lagunitas brown shugga

I wouldn't know. I drink it as I get it because it's that damn good.

The hops will fade obviously.

 

I've got a year old bottle in the bottom of my keezer. I should drink it and report back.

It's pretty awesome fresh, but I can see the bitterness dying down and balancing the beer more.

 

I am wondering the same thing about cellaring this beer. Looking forward to hearing from someone who had already done it.

 

I had it at 6 months and it shared similarities to a light-bodied barleywine. I just picked up a fresh 6 pack and will soon be testing out fresh vs 1 year old.

 

Brown Shugga ‘14 vs Brown Shugga ‘13

‘14

There is a complex aroma to the nose, displaying dark fruit and leather, primarily.This displays a piny, resinous hop aroma that makes it smell oak aged, despite not being aged. 1.5 finger light tan head. The beer is amber, to red. The taste is like an imperial red ale, with chewy, piny hops. This is a thicker beer than I remember. Aside from piny hops, I get a lot of sweet orange and mango. I am enjoying this beer fresh. It reminds me of Great Divide’s Hibernation, but with a more approachable hop taste. Alcohol is hidden well!

‘13

Slightly lighter in color, all around. Same amount of head. Hops are citrusy, as opposed to resinous. The piney quality in the aroma is still present. Taste is mellow and candied. There is an increased toasted bread maltiness to this beer. The flavors are very distinct, but mellowed. In the fresher version, there were not as many distinct flavors due to the hops. I am not getting as much dark fruit, oddly enough. The body is lighter, but still chewy. I get the mango hop, again, in the taste. No oakiness, at all. I was pleasantly surprised, as I thought the beer was not good at 6 months. Too bad this was my last bottle!


The year of age had a lot of change, to me. The ‘14 version tastes like it was oak aged, despite not actually being oak aged. There is a good amount of sweetness, with the hops providing pine and mango. The ‘13 is citrusy and piney, to me. The hops are subdued to the point where they allow for the malt to poke its head through. The malt backbone contains candy sugar, caramel, and toasted bread. To be honest, I preferred 1 year to fresh. I remember at 6 months the beer was in a weird spot.

 

I can certainly second this. I was going to recommend against aging it at all before reading your side-by-side, but it sounds like it still has some redeeming qualities at 1yr.

 

Drank a 2010 about 3months ago, Fuckin great!! Thanks Lagunitas crew for bring by Toronado ladt yeasr during SF beerweek

 

Had a 2012 (2 yrs old) a month ago and it's fantastic. Gonna have a couple more and leave the rest for another year. I'm thinking 3 years will be even better.