Lagunitas Little Sumpin' Wild Review

Name: Lagunitas Little Sumpin' Wild
Style: Belgian IPA
ABV: 8.9%

Today I'm going to be reviewing something from Lagunitas Brewing Company. I've been craving a good Belgian IPA as of late (amongst the others that I've looked at recently), which is why I have a Little Sumpin' Wild. I was originally going to look at the original Little Sumpin' Sumpin', but I didn't get my hands on that until after I had already had this.

Little Sumpin' Wild pours a fairly clear light orange color with some mild visible carbonation. The head starts out pretty foamy before tapering to a more foamy appearance and the lacing is quite good.

In the aroma, I'm picking up on a strong citra hops, passion-fruit and mango up front, while Belgian yeasts, a bit of piney hoppiness, some pale and toffee malts make up the second half of the nose.

The flavor is a bit different. On the front of the palate, I'm getting some cloves/spices, Belgian yeasts and citrus hops upfront. Meanwhile grapefruits, toffee malts and citra-bitter hoppiness make up the flavors in the second part of the flavor. As for the aftertaste, it's mainly a citrus & bitter hoppiness with a light touch of toffee malts.

Even though Lagunitas has grown a lot these past few years, it's still nice to see that the overall quality of their beers hasn't been affected. With its complex and robust flavor, you'll no doubt find something to enjoy about this beer!

Lagunitas Little Sumpin' Wild - 9.25/10

Lagunitas Sucks Review

Name: Lagunitas Sucks
Style: Imperial IPA
ABV: 7.85%

It's time to review another beer from Lagunitas Brewing and this time it's their Sucks ale. If my memory serves me correctly, this beer used to strictly be a winter seasonal but has since become a year-round offering. The name comes from the year where they couldn't make their winter seasonal: Brown Shugga. This beer was put in as a replacement and has since become a hit with beer drinkers everywhere.

Sucks pours a mildly hazy orange color with a thin foamy head. The visible carbonation is fairly moderate and the lacing is rather abundant.

The nose starts things off with caramel malt and brown sugar sweetness followed by some fairly strong citrus hops and a slight rye scent at the tail end.

The flavor is very caramel malt forward with notes of citrus hops, mangoes, brown sugar, and an aftertaste of slight rye spiciness and citrus hops.

The palate as a whole is pretty lightweight and the carbonation is moderately leveled. The carbonation does help bring out more of the flavor which thankfully works out pretty well.

Lagunitas Sucks is a very good Imperial IPA. The mixture of flavors, particularly with the slight rye spiciness, work together quite nicely. It's safe to say that this beer.......doesn't suck.

Lagunitas Sucks - 8.5/10

Lagunitas Imperial Stout Review

Name: Lagunitas Imperial Stout
Style: Imperial Stout
ABV: 9.9%

When I first moved up to Duluth, I knew that my accessibility to certain brands of beers (i.e. Stone, Great Divide, Flat Earth, Boulevard etc. to name a few) would be somewhat hindered due to my geographical location. However the trade-off has come in form of Superior, Wisconsin; whose stores contain most of the brands from the Twin Cities that are absent on the Duluth side as well as some awesome brands that are available only in the western US and some Wisconsin-exclusive beers.

Lagunitas Brewing isn't available in Duluth like it is in Minneapolis, but it IS available over in Superior, Wisconsin. Which brings us to tonight's review of Lagunitas Imperial Stout. Like it's Twin Cities counterpart, it was very reasonably priced. In fact, it was cheaper then what I would normally pay for in Minneapolis and it's been bottled recently.

Lagunitas Imperial Stout pours a pitch black color with a thin khaki colored head. There is a minor crimson tinge at the bottom of the glass and the lacing is sparse, but there.

The aroma starts off with some heavy chocolate malts, cherries, dark fruit notes, caramel and a some coffee notes.

The flavor of has more of a roasty focus with coffee notes, chocolate malts, mocha, caramel, some mild hops. That goes without saying that the aftertaste is quite roasty, almost venturing into porter territory. The palate has a pretty heavy body to it and some moderate carbonation. Doesn't quite fit what I'd

It's a bit roasty by Imperial Stout standards but it's still a pretty good beer. Bombers from Lagunitas tend to be very reasonably priced (at least where I live) and this one is no exception. It's not going to knock your socks off, but you'll be getting your money's worth either way.

Lagunitas Imperial Stout - 8/10

Lagunitas Undercover Investigation Shut-Down Ale Review

Name: Lagunitas Undercover Investigation Shut-Down Ale
Style: American Strong Ale
ABV: 9.75%

Most people will name a beer after the place they live in, an inside joke, or a name suggested by a marketing firm. Lagunitas Brewing named a beer after an event which shut down their operations for 20 days by the California Alcohol Beverage Control in January 2006. This of course was a raid on the Lagunitas Premises during St. Patrick's Day in 2005, in which citations were issued to employees and guests for possession of marijuana. Even though the charges were later dropped, Lagunitas was forced to shutdown for 20 days by the Alcohol Board, though the brewery claims that they were going to shutdown anyways to upgrade their equipment.

So to celebrate their brush with the law, they released Undercover Investigation Shut-Down Ale, which sounds like the poorly translated title of a bootlegged copy of "Lethal Weapon" that you would expect to find in some marketplace in Hong Kong, minus the "Ale" part. Undercover is classified as an American Strong Ale with an ABV of 9.75%.

It pours a clear orange color with an off-white head and no carbonation, giving it a pretty nice unfiltered look.

The nose is primarily citrus & piney hops, caramel, toffee and yeasts. For a strong ale, this looks and smells alot like an Imperial IPA.

Upon tasting, my feelings about this being more like an Imperial IPA grew stronger. The flavor starts out with a strong hoppy taste with some spruce notes, and on the back of the palate there are grapefruit, toffee, caramel and an considerable malt backbone. There is some slight but noticeable booziness present in the flavor as well.

The body is considerably light and the carbonation is rather mild, which makes this strong ale a bit easy to drink.

Lets not fool ourselves here, this is an Imperial IPA. It's got the look, smell and taste of what you would expect from an Imperial IPA. Even with this revelation, it's still a good beer. Sure there are some imbalance issues with the boozy aspect of the flavor but this is still a pretty good beer!


Lagunitas Undercover Investigation Shut-Down Ale - 8/10