Lagunitas, the people that brought us the Kronic
Censored Ale, also produce a fine "Imperial Mild",
essentially an IPA. A deep amber in color, it pours with a lacy head. It
possesses a great fresh hop aroma, like mountain biking in the woods past a
brewery. There's an almost spicy tomato oregano character. Yes, biking in the
woods does not exactly smell like spaghetti and meatballs. It would seem each
wiff you get just a little something different. It's clear that it's imperial ale,
everything about it screams double.
According the label "We brewed this especially bitter ale in dedication to all the world's would-be astronauts, in remembrance of the 2005 St. Patrick's Day Massacre on the Brewery Party Grounds and also in joyous celebration of our 20-day suspension that following January. Do the crime. Do the time. Get the bragging rights. Cheers!"
So you might want to know the story behind the label. Well according to the most authoritative source in the whole wide world - the Internet - this is it.
The California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control thought the weekly parties that Lagunitas used to have were just too much fun. So they sent their agents in to 'investigate'. Now there is a government job I could handle. Anyhow it apparently took over eight weeks of said 'research' to determine that having fun with beer was bad. Granted they had apparently been looking for to write them up for serving intoxicated people, minors, you name it without much success. But as we all know the only state with a Governator is also the state where Sativa and Indica are household names. So apparently if you get caught in the Purple Haze the ol' California ABC can use old school prohibition era laws that prohibit running a "disorderly house" to bring you down which they did on St. Patty's Day 2005. Some say they could have been shut down for a year, but in the end they got 20 days, just what they need to get that new bottling line installed.
So anyhow it's a great ale. Thanks to beerinfo.com and brewedforthought for the info to put the above paragraph together.
