Sakitumi
Lagunitas Brewing Company

Deep golden color. Big, white head. Aroma of grain, earth, and yeasts. Sweet and yeasty with strong, hoppy bitterness. Interesting beer, to be honest.

Bottle from Boise Co-op. Clear golden, fluffy head. Sweet grainy aroma, mild fruitiness. Taste brings some white grapes, more fruit sweetness. Seems lager-ish, but tasty AF. 9%? This can't end well....

rather unique one here, a more ambitious beer than lagunitas is known for, and i dig that. a big imperial ipa, done with rice in the mash and sake yeast in the ferment, very clever. my guess is its not just sake yeast, but rather sake yeast with the normal house ale yeast, working together, perhaps not as interesting from a fermentation point of view as it could be, but this is subtly awesome. the hop profile is flattering to the rice and the sake yeast, its bitter yes, this is lagunitas after all, but its also herbal and has a sort of dried floral essence about it that i think integrate with the special ingredients particularly well, although part of me wonders if this would have been more effective as a session type than an imperial, like it wants to be delicate but its also enormous. very bitter on the hop side, a little lingering grain sweetness, and a slightly spicy finish from the yeast with the hops there too, lemograss and pear, white and green tea, jasmine and coriander, white wine and bread dough. rather complex, very alcoholic, exposed even, but the uniqueness of this more than makes up for the slightly rough edges. its a shame this seems to have been abandoned, a little more playing around with it and it could have been something special. the rice is almost a nonfactor here, except to keep the body light. pleasant and different!

I think 2017 vintage
Pours a med frothy creamy semi dense almost 1 finger head with med retention, soapy lacing, semi clear with sediment med golden tan color

Nose has the aged ale character, sweet malt, yeasty note with a bit of a sake rice wine, general fruity notes, sweet candy malt and grain, citrus

Taste brings fair sweet malt again, and candy malt with general sugar, some aged malt character, a bit of rice wine sake flavor, rice pudding, some citrus and fruity notes, then hops kick in for typical Lagunitas, fruity citrus and a bit of spicy hop, getting a touch grassy, light sake like alcohol late

Mouth is med a bit sticky sweet med carb, light warming alcohol

Overall nothing too special, age probably hurt a bit, sake character was OK, quite sweet, hops were Ok but not great

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sock it to me, I suppose. Interesting concept but the delivery doesn't work for me. Pours a light gold bronze. Sticky hoppy with a sharp bitterness. Body feels light but resiny at the same time.

 

 

Pours a clear straw with a thick head. Aroma is floral, orange, and tropical fruit hops. Similar flavor with an almost peppermint flavor in the finish. A hint of alcohol. Just a bit of sweetness balanced by light bitterness. Really really smooth. Incredibly drinkable for 9%.