Stone 10th Anniversary IPA

Formerly brewed at Stone Brewing Co.
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Escondido, California USA

Bottle. Poured copper in color with a creamy tan head that left nice lacing. Sweet aroma of malts and pine. The flavor has that great grapefruit and pine IPA flavor backed with caramel and light floral. Starts sweet up front then has a bitter ending and aftertaste. Medium body and smooth. Very nice! (Rating from June ’07)

Pours a dark gold body with thin tan head. Very sweet, almost syrupy up front with dry grapefruit on the back end. Maybe a little grassy hop left, but for the most part the hops have dissipated. Big malty brew. This was probably incredible fresh, for now its pretty darn good though.

20061007 Tap at Kennett, also multiple bombers. This one hasn’t really done it for me except for the very cool bottle. Lots of piney, resinous, but somewhat armpit-ish hops are dominant. A bit tending toward the thin side for such a big beer, and maybe too dominant hops throughout are distracting. Sweet without backbone to hold it up...I remember first trying big SoCal iipas and thinking that I’d never grow into them and this beer reminds me of those days. Seems all about the bitter and not quite enough about the beer. Still, for a big sucker it was worth a few tries and not one to kick out of bed if seeking a big C-hop fix.

A March Madness ’08 beer, courtesy Fordest. Pours a lightly hazy, medium orange amber. A frothy, bubbly, cream colored head shows good retention, leaving thick swaths of lacing all the way down the glass. The nose is quite malty at this point, with huge notes of caramel and buttery toffee coming through. Citrusy and piney hops are bold, but clearly aren’t what they were when they were fresh. Some whipping cream adds a sweet, feathery element to the aroma. Alcohol is quite detectable. Flavors are very barley wine-esque now, with the buttery toffee malts having taken over what was clearly once a massive hop profile. The medium-full, syrupy body is somewhat prickly and hot on the way down. Finishes with long, resinous hop notes. I would love to have had the opportunity to try this one fresh. As it stands, its a pretty solid IIPA/barley wine hybrid. Another solid brew from Stone.

on tap It is like a barleywine now...the hop flavor has decreased so much that the malt flavor comes out so much more now...... it is a decent barleywine now......bot great....way better when it was fresh....the hop flavor was so good

Amber with a small white head. Sweet and fruity tones. Sweet fruits and malty taste. Full body with a nice, balanced finish.

A heavy IPA that’s great. Amazing hop flavor that shows they’ve improved on their quality.

Bouteille 650ml, courtoisie de Blankboy. De couleur ambrée et voilée. Nez malté de caramel sucré, de houblon résineux et légèrement citrique (pamplemousse), fruité (agrumes, pêches, notes d’abricots), moyen d’alcool et avec des notes de biscuits. Moyenne-ronde en bouche avec un pétillement moyen et une texture riche, résineuse et léger-moyen crémeuse. Goût moyen-amer de houblon résineux et légèrement citrique (pamplemousse – une amertume présente toute la gorgée) accompagné d’un goût fruité (agrumes sucrées, léger de pêche et d’abricots) lors de l’entrée en bouche auquel se rajoute un goût malté de caramel assez sucré (léger de toffee et quelques traces terreuses) avec des notes de biscuits et de pain. Parallèlement, l’on retrouve un moyen goût d’alcool réchauffant jusqu’en finale, oû l’on assiste également à un regain d’amertume asséchante de houblon légèrement plus citrique et herbeux. Post-goût long et moyennement sec, moyen-amer de houblon résineux, moyennement citrique et légèrement herbeux, d’alcool doux et légèrement fruité (zest d’agrumes).