DayTime - Lagunitas Brewing Company

popery

California

4.58/5  rDev +13.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 5

Pale yellow, perfectly transparent. Rocky white head, slow to dissipate. Nice enough lacing.

The beer smells of hops, bright and fresh. Pineapples, lemons, mangoes, grapefruit, oranges, pine and a hint of grass - in that approximate order of strength. Little malt presence to be found. Very clean ale yeastiness in the background.

It's refreshing and flavorful, dry and crisp. Despite all of the hoppiness, the beer isn't very bitter. It focuses on more delicate, complex hop flavors over bitterness. The hop notes from the aroma show up on the tongue, and you just get a mouthful of bright fruity hop flavors. The finish has a gentle bite, and there's a lingering pine resin note. The malt is well in the background and very light, just a hint of sugary, doughy malt.

Mouthfeel is light, crisp and very slightly oily with hops. It feels bright and clean all the way down.

This is wonderful stuff, and I would love to see Lagunitas make DayTime into a year-round offering. Perfect for a long session - I've found a new Sunday football beer. It's very easy to drink and wonderfully bright with fresh hop flavors. DayTime seems like an apt name, as it feels like a sunny beer, if that makes sense. I'm loving this mini wave of session IPAs and hope to see it turn into a larger trend in the beer world.

Serving type: bottle

09-02-2012 04:50:38 | More by popery

ocelot2500

Arizona

4.1/5  rDev +1.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Pours a clear light golden color with a tight, white head that leaves little bits of lacing.

Smells of grassy, piny, and floral hops.

Tastes of the hops with a solid malt base. Hops lead off with the pine and grassy notes, but not a lot of bitterness. Malts come in with a bit of biscuit-like pale malt along with a touch of sweetness. Everything is pretty well balanced.

Mouthfeel is medium with a smooth amount of carbonation.

Overall, this is quite good and accomplishes the goal of having a tasty low ABV IPA.

Serving type: bottle

09-02-2012 02:15:55 | More by ocelot2500

draheim

Washington

4.1/5  rDev +1.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

12oz into a tulip. Pours a pale yellow w/ a bright white fluffy head.

Aroma is piney hops, juniper, orange, grapefruit, mango.

Taste is clean water, pale biscuity dry malt, and piney hops. Not as much tropical flavor as on the nose. Low bitterness.

Mouthfeel is crisp & refreshing. Light body.

Overall a highly drinkable session beer. Not sure I'd consider this an IPA, seems more like an APA to me. But tasty and enjoyable.

Serving type: bottle

09-01-2012 05:25:56 | More by draheim

TheSixthRing

California

4.15/5  rDev +2.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

Appearance - Pours a clear sunny golden color with a white, finger and a half head, good retention, resulting in a thin, consistent, sticky lace.

Smell - Strong notes of peach and citrus, with hints of bready malt aromas. Clean, fruity and sensational aromatic qualities.

Taste - More malt forward than the aroma would have one believe. Toasted bready maltiness backed by a fair amount of floral and citrus hops. Sweet orange. Pith bitters. Fruity esters. Good balance. Finishes clean.

Mouthfeel - Light to medium body. Moderate carbonation. Smooth and drinkable as hell.

Overall - Love it. I think it's miscategorized here, as even Lagunitas calls this a "fractional IPA" which, when combined with the character of the beer, tells me it's a lot closer to an APA than IPA. One hell of a session beer.

Serving type: bottle

08-31-2012 03:49:56 | More by TheSixthRing

wethorseblanket

California

4.1/5  rDev +1.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Bottle directly from the source courtesy of Luis - thanks so much.

A: Pours a clear slightly pale golden yellow with a 2-finger fluffy white head which lingers before fading to a small cap and leaving nice lace speckels.

N: Tremendous citrus (grapefruit and tangerine) up front along with a pungent dank weed-like note. Floral and tropical fruits with some caty spice and a bit of sweetish malt.

T: Floral with citrus zest and sticky resin. Trace sweetness and spice. This just calls for one sip after another.

M: Light body and moderate carbonation. A bit thin, but it's supposed to be, right? Crisp and mildly dry and bitter finish.

O: Easy drinking for sure. Very enjoyable.

Serving type: bottle

08-31-2012 02:34:50 | More by wethorseblanket

ArrogantB

Colorado

3.73/5  rDev -7.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

I was sort of excited for this because I knew it was fresh with a julian date of 234 meaning it was bottled on 8/21. That was nine days ago! Bright yellow, looks more like a lager or a very, very pale ale than an IPA. Good head, sticky lacing up the sides of the glass. Smell is super hoppy, mostly fuzzy peaches. Taste is also quite hoppy yet fleeting and touched by a bit of grainy malt. I don't want to say this is watery but it is very thin. Great for drinking during the day, getting your hop fix and not getting knocked out.

Serving type: bottle

08-31-2012 02:11:53 | More by ArrogantB

dmatsui

3.7/5  rDev -8.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Poured into a tulip from a bottle. The brew itself is a beautiful, light golden color and super clear much like a lager/borderline pils.
There's some nice carbonation streaming up the sides of the glass and there was a 4-finger fluffy, bone-white head that stuck around for a while and left some nice lacing. It's definitely an interesting looking beer.

Sweet, fruity hops dominate with a strong hit of Lychee and dank. There's a slight peppery spiciness in the nose, and a swirl really brings out a nice nuttiness. Very floral and grassy.

The nose is better than the flavor. There is a hint of some nice fruity hops for a few seconds before they bitter out and get lost in the malt bill which is in my opinion a little thin.
Maybe i'm just used to the earth-shattering hop slam you usually get from Lagunitas, but I feel like this one didn't really deliver.

I should note however that I'm really not much of a light beer drinker. I think Daytime is what Lagunitas was aiming for. It IS very refreshing and it's definitely good, just a very different offering from Lagunitas. I also like the fact that they're promoting daydrinking. This is definitely a functional/fractional IPA and would make for a decent session ale.

*** Note: A few months after I wrote this review Daytime slowly grew on me. Maybe it's the hot weather or perhaps an increase in day drinking, but I enjoy the freshness and crispness of Daytime. I get more citrus characteristics than I used to.

-10/22/12

Serving type: bottle

08-29-2012 20:17:42 | More by dmatsui

NorCalBeerBlog

4.73/5  rDev +17.1%
look: 5 | smell: 5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 5

Appearance: Pours a clear golden yellow with a fluffy white head and decent lacing.

Aroma: Light citrus and pine hop aroma and toasted malts. Smells great!

Taste: Pine and citrus hops (grapefruit galore) balanced well with toasted malts. A light, crisp, refreshing beer – tastes more like a Pale Ale than an IPA, but the taste is addictive. I'm ready to open another. It really is a Day Time beer.

Overall: I am certainly glad I picked up a six-pack of Lagunitas Brewing Company’s Day Time – A Fractional IPA. At 4.9% ABV I could see drinking a couple of these with lunch without a worry of being fully functional. The cost is a bit prohibitive at $9.99 a six pack. Something about low ABV beers costing this much is a hindrance, but if you want that GREAT Lagunitas flavor in a sessionable beer, this one is for you!

Serving type: bottle

08-28-2012 20:47:11 | More by NorCalBeerBlog

largadeer

California

4.33/5  rDev +7.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Appearance: Pale gold with a clinging white cap. Clear and bright.

Smell: Really damn dank. A ton of grapefruit and pineapple backed by a dash of marijuana. Spicy, faintly oniony. Malt is non-existent. Swirling brings out a papaya-like tropical fruit note. I'm guessing there's a bunch of Simcoe in this.

Palate: Light on the tongue but loaded with great hop flavors. Pineapple and grapefruit, pine and a touch of onion. A dry bready malt backbone is present and gives the beer some body, but this is a hop-driven beer, and the hop flavors are great. The finish is clean and mildly bitter. This is a great late hop addition showcase, very impressive stuff. Comparable to Drake's Aroma Coma, at a fraction of the price.

Serving type: bottle

08-28-2012 00:40:23 | More by largadeer

RblWthACoz

Pennsylvania

4.2/5  rDev +4%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

The nose on this thing is pretty intense. Before I poured it out of the bottle I was taking a whiff and getting some thoroughly intense citrus on it. This is what I remember Aroma Coma smelling like from the first batch (but unfortunately, not the recent 2nd batch). Flavor is good, in a very abrupt IPA kind of way. Hits the mouth hard with loads of hops. With such intense flavors, subtle tones do not really exist much.

This is a good beer. A sessionable IPA? Brewers need to be making more of these. A lot more. And while they're at it, they need to be making them this good.

Serving type: bottle

08-25-2012 19:25:37 | More by RblWthACoz