Name: Lagunitas Doppel Sticky
Style: Altbier
ABV: 7.7%
IBUs: 66
The last time I had anything from Lagunitas, which was about a year ago according to this website, the brewery was it's own independent-owned self. Well, just a couple of months ago, 50% of the company was sold to Heineken for around roughly $500 million dollars. Many have criticized this move as selling out, considering the founder, Tom Magee's past criticism of big beer as a whole. The reason he gave for this choice was that he wanted to take the brand to a bigger, global scale.
Myself? As long as they continue making beer, I'm going to drink it; Which brings us to today's beer: Doppel Sticky. When I first picked this beer up, I thought it was a Doppelbock. However imagine my surprise when I found out that this was, in fact, an Altbier. Why put the word "Doppel" in your beer name when it's not actually a Doppelbock. This is the equivalent of calling a beer a Pale Ale when it's actually a Kolsch, which totally has happened by the way,
Appearance - Fairly hazy bright orange color with no visible carbonation. The head is nice and foamy with a slightly off-white color that looks slightly orange in color with some pretty abundant lacing along the sides of the glass.
Aroma - Piney hops mixed with some hefty pale & toffee maltiness. There's also a bit of resiny bitterness in here as well.
Taste - Fairly strong bitter piney hops upfront with that toffee and pale malt backbone providing a great deal of support. I'm picking up on some yeastiness and a dark caramel sweetness on the back end of the palate. The aftertaste is a mix of dank hops and toffee maltiness.
I'll be completely honest, nothing about this beer screams "Altbier" to me, bearing in mind that while Altbiers aren't as familiar of a style to me as IPAs are, I certainly know the traditional flavor profile of what an Altbier should be.
This beer comes across as a more of an English-style IPA more than anything else, but I still like this beer and I would drink it again should it be offered to me. No it's not what I'd consider to be an Altbier but it's still got a good flavor profile and that's the important thing.
Lagunitas Doppel Sticky - 8/10
