Lagunitas Little Sumpin' Extra and Sucks

Gents, I wanted to pass along my experiences with these two brews from Lagunitas. Now before we go too far let let me set this up a bit. I am a Belgian kind of guy. Complex yeasts and malt combinations are a real joy for me. Dry stouts, Scotch ales, you get the drift. I do like the occasional IPA but the trend the last decade was toward these hop monster brews that frankly left me feeling overwhelmed by their citrus blast. At least when made with the typical citrus dominant hop profile you so often find. I can do a high hop beer but it had better be well proportioned to the malt bill. Some of these are so hop dominant you are left with no 'nose' for hours.

Enter these two Lagunitas brews. Suggested to me by the blokes at a local spirit emporium I was very sceptical at first suggestion. They know me a bit and when they recognise my questions they always make great suggestions. They led me to Unibreu's La Fin du Monde. One of the best brewed ales I have tried. It may be Canadian but it is Belgian at heart. These guys were the first to assert to me that I liked Belgian style ales. And they were proven right. So when the bloke I trust the most out of the bunch made the suggestion, quite strongly I may add, that I try these, I gave in. And I am very glad I did.

I freely admit I am not an ideal beer taster. Other than the typical citrus overload of the 3Cs I would be hard pressed to identify specific hops or mash bill. I just take it by how it tastes on first sip and then after a few more. Like the Unibreu, the first thought I had when I tasted these was; These people know how to brew. And the thought did not leave me as I finished off the pours.

I tried the Sucks on Monday and the Little Sumpin' Extra last night. The Sucks was my choice. From the first taste I knew I liked it. A lot. And LSE was very superb as well. Just a little more hop mouth than the other but excellent nonetheless. The chap at the store explained these were really heavily hopped, even beyond most IPA styles. Yet it never seemed so. The hops and malt compliment each other and the one never seems to dominate at the expense of the other. This is what I mean about well crafted beer. I may not understand its components or how they are melded together but I can judge the sum of them. And the sum is great with these brews.

I intentionally did not go to Lagunita's web site so I would have no influence on my tastings. When I looked the descriptions I was both surprised and somewhat shocked. Unless I missed the descriptions, they do not specify hop bill. I was pleasantly surprised at the mash bill listing; Barley(duh), rye, wheat, and oats. Okay, I get it where the smooth yet full mouth feel comes from. This is one thing most high hop IPAs miss the boat on. They sacrifice body and mouth feel for the sake of the hop experience. What shocked me as the alcohol. A hefty 7.85%. You could never tell it by the taste. It never burned nor had that off putting cider or wine taste. And no janky aftertaste on the back of the tongue.

Little Sumpin' Extra was a revelation as well. This one was heftier in both alcohol and hops and I noticed it straight away. I still thoroughly enjoyed it. I think these two go into the 70s and 80s in the IBU category so they are hefty in that area. LSE goes 8% so these are not lightweights. Still, I found no over the top alcohol flavour and enjoyed every sip of it.

So how about it hop heads? Am I too impressed with these? What's your thoughts?

Both of those are great and I buy them fairly often, although Dogfishhead 90 minute is my goto hoppy beer. Their Undercover Investigator Shut Down is also quite good and the story behind it cracks me up.

La Fin du Monde on the other hand, nothing quite like it if you're in the mood for it. Price is also pretty exceptional for what you get.

Derek, thank you for the great response. I am not normally a hop head. High hop beers have to be well made and balanced for me to really enjoy them. As for the 90 Minute and UISD brews, are these balanced well like the Lagunitas or are they simply hop dominant all the way?

Phog Allen said:

Derek, thank you for the great response. I am not normally a hop head. High hop beers have to be well made and balanced for me to really enjoy them. As for the 90 Minute and UISD brews, are these balanced well like the Lagunitas or are they simply hop dominant all the way?

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Todd,

the hoppy beers I've had may have affected my perception of too hoppy. For me, 90 minute is balanced with an emphasis towards the hops. Nothing like Smuttynose beers (example), where they tend to be too hoppy when they shouldn't.

I honestly cannot remember how hoppy UISD was, I simply noted it in my head as being quite tasty.

Hops grow on you though. Pretty soon you'll be trying 120 minute and declaring it weak.

Love many of the Lagunitas offerings and enjoyed reading your take on them. If you are ever in Petaluma, take the tour! They are a happy group at the brewery!

Lagunitas opened a Brewery in Chicago recently. I like their beer, but the Alcohol content on many of their offerings is just too high for me.

Windy City, you have brought up a pertinent point. In the mad rush to make these imperial strength everything brews, much of the complexity of the malts and they interplay with the hops is simply lost. Many become so ripe with hop aromas and bitters that there is little else to take away from them. Worse yet are the alcohol bombs that taste raw and leave you with no decent palate feeling. These two are much better balanced than most I have tried. They are definitely strong and hoppy but they are superbly balanced. Still one at a setting is plenty.

Phog, I agree with you whole heartedly re: the issue of balance. Most Beer is made of just four things: water, yeast, malted barley and hops. I want a nice balance between the barley and the hops. I also tend to prefer the noble hop varieties. An IPA hopped with Kent Goldings is going to taste much different from and IPA made with Cascade and Cluster hops which are very citrusy, and not my preferred type. Obviously yeast plays a big part as well, and it is particularly noticeable in Belgian style beer IMHO. As to alcohol strength, a friend of mine once commented that it is easier to make beer that tastes good and is high in alcohol content than it is to make good beer of a lower strength. Not sure that is entirely true, but it's food for thought.

The Sucks is one of my favorites.

I've been a fan of Lagunitas for a while. Good beer.