I Play Aggressively
Written: Jun 19 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Bracing, zesty hop aroma and flavor, not scared to smack ya.
Cons: Tongue Fatigue.
The Bottom Line: A ripping good time for hopheads, way too hoppy for people who like mainstream beer. Know what you're getting into when you open one up.
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| beerfly's Full Review: Lagunitas IPA |
You shouldn't get in this game unless you gonna play.
IPA is the balls-to-the-wall arena of American microbrewing. The letters I P A are an excuse to get crazy with hops, the ingredient that has distinguished microbrewing in America from the beers of the big boys. "Bitter beer face?" microbrewers howl, "Yeah, our beer will give you that, ya weenie!!"
IPA stands for India Pale Ale, of course. The whole history's been explained elsewhere, many elsewheres, so I won't bore you. But some brewers have used the letters a bit indiscriminately. Redhook, for one, has an IPA that's not exactly hopped out that far. Harpoon IPA is better, but still not overly hopped. And of course, Bass is labeled as an "IPA."
But most American IPAs scream. Like this one: Lagunitas IPA. No cute name here, and the label's pretty blunt: just pseudo-stenciled letters, taking up 70% of the plain, cream-colored space. And when you pour it, you'll know it's no lie.
Wow. Sticking your nose in the stack once this beer is poured is like sticking your face in a bale of hops (I know, I've done it). Sitting there right above the beautifully translucent amber of the beer is a cloud of hop vapor that smells like freshly kilned hop cones, rubbed between your fingers. I'm guessing Cascades or Columbus, it's very citric and a bit piney.
What's under the hood? A big old hops-oil-burning malt-injected mill, baby, revving, pulsing, ready to pop your clutch and peel out all over your tongue. Lagunitas has obviously shoveled the malt to this one, and while it's not as buoyantly malty as eastern bitterbombs like Victory's HopDevil, it's got a lot more underpinning than some of the west coast hoprockets.
The malt smooths out but doesn't diminish a roar of bitterness and green hop flavor. It really rocks through the whole mouthful, from the initial crisp hit of hops through the ensuing wash of malt body and hop flavor, right on into the bitter tongue-crunch of the middle and into the looooong bitter finish. Fireworks are spearing your mouth, a string of Cascade-crackers flashing the tongue and roof. Woof, this is a hell of a ride.
But it's spunky, regardless. This beer's got what a lot of IPAs are missing: flavor and ale character. (Not Harpoon's IPA, by the way; lower-hopped, maybe, but very much an ale, and delicious beer.) You taste it right there in the middle, a helping of light peach and nectarine, and now you realize that you pick some of it up in among the hop aromas, too. This is good beer, mates, but be sure you want something wild and bitter when you open it.
Lagunitas has prospered with big-flavored beer. They're doing well, and it's obviously not because they've sold out and underestimated our tastes. The success of beers like this, HopDevil, Bell's Two-Hearted, and Erie Brewing's Railbender prove that all that crap about 'people really just want a beer they can drink a lot of' and 'people just drink a beer to look cool' is just that; crap. If you're drinking this, you must like it.
Demand beer with flavor. Build up to something great. Don't be satisfied, get blown away!
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
beerfly
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Member: Lew Bryson
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Reviews written: 88
Trusted by: 79 members
About Me:
One bourbon, one Scotch, one beer, eh? I'll take Kentucky Spirit, Scapa, and HopDevil.
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