Lagunitas ScareCity #1: Imperial Pilsner
When ya think about it, calling any PILS an IMPERIAL PILS is somewhat ironic. At the time of its creation in the dim recesses of post-stone-age / pre-X-box European citystates teh PILSENER style was indeed the IMPERIAL beer of its time, putting every other more colorful beer of its time to shame amidst a revolution of thermometer making. And without a doubt, its reign was long. No American-born ales have usurped all of the imperialness there is to usurp and for the PILS to rise again, like every aspiration-ridden social ladder-climbing creature on the planet it must further evolve ... This is that! We ahve made our own not-so-ordinary PILS every week of every year since 1996 and we have come to respect its stature in our own brewery-word ... but Darwin never sleeps. Evolution persists, the weak are meat and the strong will eat, and now this brew has happened ... further, further, further.
3.6
151 reviews
Petaluma, United States
Community reviews
Bottle in hotel room Orlando 2016... Dark amber.. Massive foam off white head.. Soft sweet toffee malts.. Light citrus nose... Soft sweet caramel fruit.. Light biscuit.. Light citrus
Gold pour with a big fluffy head. Some odd notes in the aroma - a little burnt rubber in the malty sweetness. Ramping up a pilsener is a risky move, and this is not a total success. Fairly sugary, with what seems like a standard hop profile for the style. This doesn’t do it for me, but I’m not a huge fan of pilseners in general.
1/29/16. On tap at Craft Bar Grand Blvd. Golden pour with a nice off-white head, good lacing. Plain aroma, grainy, citrus and grass. Nice flavor, smooth pale maltiness, bready, doughy, citrus and grass. Tasty!
Draft - Sweet lemony citrus. Clear gold with a decent white head. Lemon, booze and a light bitterness.
Draft at the brewery. Pours clear, bright gold with a frothy white head. Rich white bread in the nose, a little honey, cereal. Pretty sweet, with definite alcohol boost, sugary white bread, light hay. Full bodied with average carbonation. Warming finish, more sugary white bread, some raw alcohol, pale grains. Pretty strong. A white collar malt liquor. So so.
Draft at the brewery taproom. RBWG 2016. Bright golden orange coloured pour with a sticky white head. Aroma is sweet Apple toffee, clean sweet grains. Flavour is semi sweet grains, clean ferment, little sweet toffee, apple. Palate is medium full, sticky, highish carbonation. Good.
Draft at source. A strong citrus aroma of orange and kumquat. Light peppery notes. Some sulfur. Very clear pale Yellow with small head. Tate is mostly neutral malts and a hint of citrus hops. Light white bread notes with honey. A touch of alcohol in the finish. Decent.
Draught at Lagunitas, Petaluma. Clear deep golden liquid with medium white head. Aroma of citrus, tangerine, light grain, bread, biscuit and pine. Taste is very light sweet and light to medium bitter with notes of citrus, tangerine, bread and grain. Medium bodied with medium carbonation. Nice.
Sample on tap at the brewpub. Clear gold pour with thin white head. Aroma is malty, nice pils malt, light grass, light fruity boozy notes. Taste is grainy, nice fresh pils malt, reminiscent of some czech specialni’s. Palate is med-light bodied with good carbonation. Tasty stuff.
This is a magic Pils. So very good. Great look. Great taste. There might be be better, and I hope I taste it, but what more could you want. Fulfilment! 8.6 ABV. amazing..
Pours a crystal clear golden color with two fingers of white foam that laces nicely. Nose is a mix of cornflakes, honey, grass and bread. Palate is a bit more sticky than Id expect in a pils but considering its abv I guess this is what you get. Not quite into this beer... its like taking the best aspects of a pilsner and ignoring them. Sweet honey, bitter grass, sticky palate, meh ill let my wife finish this one.
Bomber as Lagunitas Imperial Pils, Alc. 8.6% by Vol. Clear golden yellow, firm white rocky foam settles and lasts. Grassy grainy pils malt aroma. Taste is initially quite strong, medium sweet grainy cereal malt, lightly bitter grassy floral hop, some citrus. Average carbonation, medium bodied, moderately hopped. LBW (Lagerboys Be Wary)
Bomber - Golden yellow with a thin head. Has a spicy pepper taste, fairly hoppy and crisp. The mouthfeel is sharp and and carbonated.
Appearance: Pours a crystal clear, yellow-hued body with a medium-small, white, foaming head.
Smell: Pilsner malts with a little oxidation showing and hoppy hints of citrus (leaning a little orange) and some herbal-toned hops.
Taste: Pils malt, still a bit sweet and still hinting at some oxidative sherry-like tastes. Citrusy, orangey hops, even, with a bit of spicy dried herbs and some bitterness to temper the sweetness upfront. Drying in the finish, though some sweetness does remain, and, when hitting those hops, touches on some orange marmalade.
Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied. Medium-plus carbonation.
Overall: I will always say taking a refreshing style and doubling/imperializing it does not make it twice as refreshing, but, still, it thankfully didn’t veer into an area that was too sweet, too hot or too gloopy in body. Still, I’d so much rather drink their basic PILS than then this.
Pale straw yellow with a thin head, not much carbonation. Some grassy wheat aroma, not too much going on in the nose. Flavor is clean with a bit of bready sweetness and noble hops. A touch of ethanol and funky butter round out the palate. Light, crisp mouthfeel. Pretty good.
Draft at Brixx Asheville. Pours golden with a thin white head. Has some lacing in the glass. Slight grassy note on the nose. Kind of boozy on the tongue along with some grassy notes. Finish lingers. Not really feeling this one.
Clear golden. Nose of herbally pine, citrus, and sweet golden malt. Tangy citrus and pine with more sweet pilsner malt. Light diacetyl. Lingering tacky bitterness.
22oz sharp shoulder type bomber pours with a crystal clear pure gold body that supports a fluffy cobweby dirty white head of foam. The aroma offers up cracker malts, estery pear and apple fruitiness, a dash of fussel like notes and then a big dose of floral and spicy hops. The taste begins rich with sweet near sugary malts, a blast of bitter yet somewhat malt sweetened floral hops and then pear to apple to honey sweet booze. Somehow I thought this would be more juicy hop extract forward but it’s not. It drinks ok though for a style a usually stay away from due to the over sweetness.
22 oz bomber pours a golden color with a nice white head. Aromas of cereal, citrus and pine. Medium bodied, nice beer
Pour was golden with nice white head. Aroma of cereal and grass. Flavor followed with some floral notes at the fore. Balanced. Finishes with body and some good carbonation.
From bomber on the Lagunitas label. Pours clear yellow with a one-finger white sudsy head that sticks around as a thin layer on the surface. Aroma of pine and some fruit. Taste is sweet and light fruits, some pine with grassy overtones. Moderately hoppy bitterness. A bit boozy - more than the 8.6% ABV would indicate.
Bomber. Imperial pils. (Not scare city label).
Sweet pale malt aroma.
Hay malt. Sweetness covers up most of what I don’t like about a Pilsner.
Very subtitle flavors. Extremely drinkable with a meal.
Tap bocktown. Hope this is the right spot, so many lag imp pils. Sweet pine aroma. Taste is quite an evolution; starts off fruity then goes to a hop punch in the face. Hoppy piercing bite sets in. More that the ol lager lovin taste buds can appreciate. Toowards the nd , there are volatile vapors mixed in the aroma.
Light yellow. Thin head. Aroma is like hop stupid, real nice for imperial pils. Sweet juicy fruits. Same in taste with light malts, smooth, slick. Really good for a style that can suck pretty bad. Greatly drinkable.
Draft. Pours a medium thick, well retained, white head, with Belgian curtain lacing. over a clear gold (SRM 5) body.....mose is moderate Pils malts, with cereal malts, sweet honey notes, mild herbal hops.......taste is mild floral honey sweet, with moderate cereal malts, mild hop spice, finishing with light hop bitterness.......mouth feel, medium body, light alcohol warmth, high carbonation. This is too sweet for the Pilsner family. Better attenuation would correct, perhaps requiring a yeast change or a raise in fermentation temperature. The hop bitterness is quite low for a Lagunitas confection. This is a nice variation on on the Pils type, falling somewhere in the general vicinity of a Golden Strong and a big Malt Liquor. BJCP 7/3/12/4/6
Bottle. Pours gold with a massive sticky white head. Loads of fresh floral hop aroma. Flavors of sweet malt, stone fruits, floral hops, and bread. Resiny hop finish. Somewhat sticky mouthfeel that subtly coats the mouth. A bit of alcohol warmth. Very nice. Rich, malty and hoppy. Much like an IPA, but with hallertau hops.
Aromas of orange candy, grass, slight booze. Clear burnished gold with a mostly lasting white head. Pretty dry, some caramel flavors, strong. Medium bodied, savory.
Appearance: clear pale gold with one fat finger of pillowy head, excellent retention and lacing. (5/5) Aroma: pale malt, grassy, stone fruit, floral. (7/10) Taste: moderate-high sweet, mild bitter. (7/10) Palate: light somewhat slick body, moderate carbonation, medium duration warming finish. (4/5)
Beefy beast of a pilsener. Starts off hoppy but that fades and it becomes a slick, hot malt bomb. On the up side, that means it can keep up with my Ratlami Sev snackies. (15/20)
Pours clear gold over a frothy white head yielding to some coarseness as it dissipated. Very bubbly. Grassy, esters, piney hops on the nose. Interesting taste, much maltier than I expected, some sweet fruitiness, plum, apple, even a little raisin...rounded out with hops. Good.
Yellowish with a white foamy head. Crisp and punchy with cereal and citrus, leading to a hoppy finish that is not too bitter or dry. Well balanced, but full and strong.