Lagunitas Brewing Company Brown Shugga' Ale - A Microbrew Review

Lagunitas Brewing Company Brown Shugga' Ale

by Microbrew Review

This economy's been tough on all of us. Everyone's looking to save money and for the best deal possible. That holds true in today's world of the beer and microbrew enthusiast as well. Well imagine my surprise when I discovered a $1.00 a bottle selection in one of the beer coolers at my local Six 'n Save. I was like a kid in a candy shop. Given, the selection was fairly slim but I did spy a few good microbreweries to try and I picked up a bottle of Lagunitas Brewing Company's Brown Shugga' Ale in my mix a six tonight.

Freshly and nicely preserved from its cross-country track all the way from the brewery in Petaluma, California, this ale poured a cloudy fiery red almost soda pop orange into my glass with a creamy one finger head. Carbonation was good but the ale never completely cleared and remained somewhat foggy and hazy throughout the sampling.

Aroma was extremely malty with deadly strength levels of burning alcohol wafting up into my nostrils. This smelled like one potent microbrew and in drinking it, I would not be proven wrong.

This craft beer is sugary sweet alright, almost to a fault, but not quite. I like bitter IPA's and this is certainly not one but Brown Shugga' held my interest in that is was heavy and chewy enough to taste like a man's beer. Alot of malt and a bit of toffee and yes, just a touch of brown cane sugar in the flavor. Far off in the background was just a bit of that Christmas sugar cookie kind of flavor.

The beer was a real sticky mouthful but finished strong on the palate with a mild but unobtrusive sweet aftertaste. No hops at all here so if that's what you are looking for, you're not going to find it in Lagunitas Brewing Brown Shugga'.

One item I will also point out is the beer bottle label. It looks like it's printed on aged parchment. Plain and to the point. It's got an entertaining little quip in real small print that reads: "We believe this Special Ale is something unique. Feeding brown cane sugar to otherwise cultured brewery yeast is a'kin to feeding raw shark to your gerbil. It is unlikely to ever occur in nature without human intervention. And it looks weird besides. But is has happened, and now it's too late". Entertaining and a little quirky. I love reading the small print on these Lagunitas Brewing beer labels. These guys make great microbrews and craft beers and know how to have fun with it as well.

If you see any Lagunitas beer in your local ale shop or tavern, take a chance and try it out. I've yet to have any bad experience with Lagunitas Brewing Company offerings and their Brown Shugga' Sweet Release Ale is just another notch on my microbrew drinking gun. I loved this ale and I think there's a good chance you probably will too. Try it if you get a shot but be cautious as the alcohol by volume rating for Brown Shugga' is about 9.5% and is not for the meek beer drinker. Cheers!

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Enjoy, and always remember to drink responsibly!

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Speakeasy Untouchable Pale Ale - My Microbrew Review Blog Review

Speakeasy Ales & Lagers is a California-based microbrewery which proudly calls San Francisco its home of beer brewing operations. Tonight I grabbed a bottle of Speakeasy's Untouchable Pale Ale out of the cooler at my local mix a six craft beer and microbrew outlet. I'd have to admit that the bottle imagery of a screen printed 1930's mobster-type character with a sneaky looking pair of eyes painted on the bottle neck caught my eye the most out of the many bottles in the cooler to select from.

The text on the back of the bottle reads:

"Sssshh! During Prohibition, the masses were forced underground into the speakeasy. Hidden within the streets of the city, friends gathered where music played and drinks were poured... Untouchable does justice to the American Pale Ale, enforcing a strict balance of arresting hop flavor and a smooth maltiness that's just undercover."

Well, we'll see how it stands up to the promise.

Pouring the chilled brown bottle of micro brew into my 10 ounce glass beer mug, this American Pale Ale displays a rusty nail orangey color. It was very cloudy and high in floating yeast particulate. It wasn't the prettiest of beers to look at in my mug, but the respectable white and pillowy 3/4 inch head was admirable and stuck around quite a bit longer than I had guessed that it might.

Upon placing my nose up to the glass rim, I find that my olfactory senses are greeted with a musty floral scent, slightly oily and earthy all at once. Mild hints of lemon waft in the far distant background and pine makes a non-obtrusive appearance in this craft beer aroma.

Partaking of the first few sips of this chilled pale ale, the beer's mouthful was smooth and full. A respectable hoppy bitterness was present with lesser twinges of malty sweetness further in the background, but just enough to make the beer interesting and balanced overall. I sensed a grassy earthiness to Untouchable Pale Ale. Carbonation in the mouthful was fair and became more visually evident as the liquid cleared somewhat by mid glass. The swallow finished primarily clean with just a hint of citrus bitterness left mid-tongue.

Finishing off the full 12 ounce bottle, I'm left with wanting to try one more bottle of this craft beer. I got the feeling that I just might like this ale a little bit more upon a second sampling. At 5.5% alcohol by volume, I probably could have stood another bottle or two of Speakeasy Pale Ale. But I'd only picked up one tonight and will probably find myself moving on to other microbrews tomorrow.

I might try this beer again in the future. But overall, I didn't find any one particular feature that I could point to in making it one of the better American Pale Ales that I've sampled over time. It's worth a shot though and especially if you're just starting into the world of microbrews but just aren't quite ready for the further extremes of an IPA or the stronger imperial strength beers. Matching this beer up to it's perfect situational serving setting, I'd say this would be a great beer on ice, bottles piles high in a bushel barrel while sitting around a cozy beach fire with friends on a chilly summer's evening. I recommend giving Speakeasy Untouchable American Pale Ale a try sometime in your microbrew sampling endeavors.

If you found any enjoyment in reading this microbrew beer review and if you love craft beers in particular, you'll find more craft beer reviews of both new and old microbrews and also fun microbrew and craft beer-related info at Microbrew Review or Microbrew and Craft Beer Reviews. Click through on the links above and please let me know what you liked or didn't like and let me know any beers that you might like to see me review next time. Cheers!

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