Review: Lagunitas Wilco Tango Foxtrot

Now for a quick review of a beer I picked up at Spec's in Houston.  This one is the Wilco Tango Foxtrot imperial brown ale from the Lagunitas Brewing Company (@lagunitasbruhws) checking in at 7.83% alcohol.  I've long been a fan of Lagunitas because they are some of the cheaper bombers to come across when browsing the beer aisles in Spec's.  According to Lagunitas it was intended to be a follow up to their 2009 Correction Ale called the 2010 Recovery Ale, but... well... the economy hasn't really recovered, so they went with the Wilco Tango Foxtrot, a rather obvious play on words/abbreviations.  Good name for a beer, in my opinion! 

For this one I poured from a bomber into a pint glass... it's a clear copper color with about an inch of slightly off-white head. It has great retention with a little lacing.

The first hint on the aroma is mild hops, then a warmth of caramel malts and booze... very nice.  The taste is more of the same... maybe a little less hoppy than the aroma but the malts aren't on top either. The boozy alcohol flavor doesn't come through as much as on the nose.  This is definitely a good example of an imperial brown ale, a style that isn't defined on BeerAdvocate.  I've tried one other imperial brown ale recently, the Tommyknocker Imperial Nut Brown Ale, and it also impressed me as a malty high alcohol brew.

Feels good on the tongue... pretty damn drinkable for a relatively high abv beer. It's not the best beer ever, but still tasty and one I'd recommend on a beer run to our neighbors to the West.  Pick up this one and some others from Lagunitas and you will not be disappointed.

My Rating: B+

BeerAdvocate: B+

Brown Ale