Lagunitas Sonoma Farmhouse Hop Stoopid

I am truly surprised at the 99 overall rating on this beer. While it is a good DIPA, I feel it lacks the tongue coating resiny hop character of others in the Lagunitas line. It does sport an amazing citrus hop aroma and ample bitterness, and the lightly sweet malt backbone adequetly mitigates the bitterness, but the finish is quickly receding and I miss the long oily hop finish of its brethren.

22oz twist-off bottle. Old label, 8.2% version. Pours a hazy orange with a creamy white head. Great lace. Awesome hop aromas. Big hop. Nice pine and a chunk of citrus. Lots of caramel. Mostly those good ole American Hops. Flavor a bold, rich caramel malt body. Sticky mouthfeel, just the way an DIPA should be. Very resiny. Very bitter, high IBUs. Bitter glands on the palate are in overdrive right now. Very smooth, creamy, and well balanced. Heavenly. I THINK I AM NOW STOOPID. I should pick up some more bottles and make a nice spicy goulash with it. So good and soo inexpensive!

Thanks to the Easter Bunny for this one (rustychiles). Pours an exceptionally clear amber-tinged pils/orange color with a slow-forming head that reaches quite an unexpected, yet significant height. Aroma is of muted American hops...some citrus/orange/pine etc. and not much else. Small drinks of this yield next to no hop flavor...about the level of a pale ale. However, when imbibing large amounts of it I get the taste I’ve been hearing about. Nice and resiny/oily with good grapefruit/orange character. Afterwards I feel like I’m breathing pine needles. This is a very good deal for the price and is extremely well balanced, but I don’t think that I would ever call it an Imperial/Double IPA or guess that it has over 100 IBU’s. I think it lost a lot by going with hop extracts over the real thing. A very nice beer (and I am no hop head so that makes this even weirder to say) but I’d like to see it hoppier. This scores highly with me, especially for an IPA, but if it had more floral aroma/character (which I think was stripped out) and had a bit bolder of a hop taste, it would have been a few points higher across the board.

Clear amber pour has sweet pineapple and bitter pine aroma. Taste is the same with an excellent body. This beer definitely used the perfect amount of malts to balance the outrageous hops.

22oz bottle from Holiday Wine Cellar (Escondido, CA). Pours a dark amber with a rather thin head that still manages to leave some nice lacing. Great aroma bright with hoppy citrus, flowers, and honey. The initial sweetness on the tip of the tongue quickly gives way to a pleasing alpha acid-inspired bitterness. First pine and then bittersweet flavors of citrus, namely grapefruit. The maltiness is there too, and creates a nice balance preventing this from going overboard (as some of the IIPA’s tend to be). Pleasant bitterness in the finish that is not overpowering and does not compromise your palate for eating food or drinking other beers. Very nice. Rating #23; for this beer #444.

Pours a light orange with a head. Aroma was nice and super-hoppy with heavy citrus tones. Flavor as well is bold and super-hopped. Flavor is very good and has a very refreshing fruitiness. Makes me miss the west coast.

Bottle from Liquor Depot (Tampa, FL). Pours a clear golden yellow with thin white head. Aroma is sweet and floral with notes of apricot, citrus, sweet honey, caramel, hints of ripe grapefruit. Flavor is sweet and floral with notes of citrus, grapefruit, apricots, pine, honey, some light caramel. Generally medium body with a pleasing floral hop finish.

Pours clear orange with nice finger head. It smells wonderful. Floral and orangey, slightly sweet. Very good beer, with residual sweetness. Bitter on the back of the tongue, but this hits all over the place. Piney and orange with a great body. This is an excellent beer.