Lagunitas Undercover Investigation Shut-Down Ale

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

22oz. Sneak Release bottle poured into a pint glass. Another solid brew by Lagunitas. I’m a big fan of their Maximus IPA, and enjoyed the Lucky 13 as well. Pours a dark amber, almost copper with a small head that retains well throughout with some nice lacing. Aroma and flavor is a nice blend of citrus/pine hops and caramel malt. Well balanced. Sweet and syrupy with mild carbonation. Nice mouthfeel. Goes down smooth and easy, and you hardly notice the 9+% ABV...well at least in the taste...you will feel it. You do taste the alcohol more as it warms. A great bang for the buck. Kudos, Lagunitas, you’ve done it again.

Name: Undercover Shut-Down Ale
Date: 05/20/2006
Mode: Bottle
Source: Tasting, Noog II

clear amber, whispy white head, big sweet piney aroma, sweet malt balanced by lots of bitternes leading to a long bitter finish, hop flavor shows up mid way through,

Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 6/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 14/20
Rating: 3.4/5.0
Drinkability: 6/10
Score: **4

Fits the style quite well. Arrogant Bastard-esque with some Red Rocket on the side. It has the whole copper malt meets resiny hops with a touch of caramel and toffee on the side thing going on. Pretty solid. Nothing to really complain about, other than it is nothing outstanding. Standard Lagunitas - ya know?

(sneak release not 12’th anniversary) bottle poured an amber in color with a nice two finger head that quickly settled down to a ring of foam. smell is hops, pines, slight citrus, and malts. taste is full of hops but not too bitter, has a good dose of malt to give it a nice consistency. somewhat thick in a creamy way with a little alcohol burn in the finish (but hey it is 9.28abv.) nothing i can say bad about the beer and it does seem to fit the style well.

Bottle. Hard to comment on the color as I had it outside at night. Looks amberish. Aroma is malty w/floral hops. Very full mouthfeel with strong sugary malts and bitter hops. Finishes fairly alcoholic. Powerful.

It pours a nice amber/medium amber color to it. Oh!...My!!!...God! Hoppy as hell! I love it! Piny/Floral hoppy notes to it as well as grapefruity/fruity notes. This beer is hoppy, hoppy, hoppy and even more hoppy! Piny/floral hop taste. Thick/syrupy malty taste. Amazing! The after taste is a bit fruity. Which is great!

Lagunitas surprised me with this one. I’m not overly fond of hoppy brews, but this one is quite pleasing. The nose is strongly hoppy with a solid pine underlay. The hops did come through like gangbustes, but very well balanced with nice caramel and pleasing pine nuts, with a slight bit of ginger in the background. The strong alcohol content is well masked, making this beer as dangerous as it is drinkable.

Big pine, citrus aroma with a decently big caramel malt base. Brutish, but with that comfortable California aroma I expect. The body is a lustrous amber-hued brown and holds a lasting, thin tan head. The first sip is mostly piney hops, but the malt comes through more than expected and is in fact quite warm and substantial like oven fresh bread dipped in honey-caramel-butter. The finish is full of resiny hops and what a dollop would taste like if you melded every sweet food you could serve in dollop form.