Lagunitas Imperial Stout

Alas, I return to the beer blogging world. Today, our beer of interest is Lagunitas Imperial Stout. Lagunitas Brewing Co. in Petaluma, California is one of the craft brewers at the forefront of the North American craft beer revolution. Best known for their India Pale Ale and its bully of a big brother Hop Stoopid Imperial IPA, Lagunitas most definately makes some good beer. Their Imperial Stout is no different. At 8.2% ABV and 72ish IBU's, this beer is a heavy hitter ideal for sharing or for desert.

The beer style Imperial Stout is such named as it is a high alcohol brew that was originally brewed for the Imperial court of Catharine the Great of Russia. In general, Imperial Stouts are between 8 and 10% ABV, are full bodied and bitter. The Lagunitas Imperial Stout pours are dark oily black with a bit of tan head. Aroma has rich notes of coffee, chocolate, roasted malts, molasses and slight hops. Bitter first taste with huge mouthfeel and thick oily body. The hops are not as subtle as in the aroma while the malts are deep roasted in flavour. After a while, the mouthfeel becomes overly sticky and chocolate and coffee notes become more prevalent. While this is certainly not the most amazing beer or most incredible Imperial Stout I have ever had (which is an entirely different blog entry all together), it is a good beer. The only downfall is that with the huge 22ounce bomber and the high alcohol content, intoxication comes quicker than expected for one beer.

Grade: A-

Next post: St. Bernardus Tripel