Hoppy Stony Face Red Ale

Brewed by Hoppy Brewing Company
Style: Amber Ale
Sacramento, California USA

Stony Face Red Ale is a pretty clear red ale with a dense, splotchy, oily off-white head that has great retention and lacing. It has a bright, floral, spicy, wooden aroma. In the mouth, it’s smooth, creamy medium bodied beer with a crisp, dry finish. The flavor has really nice balance. The hops taste fresh and the malt tastes caramelly. It’s bold and simple. Good show.

22 oz from liquorama.com <P> The body is dark orange/red/amber and holds a fluffy off white head comprised of a legion of fine bubbles. It sort of collapses slowly rather than diminishing. <P> The aroma holds a lot of sweet malt with caramel, raisin, sweet breads and faint chocolate notes making a play and some very faint, but sharp, hop notes. <P> Fore is caramel, chocolate, dry fruit notes, some light riasin notes and a faint hint of tobacco. I started this a tad on the warm side, but I think it benitited from it if anything. It’s very lightly hopped for a West Coast Pale Ale and manages to be pretty damn refreshing. Definitely my kind of pale ale....the malt is the main player and it’s almost into christmas beer/brown ale territory in that regard. Nice.

32 ounce sample (-: from Woodstock’s Pizza in Davis, CA. Some piney, metallic hoppiness is present in the nose, but it was a little challenging to detect what else was in the nose due to such a high pour. Transparent dark amber color with a creamy light tan head. Wow. Creamy, lightly sweet, grainy, and VERY nutty. This is very smooth, milky, and a HUGE malt bomb. Beers like this show what a good grain bill can do to a beer rather than just throwing a shit ton of hops into a basic pale malt. Don’t get me wrong, those are sometimes good as well. There is a small spritzy, spicy, piney hoppiness in the finish of this. Very tasty stuff. It might have scored higher if I had a better vessel/pour to evaluate the aroma.

Some caramel raisin notes in the aroma. Solid red color. The flavor is very soda-like at first, with thin sugary coating tendencies. It definitely has some hops near the end, but they are short-lived. A pretty good beer overall.

The bouquet is...bananas? Pours a hazy red/amber in a half yard, going to a deep red at the bottom. Hops hit you in the first sip - strong cascade hop flavor. Pine trees. A little citrus finish.

From a 22 oz bottle this poured a color that was between amber and red. Beautiful tint. The head was off-white and huge and long lasting with big bubbles that settled very slowly leaving lots of lacing. Overall a very attractive pour. Nose was very rich roasted malts, with aromas of fruit and caramel, and some floral hops. Mouthfeel very clean, and flavor is a perfect balance between roasted malts and hops. Finish medium and slightly bitter and good to the very last drop. It was pretty apparent this is not an American Pale Ale. According to the brewer it is an American-Style Amber/Red Ale, By any name, however, it is an excellent brew and I will purchase again the next time I get a chance.

Bottle. Pours reddish-chestnut color with a medium beige head that dissipates quickly. Aroma is mild, sweet malts with just a hint of smokiness. Flavor is good, very sweet and malty, caramel and a light hoppy character in the finish. Full bodied and creamy carbonation. Reminds me more of an Irish Red, like the original Redhook Red Ale from the ’80’s - the one that hooked me on micros and craft beers. Good memories.

Decent cloudy dark amber color with a layer of head that disappeared quickly. Aroma has a strong banana feel to it (somewhat unusal) and some decent malty sweetness. Now, I really didnt get any sort of chocolate or caramel flavor here. I tasted much more of a sweet fruity, leafy texture in this. However, there was a fine crisp feeling that sparks off your tongue in the end of the mouthfeel, but still leaves a lingering banana and cirtus feel to it.