Lagunitas Undercover Investigation Shut-Down Ale

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

Grabbed a bottle of this from the spring WBF so its a little "old". Pours a peachy copper with a one finger sticky sandstone yellow head. The nose is rich and malty, leans English Strong Ale in the hop and malt profile. Rich caramel malt with a strong spicy and herbal hop feel. Smells like a Double ESB. Flavor is strong and malty with a waxy bitterness and earthy yeasty character. Palate is a bit thick with some warmth and a prominent bitterness.

12oz bottle from bon vivant in smithfield. pours a hazy, golden copper with a thin, off white head and soild lacing. aroma is very good with big, sugary, caramel malts, toffee, piney hops, spice, and orange citrus notes. flavor is quite good and dominated by sweet, toffee malts, brown sugar, and candied pecans with notes of tea leaves and earthy, citrus hop notes. palate is medium bodied and smooth with mild bitterness. overall, another solid offering from lagunitas.

Surprised I haven’t rated this yet. Nice hop bite, with a very sturdy malty backbone. Almost too malty for my tastes, but it still works on some levels. Lots of caramel and brown sugar. Goes way down hill with even the slightest warmth. Keep it cold.

12oz bottle courtesy of Corby112. Not sure how to classify this beer. I’d guess its a double red ale. But its quite similar to my own homebrewed DIPA except not as bitter. Huge caramel and citrus nose. Some pine. Flavor is biting grapefruit up front with big caramel notes, clean bitterness. Finishes clean and bitter but does not linger. Pretty darn tasty.

This is Lagunitas...a solid, but solidly unspectacular beer. I don’t mean that in a horrible way, but they do put out dozens of these beers that are seemingly all the same. Amber brown with a moderate level of sweetness with moderate to high hoppiness. A tad thin. Unremarkable.

Bottle from Whole Foods in Mountain View. Dark amber color with an off-white head. Aroma of caramel malt and piney hops. Flavor is sweet caramel malt, citrus fruits, piney hops, black tea, and an interesting wood/autumn leaves finish. Palate medium with some hop oils. Good stuff.

I shared a bottle of this with BeerBaron617. It was a medium amber brown color with a light tan head. It had a great aroma hoppy and fruity, citrus. Tasted quite good, I will have it again if I see it at the store.

Had this with MereLikesBeer. Poured a medium brown with tan head. Aroma was a good mix of hoppy and malt. Not quite as good as their IPA, but still very good.I would get this again.Cheers!