Lagunitas Willettized Coffee Stout

Review Date 5/31/19   Last Updated 5/13/2020  By John Staradumsky

Recently, I found myself in Laughlin, Nevada, and I enjoyed a few pints of Lagunitas IPA at Don Laughlin’s Riverside casino. That’s about the closest I’ve ever enjoyed this iconic brew to the source (well, the original source anyway as there is now a second source in Chicago). It was also a bargain at $4.25 a pint. Lagunitas beers have been historically reasonably priced, and that’s true of the one I’m here to talk about today: Lagunitas Willettized Coffee Stout.

Lagunitas Willettized Coffee Stout was also a bargain at $7.99 for a bomber bottle. The label says the beer is aged in rye oak barrels. It also says:

From our friend, the Kentucky distiller J.D. Willett himself, a man of few words, 'We have one type of barrel: Wood. And we put two things in 'em: Rye and Bourbon." We scored some of J.D.'s scrutable casks and put one thing in 'em: beer. The taste tells. It's good to have friends! Let us know what you think.

Lagunitas Willettized Coffee Stout has an alcohol content of 12.9% by volume. That’s hefty friends. The price is not. I drank my bottle on January 17th of 2019. I went to Laughlin in May, but had not penned this review yet. Obviously.

Lagunitas Willettized Coffee Stout pours to a jet black color with a thick creamy tan head and a wonderful nose of roast and spicy rye and wood. Taking a sip, the beer is lovely with dark roast, spicy with rye toast, and woody in a splinter in your tongue sort of way. It finishes roasty and boozy and warm with alcohol. Magnificent!

I should have bought another bottle of this, a release in the 2018 OneHitter series. Please bring it back Lagunitas. It’s that good!

Update 5/14/2020: Well, well, Lagunitas. Thanks for listening to me! A year and a half later and I am now sipping a 12-ounce bottle from the 2019 One Hitter Series (how can it be a One Hitter if it’s back again? Not that I am complaining mind you…). This year, Lagunitas Willettized Coffee Stout pours to a jet-black color with a light creamy tan head and a woody coconut nose. Taking a sip, the beer is big and beautiful with thick chocolate fudge notes, coconut, wood, and boozy bourbon warming alcohol finish. It is quite different than last year, with robust coconut here that I did not remark upon last time, but not really a lot of rye. A little espresso presents itself, but neither this year not last do I get that in abundance.

This time around I got a 4-pack for $13.49. It is still sold in bombers, but now at $9.99. The 4-pack is much the better deal at $.28 an ounce, and allows me to age a bottle for a few years. I’ll be back to report on that when the time comes-or earlier, if I get some of the 2020 release.

And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box.

*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.

(B)=Bottled

(D)=Draft

 

Try?

Rating

Home

     

Re-buy?