BOTW--Ruben and the Jets

Beer of the Week was on a bit of hiatus due to travel and other obligations.  Pleased to announce its return this week with Lagunitas Brewing’s “Ruben & The Jets”.

As noted previously, Lagunitas Brewing has embarked on an interesting project to release a beer upon the Fortieth anniversary of the release of each of Frank Zappa and the Mother’s of Invention’s records.  I had read that the beer called “Ruben and the Jets” was a “Stout” of some sort, so was kind of excited to try it.

Well, Lagunitas really prefers not to refer to their beers with traditional beer style nomenclature.  Which is probably just as well for a company that releases beer with names like “Brown Shugga” and “Hairy Eyeball”.

Ruben doesn’t taste much like a Stout to me.  Trying it, the first thing that came to mind was a darker flavored Barley Wine.  But that wasn’t quite it.  After a couple more sips, I realized the other beer it most reminded me of: Spaten Optimator.  At a bit over 8%, Ruben is a bit higher alcohol than optimator and also is a bit less malt forward in flavor.  It’s actually pretty good, though I would say a 22 ounce bomber is probably a bit much for 1 person, given the sweetness and ABV of the beer.

Put on some Zappa, invite a friend over, split a bottle, and freak out.