Lagunitas The Hairy Eyeball Ale: This Strong Ale is a seasonal release brewed in Petaluma, California to a strength of 9.1% abv with 56.66 IBU’s and is what I would consider a good winter warmer ale.
Aroma and Appearance: Pours a ruby red colour with one finger of foam and lots of little bubbles in the glass. The malt forward nature of this beer is very evident in the aroma, highlighting huge amounts of dark stone fruit malts (mostly plums and cherries) with some red velvet cake, earth, a touch of cough syrup and just a bit of star anise.
Flavour: Up front this is euphorically malt forward and the taste is loaded with dark stone fruits that match the aroma. In the middle some black currants and blackberries make an appearance accompanied by bits of earth and prunes. While those flavours tone down, this craft beer finishes with some over ripened fruit, some toffee notes and then it gives off a boozy stomach warming sensation as it goes down – just like a winter warmer should!
Overall Impression: Pretty nice dark ale and is a good pick up for any fan of the style.
Rating: I give it a Very Good rating of 7.5/10, solid effort but not quite jaw dropping.
Food Pairing: Bread pudding with dates and plums or a charcuterie plate would be excellent companions to this beer.
Unrelated to this particular beer, but still featuring the Lagunita’s brand, here is a fairly simple and very cool home made coaster project from Instructables YouTube Channel shown below.
West Coast Beer Geek 