Lagunitas The Hairy Eyeball Ale

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

Lagunitas makes a helluva American Strong Ale as I just had the Lagunitas Imperial Red the other day. Pours a dark ruby color with thin head. This had an aroma of caramel malt, dark fruit, candied sugar. The aroma strikes me more like a belgian quad then an American strong ale compared to the impy red. Taste is very fruity in fact I’m getting some berry flavors and other fruit flavors, also some caramel and candied sugar. This is a good beer. Palate is slightly dry but again, this is a well rounded delicious beer.

Sweet yeast aroma. Pours a dark amber. Taste starts sweet. The middle brings a nice hop bit and then dies off in the finish. Creamy palate.

(bottle - 12 oz) Clear but dark mahogany pour with a thin tan head. Aroma is rather light but has a touch of malts and caramel. Flavor is very sweet at the beginning with a lot of caramel malts, roasted and smokey malts, and a very warm alcohol finish. Lots of alcohol present at the finish with a bitter and sweet aftertaste.

Pours filtered and very dark brown, small head. Smells of raisins. Tastes like caramel, smoke and dates. Syrupy. Nasty aftertaste.

Bottle. Pours a clear reddish brown with an off-white ring of foam. A bit of caramel and fruit in the rather light nose. Fortunately, there’s a lot more going on in the taste: malty caramel, raisins, roasted nuts, wood. Creamy medium body and light carbonation. Bitter dry finish.

A very drinkable strong ale, a bit of alcholol warmth too it but very subtle. Very drinkable while it lasts with a good malty flavor and not too much carbonation. Left a bit of a raisin’y not pleasant aftertaste in my mouth that I didn’t appreciate as much. All in all a good effort.

Bottle. Poured clear dark brown color with a large frothy off-white head that was mostly lasting with good lacing. Moderate complex caramel malt and tart fruit aroma. Medium body with a smooth texture. Medium complex balanced flavor with a medium bittersweet finish of moderate duration. Solid drinkable beer.

Pours a very dark brown/red, with a small, not long lasting tand head. Smells of light coffee, grapes, and on occasion applecores. Light aroma. Flavor makes about as much sense as the name of the beer. Burned toast, chocolate, caramel, and lots of rotten fruit (pears, grapes, and apples) to ruin the good stuff. Finishes weirdly bitter, like old coffee, charcoal, and more rotten fruit. Good mouthfeel, creamy and thick and the carbonation was at a real nice level. Felt smooth, but the sweetness was off, there was too much rotten fruit and weird bitterness.