Stone 10th Anniversary IPA

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

This starts with a strong smell of sweet grapefruit, and pours a hazy reddish-amber with a thin white head. Amazingly sweet for a DIPA, with a sweet caramel/vanilla flavor hiding there, with a nice hint of citrus. Now... if only this had come out more then just once.

3 Qt. 5.4 fl oz bottle. Oh yeah! This one does it for me. All the best in a DIPA. I thought I was going to be drinking an IPA (that’s what the bottle says), but one whiff erased that idea. Hops up the ass. Malts were caramely, hops smelled of herbs, pine and grapefruit, and the yeast of leather. Dates, brown sugar and smoke were in the background. Head was rocky, white, mostly lasting with excellent lacing. Color was a hazy tan/orange. Flavor started moderately sweet and acidic and finished acidic, bitter and a touch acetic. Palate was medium, oily/creamy and the carbonation was soft. It finishes just a touch astringent. Maybe because I was on a beach in southern Long Island and it was a perfect day with great food, but this was undoubtably the best beer I’ve ever tasted. I’m still picking this stuff out of my teeth.

Poured out of a 2 liter growler that was filled back in October, ’06 consumed 05/12/07.

The beer poured out slightly hazy with an orange-ish color to it and off white head. The level of carbonation has suffered over the intervening months. The aroma is thick – sweet – chewy pine hops with a rigid spine of sweet caramelized malts. The sharp pine hop aroma has really softened over the months. Behind that is a light dark fruitiness and some sense of the ABV. As it warms it smells more and more like a barleywine as the dark fruit notes grow with intensity. The flavor starts out smooth and seemingly flavorless, oddly enough. Then sweet pine hop flavor breaks the smoothness apart along with caramel maltiness and dark fruitiness. The taste stays kind of even to about midway. As the finish approaches the prune, date and plum fruitiness grows. At the finish the remaining pine hop bittering notes struggle to assert themselves. They have been render only a shadow of what once was.

Pours into the snifter a slightly hazy amber-orange color. Props up a 1/2" bone white head with admirable retention throughout the glass. Some minimal spotty lacing noted. As with most Stone ales the hops are king here. Crisp, tangy citrus and pine aromas waft up immedaitely to greet the nose. Some faint supportive notes of vanilla, flowers and light malts are in the background. Mouthfeel is fairly full-bodied and pleasantly creamy, smooth and round. Initial sip is all hops to the forefront. Lots of orange/grapefruit rind, pine needles and tropical fruits with a hefty lip-smacking bitterness. However, an appreciative appearance of semi-sweet caramel apple and malt cereal sweetness sneaks in to balance the hop blast out a bit. Finishes long, dry and cleanly bitter. In addition it is very hard to believe this is a 10%’er in the alcohol dept. It’s hidden beyond belief. An easy one going down at 10% for sure!

Stone Tasting in DC: Copper coloring, with a light hop aroma. Had a lot of belgian type flavors. Very unusual for a IIPA.

I sampled 2 bottles of this immediately after it was released, and found it to be a fairly messy beer, not at all crisp and hopalicious. So I thought I’d age one for a year or so and see how it trended towards a barleywine. I like it better, though I still feel it’s not up to par for the mighty Stone. Pale amber body, medium head, and a thick, heady aroma. There’s still a potent hop presence, to my surprise, but it’s more balance than previously, with a (very) sweet malt presence to the fore. But this thing is still too hot and indistinct to me.

Bottle. Pours a darker colour of the typical IIPA hue with a normal white head. Nose is malty with background hops. Flavor is very balanced, malty and sweet upfront as the bittering grows and peaks in the finish. The sweetness helps to mask the high alcohol. This was #3 in the 6 IIPA tasting. Thanks to Secret Santa for the bottle.

The piney aroma, sticky sweetness and full on bold mouthfeel make this what Ruination should be. Theres some oranges and honey flavors along with apricot and caramel. This beer really rocks and should be year round. No knock on Ruination but this rocks.