What the hell is up with Lagunitas?

I've heard they signed a deal with a specific hop grower. (which may or may not have been their supplier last year) i have had Sucks a couple times this year and found certain 6'ers better than others. As far as the national distro, they've always had a spread across the country for as lobg as I've been drinking them anyway. Honestly since the expansion it seems their beers are harder to find in Cali let alone many other states.

 

Seems to be readily available here in SAC even in my local Belair (Raley's).But I will say that while my local store does have a pretty good selection of COLD Lagunitas I find that it seems to be a bit old.Maybe part of the problem.

 

Iriepirate21, is the number on your bottle 351? I bought two 6 packs that says they were bottled on the 351st day of 2013, and they taste like malt bombs. I'm trying to figure out if it was a bad batch or the fault of a distributor.

like you, I've had Sucks for many years and it's long been my favorite beer. this year's version tastes like a 4-month old IPA despite being just a few weeks old.

the fact that this happened to you in CA - and it also happened to me in NJ - makes me think that Lagunitas had a bad batch. anyone else have impressions of the bottles bottled on the 351st day of 2013?

 

FTFY

 

I think the flavor of Sucks is getting drowned out in the multitude of new IPAs with the same general qualities. Many of these IPA's have come out recently and now Sucks is pretty much just one of the pack of good beers in that category.

Personally I know my tastes have changed slightly and I find it much easier to drink hoppier ales that I may have found to be a bit bitter upon original taste. When I first smelled Sucks, I thought it was the best smelling beer ever. Strangely, though, I didn't think the taste at the time lived up to the smell. But I grew to liking the taste and appreciating and craving it.

This year I can't really define that taste as clearly as I did after the first couple tastings, with the flood of great IPAs such as Mongo, Sculpin, Pliny, etc -- the list goes on in this category. I think Sucks is as good as ever, but its just not that much better than the huge list of available fresh, tropical, pineapple, mango, lychee, etc-tasting hop bombs we are fortunate to have these days.

 

i have been unable to locate any sucks in Ventura/ LA.

 

I think the price in 6 packs at least distinguishes sucks from those beers you mentioned. It's not an earth shattering IPA, but do you find it to be earth shattering that beer this good is released in 6 packs at the price point?

I love it

 

There is a store in my town that put out some end of 2012 Sucks in like... September. And they're still sitting there in the exact same spot. Right next to Stone Enjoy By 10.25.13. Yes, it's very sad. No, they do not tell people that it's old beer. So you could be drinking year-old Sucks...?

I feel like Lagunitas has always had a lot of bottle variation. I think some of it has to do with not knowing how old it is since Lagunitas is so popular, but some places must get a lot and obviously don't sell all of it fresh. And those date codes are really hard to read unless you hold it up to the sun.

 

this one's definitely 2013. it has the 3 next to the number. just a bad batch I guess

 

I'm in Petaluma, so theoretically am getting Sucks about as fresh as it can be (although it probably goes to the distributor warehouse before returning to town) and I've also perceived significant differences from one six-pack to another. One in particular tasted very brown like it didn't finish properly or mashed too high. A friend brought over another sixer and it was fine, so I went back and got another. Overall, I'm less impressed this year than the previous two years.

 

Hopefully Sucks^2 is on the way soon because this variation sucks.

 

Fusion was fantastic....dank goodness

 

Glad its not just me...

I bought 2 sixers of Sucks about a month apart. I was so excited for what I remembered to be one of the best IPAs I've ever had. It wasn't terrible but it was nowhere near the beer I remembered. My score dropped from 4.75 to 3.75.

 

Just bought a bomber of Hop Stoopid at my local store.Mainly because it was day 358 ! It had a different hop profile than I am used to but it tasted very good to me nonetheless.

 

Sucks was way better this year. much more citry/catpiss. maltier and sweeter too.
Daytimes i had were as average as i expected them to be.

 

I don't consider that a big deal. I've been to many a brewery that didn't have any special bottles for to-go sale. Lagunitas usually has a handful of brewery-only or at least very limited taps which is what I consider the main reason for going there. That being said, I probably haven't been since September or so, but that has more to do with the location than anything.