Lagunitas Brown Shugga

Ian! — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:48:07 +0000

Brian says: This is the best surprise I’ve ever had in a beer. I bought it thinking, Brown Shugga, it should taste like brown sugar. And then I opened it. And it was like god shit unicorns and rainbows on my universe. It was delightful. And my universe consisted only of hopfields. Rainbows and Unicorns and Hop fields. And me and the Easter Bunny sat down and put a few back.

This beer is amazing.

Ian says: Let me start by saying, I love this beer. One of my fondest memories of it is being gifted one by an old customer when I told him how much I loved it. But that’s the kind of guy he is. Thanks Postal John.

But back to the beer. The hops are right there in the nose, but there is something different that doesn’t smell like just a straight IPA. I’m guessing its the brown sugar, which as Brian points out to me, is fairly understated. It contributes to the color, and to a nice sweetness that could easily get lost behind the hops and the alcohol in a lesser beer.

Nothing wrong with Lagunitas on the whole, but this is one of their finest.

8.125/10

Lagunitas Brown Shugga

Brian — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 15:33:57 +0000

While brewing the ill-fated Imperial Root Beer Stout, I had the opportunity to try a few beers I’ve not had before, which in my case is a really exciting thing. The first, and biggest surprise of the day, was Lagunitas‘ Brown Shugga. A quick look at the bottle let me know this was no ordinary brown sugar beer. The image is framed by this quote, “We believe this special ale is something unique. Feeding Brown Cane Sugar to otherwise cultured brewery yeast is akin to feeding raw shark to gerbil. It’s unlikely to ever occur in nature without human intervention. And it looks weird besides. But it has happened and now its too late.”

What I was expecting was a sweet, malty ale with a light tan, medium head. What I got was a clear copper color, light head, with a hoppy, alcoholic nose, and a slight amount of brown sugar.

It was slightly sweet, and very hoppy. I was completely blown away by this. It was pretty good. I’d give it a 7 on a scale of 1-10. Now that I know this is more akin to an IPA with brown sugar, it may be more properly enjoyed next time. Actually, this really almost bordered on a young barleywine. Very interesting. I’ll purchase it again, given the opportunity.

-brian

Beer and Comics » brown shugga

Lagunitas Brown Shugga

Lagunitas Brown Shugga