Lagunitas Sirius Ale

pours orange with a one finger fluffy bubbly off white head. aroma is malt and hops with candy sugar, melon, and orange characteristics. has a light to medium body with good lacing and carbonation. flavor is the same as aroma. has a creamy oily mouth-feel with a dry hop aftertaste. this is a really good beer almost like a creamy light ipa/barley wine. aroma does get a bit stronger as it warms, a lot of melon in this one i would get more.

My first cream ale since the days of Genny Cream beer balls in college. I bought a 6 pack mostly as a curiosity but I’ll be picking some more up. From the bottle it pours a chestnut brown with a tall thick light khaki head and thin curtains of lacing. The aroma was fairly mild and mostly light caramel. Surprisingly fruity flavor with citrus, apples and apricots but the predominant flavors are toasty caramel and toffee. Lightly hopped but well balenced. Very silky and soft texture and a lightly sweet medium long finish. I was impressed. Worth picking up.

Bottle on 07/02/07. Clear yellow gold with a medium white head. Light fruity aroma that promises a refreshing quality. Light body and a clean mouthfeel do not disappoint. Honey like sweetness and light bittering in a pleasing balance of flavors. Very nice summertime offering.

On tap at Bonnie in Brooklyn, NY. Clear amber in color with a thin head. Hoppy fruity aroma. Grapefruit and orange notes. Malty and hoppy flavor.Citrusy notes. Heavy malty character. Medium bodied. Sweet tasting. Decent.

Picked up a six pack at Bev Mo. Pours light brown with a thin head. Had a very smooth flavor and a heavy malt aroma. Flavor was very malty and had a smooth with a sweet texture. A very nice brew.

Cloudy orange-copper with big, creamy off-white head / Big citrus and fresh pine nose / Medium body, good fruit with sharp, fresh hops, and long finish/ Bright flavors of fresh cut pine, apricots, grapefruit, lemon, and bubblegum / Spectacular.

A high gravity (or Hi-Gravity as the label states it) cream ale, an oxymoron or a concoction that I needed like a hole in my head, it was time to find out. Plucked out of the six pack purchased at Green’s, the standard stubby, brown, 12 oz. bottle was unremarkable except for the bold word Sirius with red and blue shadows dwarfing all other writing on the label. As I poured it, the body looked a lot ore orange compared to the other cream ales, which are usually just a shade darker than bud. The smell was quite citric, which was a sure sign of something different in the glass. Where was the traditional cooked corn smell? Is thus a cream ale built for a ocean voyage to India, only the taste would tell. Holy crap they did put some hops in this one. Orange peel. apricots, and pine resin is what I could taste. And this is the first warming Cream Ale I have ever tasted. Much different than expected, and much more enjoyable as a result of the differences. A tad sweeter than the typical IPA, but difficult to differentiate otherwise. But I like IPAs, and I am glad I bought a sixpack.

From a stubby 12 oz. twist-off bottle, no freshness date, sampled at cellar temperature in a pint glass. Poured a clear orangey bright copper with a frothy, foamy white head that slowly dissipates into a bubbly, creamy lacing, small amount of laced sticking. The first I noticed is that this is a hopped up cream ale, much different than your typical cream ale, green pine needles, resiny, citrus rind, very light on the honey vanilla creaminess I usually find in a good cream ale, a tad grainy. I’m not sure how feel about the smell of this, definitely a hybrid of the style. Active carbonation, crisp, dry, a hop slickness that takes away the basic smooth creaminess I like in this style of ale, medium bodied mouthfeel, the carbonation keeps the body airy, but still, lacks the smoothness I like in a cream ale. Once again, definitely a twisted take on the style, the west coast hops gain some sweetness in the taste, pine oils and citrus bitter rindiness soften as they mesh with the honey vanilla creaminess, enough creaminess so you can call this a cream ale, the hops still dominate though, the alcohol has a spicy warmth in the palate, and a dry hoppy, light malty finish. I like the taste of this because, well, it’s summer, I like hoppy brews during the hot weather months, but this lacks much of the creaminess one would expect from the style. If someone gave this a really low score, I could see why. The Mallard Ale from the Great Dane in Madison, Wisconsin is still my favorite cream ale, but if you can accept this is a west coast hopped up take on the style, it’s not that bad, very quaffable, I could see drinking a six of this on a hot, humid summer night.