Sunday, the last day of summer, it was raining.
But Mrs. ‘Naut had a simple wish for her birthday dinner: grilled hot dogs. Well, that and a cake from Jewel (she now prefers their whipped cream frosting to the buttercream).
So somewhere between the raindrops, I got out to at least take a picture of the latest beer that has been sent to me by the brewer for my comment. To keep with my “beer by the grill” theme. Then I went back inside to drink it.
Lagunitas Hazy Memory is part of their “OneHitter Series,” and the first I’ve seen to come out in a can. It is, no surprise, a hoppy IPA, but with oats in the malt profile and a bit of wheat., plus, they say, other cereal grains intended to cause haze. The hops are Loral 291, Hallertau Blanc, Australian Galaxy, and Citra. The beer is 8% abv and 55 IBU.
There is pine and resin in the nose as soon as I pop the top of the can. It pours a hazy orange color, under sudsy head. The nose adds a bit of mango and passion fruit once it spreads out in the glass.
The taste shows a beer with more complexity than “yet another hazy IPA.” There seems to be some caramel roast malt at the front, side by side with the tropical fruit of the Americanized hop profile. Since this is not filtered, there seems to be a bit of still fresh yeast, and a slight touch of sour, perhaps from the wheat malt.
The beer is nice and warming, with the pine aroma not as pronounced as it was in the initial nose. It’s a bit juicy, but not overly sweet, so there are also some bettering hops matching the malt and fruity hops.
