Gary of Craft Ale House forced me into buying this short-stack bottle of Lagunitas Brown Shugga’, an American Strong Ale. The labeling was awesome and reminded me of Dogfish Head’s labels, textured towards recycled, compacted cardboard.

The copy on the bottle provides an insight into what you’re getting yourself into, 9.84% ABV (that’s pretty exact, if you ask me) and 51.1 IBUs (again, how are they getting this accurate?!). The pour into my snifter revealed a slightly hazy roasted cherry color with a touch of mahogany wood. Not surprisingly, there was no head but a nice, white foam ring quickly settled around the perimeter.

This nose is absolutely incredible. There are so many diverse flavors in the profile, but they all seem to pose an immense balance. Up front is cherry Laffy Taffy, Lemon Heads, lime juice and a fresh candied apple. There’s a slight bitter hop note that’s noticeable and present, which keeps an interesting balance to the otherwise dominant candy scents.

One sip and you’re immediately loaded with the brown cane sugar used in this beer. Whoa. It’s sweet at first and delivers a medium-body and easy carbonation to work with. The sweet malt character is once again overwhelming and the brown sugar really brings out a caramel note in the roasted malt. The middle of the mouthful is fueled by more sweetness; mixed gumdrops and passion fruit. Finishing smooth the only thing lingering around is a crushed spearmint leaf.

For 9.84% ABV, the alcohol is not even present, which is impressive. Considering some beers cannot easily hide 7% and above, this is a victory. While I wouldn’t consider this a session beer, namely due to the high alcohol content, but also due to the heavy sweetness, it’s an amazing beer to sip on. Read the label carefully, it’s pretty anti-sipping but savor this one!

Overall: 9.5/10