Lagunitas Sirius Ale

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

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.

A very strong initial taste impact wallop follows the enticing sweet hints of floral fruity aroma. You better be serious if you are thinking about drinken a couple of these! Good creamy carbonation mixed with a thick syrupy feel. A little darker than the typical pale yellow lager and a higher viscosity. Very difficult high alky flavor. Of course, it is difficult to hide 8%! Pretty acrid malt finish with this high alky stuff. You know this is a strong ale, no questions asked. Like any other strong ale I’ve had the pleasure of tasting, this will probably not be purchased again. I can see why this would gather a high rating on this website. Lagunitas is known for their powerful strong personality brews.

Aroma of hops, citrus, orange, and sweet malt. Pours a clear orange with a bit of red. White head. Flavor of sweet creamy malt, orange, and finishes with bitter hops. Decent, but not great.

Slight aroma of cream and hops, pours a clear amber color with a thin white head. Slight taste of hops, very full mouthfeel, alcohol very well hidden. A drinkable beer on a hot and humid summer night.

(Bottle into a Pint)Nothing to gett to excited over but certainly quaffable neverthe less. Pours a light goldish amber (mine is see thru) with a slight head. Aroma of hops, sugar and orange. Light acidity with alot of hop bitternes (for a cream). West coast brewers never skim on the hops, infact if you don’t like hops your best to stay away from california beer completely. Fortunately I like hops so I gave it a good rating.

There aren’t supposed to be floaties in a cream ale, is there? Yet there is no date code on this beer, so I’m forced to assume it is fresh from the brewery. Other than the floaties (which is tough to get over), appearance was pretty nice...an orange color with decent head. Aroma was oddly hop-ish, but flavor was like a mix of hops and benzene; so there was something to like and something to not like. Definitely not recommended.

Bottle (12oz). Clear bubbly amber with an average fizzy off-white head. Ripe tangerine/Grapefruit/resin hops, very juicy, light rye grain, some alcohol - as always very mouth-watering on a hot day. The taste is pretty generic, really - some sweet citrus and bitter nameless hop elements, wants to be sweet but isn’t really. Very light body, nice life and astringency to it, finishes too quick and lacks enough malt backbone or true hop character, but still a great cottage beer, as it’s not a hop- or -ABV monster. Pretty decent.

Orange - hoppy and fruity aroma. Thick hoppy flavor that I’m not a fan of. Decent body and finish, just not much too it.