Review Date 6/29/2007 Last Updated 12/19/2015:
Try?
Re-buy?
Brown Shugga is a limited release (“sweet release” as the brewery calls it) seasonal brew that makes its debut each October. I have only seen it in 22-ounce bomber bottles, but it is also available in six-packs as well from what I hear. Being as immense a beer as it is, you can and actually should sock a few bottles away, as this one will age well over time.
I stored a few bottles of the 2006 release myself, and have just popped one in late June of 2007. The beer seems not much different that it did when young, though there seems to be just a bit less hop aroma now. But just a bit less.
Lagunitas Brown Shugga pours to a deep coppery color with a light
wispy head formation and a very enticing bready malt nose. I decanted some
of my bomber bottle into a wide mouthed Belgian beer glass to allow it to
assume room temperature a bit quicker, and so that the aroma of the beer can
rise unhindered. A sip reveals more of that wonderfully fresh, bready malt character along with some rich chewy caramel notes, rum and raisin, and molasses. Initially there is some sweetness. The brown sugar addition doesn’t really add all that much other than raising the gravity and increasing the amount of fermentables, though, at least to me.
Some have described this beer as overly sweet, but I think that’s imagined, as the big grassy-minty hop bitterness, which emerges shortly after sipping and builds into a long, lingering dry crescendo in the finish, balances out any sweetness here. The warming alcohol is very apparent in the finish, too: this beer weighs in at 9.9% alcohol by volume.
The bitterness here seems a bit more than the 51.1 IBUs that Lagunitas claims the beer has, especially given the whopping 1.1 original gravity. Still, it’s there, even after about eight months of age. To my mind not as complex as a Bigfoot or an Old Crustacean , but in it's own way just as delightful. And at just $3.49 for a 22-ounce bomber, this is a great deal.
I love it just before dinner as an aperitif, or following a hearty repast as a digestif. It’s also a great nightcap just before bed, perhaps best enjoyed with a really good book, maybe even one about beer.
Update 12/19/2015: Are the days of Lagunitas as a bargain basement brew coming to an end? Perhaps not quite, but they may be coming just a step closer. Today at Taco Mac was the first time I've seen Lagunitas in a short pour, with a glass of Lagunitas Brown Shugga' being served in an 11-ounce glass. Still, at 9.9% alcohol by volume that may be a good thing anyway, and at $5.50 the price was right. The beer was as rich and luscious as ever, thick with dark malty richness and strong notes of rum raisin and molasses.
And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box.
*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.
(B)=Bottled
(D)=Draft
