Lagunitas Hop Stoopid

Back to Lagunitas for a second effort at a hopped up pale.

First impression here is for a beer that proudly boasts a measured 102 IBU this is really rather tame. The nose is certainly hoppy, but it's more sweet orange and mandarin than violent bitter notes, and the taste follows this guide in delivering a gentler and sweeter experience than expected.

As such I found myself considering this more a standard IPA than a real hop bomb as such, and the sweetness became a little bit sickly after half a glass a bit like Mikkeller's Amarillo IPA. I couldn't see myself drinking more than one of these but for the opposite reason to that initially expected - it's a bit of a letdown in the bite department which is really quite surprising.

Looking at the reviews elsewhere it seems I'm in a bit of a minority here, but to me, people buying one of these sorts of beers ('hop' in the title, promising explosions) would probably prefer a less heavily malted, more unbalanced beer to this halfway effort. 7.0

Lagunitas Maximus

Lions and gladiuses (gladii?) and, well, turbo versions of standard IPAs.

Oddly the nose on this one put me in mind of that other roman pretender (I'm prepared to admit it's just in my mind) - admittedly though at 8.2% this is a bit down on the big ten percenter. It's also a fair bit better -
there's a lightness of character and citrus component that's quite light and drinkable, belying what the heavy malt nose would suggest.

Mid way through you do get a reasonable hit of booze, and its inert character and lack of head makes it a little bit medicine-like in appearance, but overall it is quite drinkable and doesn't get carried away with its theme to the detriment of the beer itself. Would try again if it weren't for the multitude of better options in this bracket. 7.5