Sexy all around.

Get hoppy. Hoppy birthday to us. Hoppy hoppy, joy joy. Hoppy days. Hoppy town. Hoppy as a clam.  OK, some of these are better than others, but a lot of them come to mind when you delve into an American wheat ale that happens to knock your socks off and give you a mad case of hoppy feet. See what I did there? Yes, I’ve grown to love IPAs just as much as dark beers, and finding a beer loaded with hops is always a delight (if it’s done correctly). So when I saw a lot of chatter about some American wheat beer from Lagunitas actually tasting more like an overloaded IPA that had gone on a wheat bender, I decided to dive into the Lagunitas Little Sumpin’ Sumpin’ Ale to see if all this talk about a hop blast would book me a one-way ticket to happy town. See what I did there? You thought I was going to write hoppy, didn’t you? Well, just like this stupid paragraph, the beer took me for quite a wild ride.

I will be the first to say that pale ales, wheats, and pilsners just don’t really do it for me. I’m usually looking for more punch and flavor in my light beers, and more often than not, they come back a little light and empty. I was worried that I was getting the same exact thing from Little Sumpin’ Sumpin’ when I poured it and saw that it was very filtered and a usual crisp, golden-amber color that could have been flavorless for all I knew. The smell, however, indicated any talks of extra hops were now well into the discussion. A hurricane of sharp piney, citrus, and rosy hop flavor almost knocks the nose off your face. The taste couldn’t come fast enough, and it didn’t let me down either with a crisp and refreshing blast of flood water infused with orange and other citrus fruits that produced a really good wet hop flavor. The bitter touches up front lead perfectly into that hop deluge. I really had to search for a wheat flavor here, and really never found any. Maybe my beer was a  bit too cold to recognize it, but this is an IPA in a pale ale’s body. But what a sexy body it is.

I can’t say Lagunitas has ever steered me wrong when it has come to beer, and with little surprising treats like Little Sumpin’ Sumpin’, I see no reason to forgo my love for the brewery despite the dominance of hops in a so-called wheat beer. It’s also surprisingly drinkable and would serve as a really good transition beer for anyone who thinks lesser IPAs are starting to tire the palate. Either way, at 7.5% ABV, this beer will hit you with both a wallop of hops and a slight blast of alcohol to create the perfect storm of hop perfection. Hoppy drinking. I won’t do that again. I promise.