Browsing through the liquor store this afternoon, I came across this oddly named beer from the California brewing company Lagunitas. The last Lagunitas beer I had was the strangely named "Lagunitas Sucks," and that beer was anything but sucky. This one then, also has an odd name; maybe it's an acronym, but I'm not sure what it means. Anyway, Schoolie and family came over this evening, so I thought it was worth a try.
It poured a dark ruby color with not a lot of head. It had a heady malts and hops aroma. Bottle says 59 IBUs. It is hoppier than I expected, particularly as it is described on the bottle as "A Malty Robust Jobless Recovery Ale."
But, there isn't a lot of malt here, and there's something not quite pleasant. It's time to check out the beer wheel.
Schoolie keeps saying "hedgerow" over and over again, but he discounts dirty diapers from the possibilities in the beer wheel. I'm figuring it is a little sour, or perhaps that the hoppiness is just not well balanced.
We both think that there's something herbal here, but of course, both Schoolie and Her Indoors pronounce herbal without an "h".
In fact, Her Indoors takes another sip and declares, "There's some bacon in there!" Of course, any hint of smokiness in the beer, and Her Indoors will accuse the beer of a bacon taste like my cherished Rauchbocks.
She also states that the beer isn't hoppy at all, but then again, she Herself is sipping on the uber-hoppy Bear Republic Racer 5 (75 IBUs). Her tongue is essentially numb at this point.
Overall, it's a little disappointing - it clearly is fairly strong (7.85%), but there isn't a great deal of complexity. For a beer with an OG of 1.062, it is even a little watery.
So, I'm tapping out here, my rating is a 78. Over to you, my Ginger friend. And time to pour something a little more promising: Steen Brugge Tripel (with Gruut!)
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