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Lagunitas "A Little Sumpin'"� Sumpin' Ale, Lagunitas, CA


DonRocks

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Man, what a beer this is. In Fremont, California, it's available at a local gas station convenience store for $8.99 a six-pack, and it's just wonderful.

It's a hefty 7.5% ABV, with 64.20 IBU and 1.076 OG - stuffed with everything, including the most important thing of all: balance. Far too often, "big" beers are tilted one way or the other out of balance, but not this - harmony abounds, and wine-wise, it would be like drinking a great 14.5% ABV Cháteauneuf-du-Pape.

I'm not sure if Lagunitas is an actual microbrewery except by strict definition only, but *this* - this beer - drinks like a craft brew made by a brewery that really cares about the product. It's hoppy, but they're lemony hops, not bitter tasting at all (well, maybe a touch in the finish, but nothing that would make you find them offensive even if you resided on the island of Malt-a like I do).

The Beer Advocate rates (once again, I'm going against my very nature here by mentioning numeric scores) A Little Sumpin' 94 points, both in the average BA Score (an average of all readers' ratings) and in the Bros' score (an average of the reviews by the Alstöm brothers), and I can easily see that rating being justified.

The single most important component in beer - in any food item, I might argue - is balance, and despite it's heft, A Little Sumpin' has balance in spades. I also don't know if the avoidance of cross-country transportation makes a difference with this, but it just tastes fresh as a daisy here in California, not that I've ever consumed a daisy and have legitimate knowledge of what a fresh daisy tastes like. This is not a malty beer at all, yet it makes me so happy.

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Love Lagunitas as well. If you ever make the trip to SF add to your agenda a short trip to the brewery.

You could make yourself quite the little beer tour by starting at 21A in SF, going to Lagunitas in Petaluma, Russian River in Santa Rosa, and then Bear Republic in Healdsburg...

Lagunitas is a personal favorite of mine and I really enjoy the brewery. There are very few beers from Lagunitas that I don't think are pretty darned good (at a minimum) and they're always priced well for the quality.

For me Little Sumpin is middle of the pack for the Lagunitas lineup. My favorite of their's is WTF (though I appear to be in a minority there as WTF gets a 88 on BA whereas LIttle Sumpin gets a 94 from BA and from the brothers). Sitting somewhere between an IPA, a Pale Ale, and a Wheat, its certainly an interesting offering. I'll have to try and remember to try it again this weekend to see if my mind has changed at all.

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well, my personal favorite from them is Lagunitas Sucks, a beer probably--but not definitely, because like all Lagunitas beers it is SO damn well made--both too bitter and too "hoppy" (two different things, achieved by, respectively, huge additions of  hops early--bitterness--and late--hop flavor and aroma--in the boil)--for Don to like, though I wish he'd try it sometime and report back...

But Sumpin Sumpin rocks as does its half-sister, A Lil Sumpin Wild, same beer but fermented with a Belgian yeast strain...and btw these are pretty hop-forward beers for a professed malt head to enthuse over.

Don, their Pils is excellent too, I think every bit as good as Victory's or Sly Fox's take on the style.

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well, my personal favorite from them is Lagunitas Sucks, a beer probably--but not definitely, because like all Lagunitas beers it is SO damn well made--both too bitter and too "hoppy" (two different things, achieved by, respectively, huge additions of  hops early--bitterness--and late--hop flavor and aroma--in the boil)--for Don to like, though I wish he'd try it sometime and report back...

K  :)

But Sumpin Sumpin rocks as does its half-sister, A Lil Sumpin Wild, same beer but fermented with a Belgian yeast strain...and btw these are pretty hop-forward beers for a professed malt head to enthuse over.

I think one of the signs of maturity in a critic is the ability to "neutralize" ones personal preferences and judge something on its own merits - I try to do that with the Lagunitas offerings.

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K  :)

I think one of the signs of maturity in a critic is the ability to "neutralize" ones personal preferences and judge something on its own merits - I try to do that with the Lagunitas offerings.

what were you doing in Fremont, picking up your Tesla?  (Thanks for pointing me to your previous Sucks review...with which I heartily agree, except to say you sure as hell don't need to calibrate via checking on what the Ahlstroms say)

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what were you doing in Fremont, picking up your Tesla?  

I wish.

I also picked up a six-pack at the McLean Total Wine yesterday, and wanted to note that the bitter hops were noticeably more prominent - perhaps the transportation cross-country was not kind to this beer?

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