbonation. Lightly bitter, dry finish. Easy to drink. Overall, good, and pretty hoppy.