Brown Shugga'

Tony Magee, the founder of Lagunitas, has a different outlook on his business.

He looks at it as a stream of consciousness. If you’ve ever read one of his rambling labels, that’s pretty evident, and he treats his beers the same way. The company's entire output has a natural progression, and when things get sticky, Tony rolls with the punches.

Magee has recently released a book titled, So You Want to Start a Brewery? As recounted in the book, Brown Shugga’ is the result of a last-ditch effort to save a botched brew. Lagunitas bought all the brown sugar employees could find in stores (200 pounds) and dumped it into the kettle to combat the ridiculous amount of bittering hops they had mistakenly added.

It’s not overly complex or bitter. The sweetness is like a multicolored blanket for your tongue. And you’d never know it was 9.9 percent -- although after a couple that puddle on the bar just might be your stream of consciousness.

– Jim Dykstra