MAXED OUT: Lagunitas doesn't suck... at all

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Max mixing it up a little with some micro-brew folklorica.

What is new in the world of consumerism everyone? How’s the holiday
shopping going y’all? And an even more impending question, what did
you get me? NOTHING?!?!?!?! Well let’s change that, shall we? Oh,
and guess what December brings with it this year? My FINAL TWO on the TOP TEN BEST BEERS OF ALL TIME!!!!! But not just yet, kiddos. In the coming weeks I will be posting my final beer in the best other beers
(that didn’t make sense) and then comes THE BEST BEER OF ALL TIME!!!!
According to me, that is. I digress. Today I’m gonna give you a
little anecdote about this new beer that just hit the market and
should be a regular before too long here. Maybe.

So, have you all heard of a little brewery out of Petaluma, CA (the
Napa area) called Lagunitas? I worked side by side with these guys
for several years when I was distributing for Morris up in San
Francisco and the one thing that I can say about them is that they
are… how do I put this lightly? STONERS!!!! Every year they had a
party on April 20th, also known as 4:20, also known as the biggest pot
smoking day of the year. Shortly after they were shut down due to an
undercover raid of their “4:20” party, they came out with a beer called
Lagunitas Undercover Investigation Shut-down Ale. This American
Strong Ale is 9.7% in ABV, and was meant to slap the cops that had
nothing better to do than send out a HUGE undercover investigation
about them allowing weed smoking at their brewery. Let me start, or
middle, by saying that I am not a fan of the sticky-icky. But, really?
A full-on undercover investigation for YEARS that led to a two day
shut-down of the brewery? Great use of taxpayers dollar dollar bills,
y’all.

So, these stoners make a beer once a year called Brown Shugga. This is also an American Strong Ale coming it at a whopping 9.99% ABV and
kicks you square in the teeth. So the story goes, this year they
totally forgot to make this beer. That’s right, you heard me. They
just straight-up forgot to brew the beer. When these guys finally got
off their bongs and figured out that they had seriously effed up, they
scrambled to come up with something to put in its place.

IPAs do NOT take a long time to ferment. Basically you throw the
beer in a keg, and three weeks later you are ready to rock and roll.
Lagunitas Sucks Holiday Ale is a 7.85% IPA that does anything but
suck. It kicks much ass. The rest of the story is that since they
forgot to brew Brown Shugga, they decided to call whatever beer they
made “Sucks.” Dean and I have had this debate several times. I
really do think that they are just a bunch of stoners that forgot to
brew one of their more popular beers. Dean thinks that they are just
marketing geniuses. Either way, this beer is one that you should
definitely check out. Such a nice dank, grapefruit, west coast IPA.
The best IPA that Lagunitas has ever brewed. I implore you to pick up
a 6-pack. If you can find it.

Look it up kiddos. Let me know what you think. Do you think that
they just forgot, or is this just another marketing ploy by the
“geniuses” at Lagunitas? I’m not entirely sold either way, but am
willing to hear arguments for both parties. Comments below, email,
facebook…. You know the drill.

Until next time my beer loving brethren, have a beer for me.

(ed. note: They may be stoners but knowing Lagunitas as we do as opposed to the manner in which Max knows them, we're not buying it. Despite their rep, these guys are just too savvy and brew such great beer for us to believe the "duuuuuude... like we just got totally bombed and forgot, man" excuse. Sorry, not buying it. As for the beer itself, it's our favorite beer right now. Hands down. We snagged the last sixer from KnB Wine Cellars and it was on tap at Hoffer's twice in the last few weeks but only for a few days each time such was its popularity as the clientele blew right through it as soon as it went on.)