Brown Shugga'
Lagunitas Brewing Company

Brown Shugga'Brown Shugga'
Beer Geek Stats | Print Shelf Talker
From:
Lagunitas Brewing Company
 
California, United States
Style:
American Strong Ale
Ranked #87
ABV:
10%
Score:
90
Ranked #9,086
Avg:
4.03 | pDev: 11.17%
Reviews:
1,685
Ratings:
6,036
Status:
Active
Rated:
Feb 17, 2024
Added:
Dec 13, 2001
Wants:
  316
Gots:
  1,481
IBU 51.1
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by tectactoe:
Photo of tectactoe
Reviewed by tectactoe from Michigan

3.95/5  rDev -2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4
Pours a copper, orange-amber hybrid color with pretty good clarity that is only compromised by a slight haze that drifts up and down the glass in the very center. A musky, off-white head forms on top of the beer, remains small, and holds fast as a thin ring along the top.

Brown Shugga's aroma is that of a strong, syrupy, peppery hop, right alongside sweet, booze-filled plums and raisins. Heavy, heavy caramel and toffee on the nose, sugary and sweet. Again, lots of hop aromas are coming out of this as well; spicy, herbal, ashy, oily, and pungent. I can't tell if this is an overly-hopped malty ale or an overly-malty IPA of sorts. It's got enough of a hop aroma to smell like a malty DIPA, but it could also pass off as a hopped-up barleywine with a malt structure like it has... I guess we'll see.

Brown Shugga is pretty thick and syrupy on the palate without being overly abrasive, though it is a bit sticky. The flavor profile that hits your tongue is complex and hard to exactly pin down. Heavy caramel and toffee make up the backbone; molasses, syrup, burnt brown sugar, booze, ripe raisins, sweet plums - this beer is a malt bomb, and that's a FACT. Sweet and sugary as they come with lots of residuals that stick to the palate and seem to hang on for dear life...

...BUT WAIT! Here come the hops - pungent, earthy, herbal, ashy, oily, and providing a bitterness that cuts through the sweetness at the last minute to provide a balance that you never thought would be possible after the first moments of the sip. The gradient of flavors across my palate still has me wondering exactly what kind of beer this really is. Talk about smearing style guidelines! Some boozy black cherries and leafy hops fade into the aftertaste with a sweet and sugary decrescendo. Carbonation was medium, maybe on the low side, with a fairly thick body.

Pretty tasty. Almost reminds me of an aged DIPA, but where the hop character is still fairly heavy and robust after the aging. Then again, it could be a malty-ass barleywine with quadruple the amount of hops used. Sweet, but not sickeningly so. Nice balance when all's said and done. Though the booze is noticeable, it's still fairly easy to throw back for being nearly 10% ABV.
Jan 27, 2013
More User Ratings:
 
Rated: 3.69 by Danzifer from Ohio

Feb 17, 2024
 
Rated: 3.94 by h4ger from Connecticut

Dec 03, 2023
Photo of weseaststream
Rated by weseaststream from Alabama

4.08/5  rDev +1.2%
look: 3.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
rich with enough bite to be interesting
Aug 02, 2023
 
Rated: 3.96 by rpmello81 from California

Mar 18, 2023
 
Rated: 4.61 by Beergod420 from Michigan

Jan 29, 2023
 
Rated: 4.16 by trdant from Missouri

Dec 30, 2022
Photo of DrOfGolf
Reviewed by DrOfGolf from Delaware

3.58/5  rDev -11.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.75
Local beer store had this as a single and I took a chance. First of all, I couldn't find any dates or date codes anywhere on the bottle.

Poured cloudy brownish color with a tan head. The smell is sweet and almost of a maple syrup. The flavor is sweet and has a warmth boozie feel. A decent beer, if you like sweetness in your beers. Not my kind of beer but hey, it was a one off shot.
Aug 08, 2022
 
Rated: 4.1 by Sinister from New York

Jul 02, 2022
 
Rated: 4.15 by cold_beer

May 06, 2022
 
Rated: 4.24 by vickersspitfire from Texas

Mar 11, 2022
Photo of izraelc
Reviewed by izraelc from New York

4/5  rDev -0.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Pours a hazy amber. Thick foam. Malty aroma. Big flavors. Bitter hop body followed my syrupy malt sweetness. Light brown sugar finish. You can taste the alcohol. Complex but well balanced. An excellent strong ale.
Mar 05, 2022
 
Rated: 4 by ryand14 from Michigan

Feb 14, 2022
 
Rated: 4.16 by mikerieder from South Dakota

Dec 05, 2021
 
Rated: 3.94 by DownyIsHungry from Minnesota

Nov 21, 2021
 
Rated: 3.65 by LesDewitt4beer from Minnesota

Oct 14, 2021
Photo of chum_husk
Reviewed by chum_husk from Minnesota

3.25/5  rDev -19.4%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 5 | overall: 3.25
12oz bottle

One of my old favorites, this is a big boozy sugary drink with a decent scent and look, and dangerous drinkability. I used to get sixers of this for $8 back in college, and many a blurry night were spent in its embrace
Jul 31, 2021
 
Rated: 3.75 by Burg from New Hampshire

May 05, 2021
 
Rated: 2 by jeschaefer from Texas

Apr 18, 2021
 
Rated: 3.69 by Myboymi from Kansas

Mar 08, 2021
Brown Shugga' from Lagunitas Brewing Company
Beer rating: 90 out of 100 with 6036 ratings