The Lagunitas Brewing Company High Westified 2016

**Aroma:** “Juicy, resiny hops prevail, with nice pine and grapefruit notes and a touch of must. Malt and yeast are mostly absent in aroma. Bright citrus and cattiness play well together.” **Flavor:** “Very juicy and citrusy with lemon, orange, and tangerine notes—the aroma promises, and the flavor over-delivers. The hops fruity sweetness carries through to the dry and clean finish. The complex floral and spice rack pungency in the hops flavor is beautiful and yet quite different from what was suggested in the aroma. Very carbonic and juicy yet dry.” **Overall:** “A bright, juicy APA that smells and tastes like fresh hops resin, this beer beautifully showcased the hops. Very, very enjoyable. It’s quite an unexpected and delicious beer with unique hops choices that allow it to showcase and shine light onto new hops flavors. It’s very carbonated and dry, very tasty, and probably one of the best we’ve had.”

__Aroma:__ “Chocolate, roast, bourbon, and light oak, with a light smokiness. Some moderate dark caramel, vanilla, molasses, toffee, and bourbon. Fruity, with notes of apple, pear, plum, light white wine, cherry, and prune.” __Flavor:__ “Slight brightness up front, that has a touch of citrus that verges on sour—lime, perhaps? More fruity notes of pear, apple, white raisin, Riesling, dark cherry, and plum. Some malty sweetness of chocolate and caramel, with vanilla and a little oak—the bourbon comes through and adds so much to this beer. Mouth-filling carbonation and a luscious mouthfeel.” __Overall:__ “A very complex and bright imperial stout, with fruits from the whole spectrum as well as dark chocolate and coffee throughout. The acidity with the sweetness and the barrel complexity make it deceptively easy to drink.”

**Aroma:** “Chocolate chip ice cream, covered in Hershey’s syrup, topped off with a chocolate wafer. I can even smell the bready aroma of the sugar cone. Light fruit esters (pear or passion fruit). Chocolate fudge, cocoa powder, toasty. Very intense milk chocolate.” **Flavor:** “Aroma tricks you into expecting sweetness, but the flavor delivers more balance. Sure, it’s still just as chocolaty, but hops and roast malt do their best to upstage it. The roast flavor pulls the chocolate toward mocha. There’s an earthy/citrus hops flavor and then a powerful bitterness from a tag-team combination of roast and hops. Both sweetness and bitterness linger into the finish.” **Overall:** “Nice roasted barley base, layered with sweet chocolate and some coffee notes. Lingering sweet chocolate finish. Sip this to keep warm all winter long.”