Stone 13th Anniversary Ale

Brewed by Stone Brewing Co.
Style: American Strong Ale
Escondido, California USA

22 oz bomber purchased mail order from Southbay in Imperial Beach, California. Pour is a hazed brown with light ruby and a one inch off white head. Aroma of big resin fresh dirty hops, some citrus peel poking through. Taste is really aggressive, totally abrasive resin hops. Some bitter dark cocoa in the back gives it some added character. A bit of perceptible heat in the dry bitter finish. Palate is medium, coats some, alcohol heat ends up not being too much. This is a very in your face beer.

22 oz bottle (finally got this in Alaska). Pours a clear brownish red with an off white medium head. Resinous hop aroma with hints of pine and citrus, there is also a sugary sweet scent in there too. The bitterness hits you right in the face then the sweetness creeps in somewhere in the middle and then the bitterness comes back with avenges and slaps you around like a bitch. Somewhere between a full and medium bodied beer with a mild carbonation and a thick oily mouth feel. This is a very bitter brew that finds a decent balance with the big 9.5% malt base. I’m just glad to see Stone still doing stuff like this.

This bottled brew from a bottle shop poured a large sized head of foamy fine to medium sized light brown colored bubbles that were mostly lasting and left behind a slightly hazy softly carbonated light brown colored body and an excellent lacing. The mild aroma was hoppy and brown malt. The semi-thick mouth feel was tingly at the start and at the finish with a strong vinous aftertaste. The strong flavor contained notes of malt hops caramel and vinous.

Pours a deep translucent amber into the glass, with an eggshell head that reduces to a thin cap, leaving suds lace. The nose is of floral and pine notes, with overtones of citrus and toffee. This epitomizes the ASA category, with a bold hopping of pine resin throughout a caramel upfront, some citrus (with heavy zest/rind/peel) in the mid-palate, and lingering biscuit notes with light alcohol warmth peppering the finish. The hops do shine forth throughout the pull, and are balanced decently with malty sweetness. This brew is highly complex, offering much to the palate, and has an oily mouthfeel with a full, rich body. Good ASA, and has made for a very nice nightcap.

Pour is dark red with a tan head. Strong aroma of caramel, and hops. A good strong caramel malt base with a good amount of piney hops. Creamy, resiny mouthfeel. Good balance of caramel and toffee malt characters with the piney and citrusy hop characters. Another bold beer from Stone.

the beer is a very dark red color in appearance. pored out in wide mouth pint glass and poured a very nice but gentle head. it was nice and foamy and lingered around the glass as it was consumed. it reminded me of the aragant bastard ale just stronger and more full bodied even though the AB is very full bodied. it was very hoppy with a very nice aftertaste that lingered happiness all over my tastebuds. it was an aggresive beer that stone brew is known for and they need to keep it up because aggression is what makes good beer of this style the best. great beer!!

Pours a darker amber color with a light tan head. Aroma is of toffee, caramel, floral and citrus hops with plenty of alcohol. Flavor has a pretty decent bitter bite on the finish. Nice caramel and toffee sweetness at first with plenty of citrus hops on the finish. Nice alcohol warming as well.

Bomber from Peete’s in Bellevue. Deep reddish brown body with a thin yellow persistant head and good lacing. Aroma is rather faint, of caramel, smoke, and alcohol. Very refreshing to drink. Lots of sweet malt, leather, grapefruit, and maybe hints of apples, cherries, figs. At the end there’s a slghtly tannic reminder on the back of the tongue and a warm whiff of alcohol in the throat. Could be the best Stone I’ve tasted.