Lagunitas The Hairy Eyeball Ale

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

12 fl. oz. bottle from BOTW (Rochester), served at cellar temperature in a tulip glass. SE04/08.

App.: Fairly deep reddish-copper, clear, fair light tan head. Aroma: Fruity, lots of brown sugar, some molasses, raisins and dark dried fruits, berries, slightly boozy, a bit of wood, light grapefruit hops. Palate: Medium+ body, fairly soft carbonation, kinda syrupy. Flav.: Much like the nose – lots of dark malty flavours, some fruitiness, a bit of stinging alcohol, sweet with fair bitterness.

Don’t like getting the hairy eyeball, but it’s OK to drink it.

Aroma is beans, nuts, and brown sugar, an odd mix but not unpleasant. Color is transparent cola with a medium head, good glass coating. Taste is sweet and syrupy, with only a faint hint of hops. Much too sweet. Bitter hop finish.

Pours a clear mahogany with a smallish tan head atop and nice lacing. Aroma is fruity sweet, caramel and some toastiness. Flavor is very malty, toasted, melon, cherry, caramel and nice floral bitterness. Full body, sticky texture.

12 oz. bottle, dark brown on the pour with one of the quickest fading heads in recent memory. aroma is grainy malt, flavor more of the same with some syrupy, sticky sweetness and subtle hints of dark fruit and chocolate. soft, low carbonation was a plus. decent brew.

Pours a translucent brown with a thin tan head. Nice aroma, smells a little like fruit. Nice caramel flavor, not much hop characteristic here. Well balanced though and it goes down smooth. Doesn’t seem like a 9% beer. Decent beer...I like the bottle.

On tap @ Brew Kettle Ogrefest 2007 2/13/07: Lasting light beige head on a chestnut brown, coppery body. Caramelly malt is strong w/ some toasty melanoidiny (figish)fruity esters. Light perfumey alcohol; Toasted and bready malts get stronger as it warms, and has hints of herbal hops. Well balanced lightly sweet up front, but finishes semi dry, then turns lightly bitter in the aftertaste. Caramelly malt flavor dominates up front, but an herbal hop flavor permeates the mid palate and into the lingering aftertaste. For some reason, there is also a smoky flavor hidden in the aftertaste w/ this one. Maybe it’s "residual" flavor from being in a restaurant w/ smoked foods? Medium body, low medium carbonation, well hidden alcohol for the most part. Finishes a bit dry in the mouth. This one is more my style w/ the hops not being quite so dominant and a caramelly flavor helping to balance the hop flavor and bitterness.

If I recall correctly, this beer was courtesy of MagicBill at the DL release party. Thanks MagicBill.

Cloudy dark amber with a bit of head. Sweetly hoppy nose. Fully flavored with a nice balance between sugary malts and hoppy bitterness.

Pours a dark amber/mahogany. Aroma of sweet caramel, malt, and some dark fruit. Flavor features sweet malt, primarily, with caramel, brown sugar, and some fruit and roasted notes. Finishes sweet, but I also tasted a trace of hops. Overall, a bold flavored beer, but just too malty for me. Perhaps it isn’t balanced as well as it could.