Stone 6th Anniversary Porter

Formerly brewed at Stone Brewing Co.
Style: Imperial/Strong Porter
Escondido, California USA

I like the beer. But I agree, perhaps a bit too hoppy. For perfection, anyway. It's well matched by a huge roasted maltiness, and by the end of the bottle, with the concomittent softening of brain cells, I have very warm feelings for the drink. No grim reaper, but maybe a ride with ET on his bicycle through the fields of hop flowers, before landing in a burnt grain silo. Worth cracking open.

The Grim Reaper with his problem-solving, grassy hop sickle gradually shears the skin off of your tongue...Almost all you can feel in a few minutes is powdery chalk...The flowers he graciously hands you for grieving (yet with a big, teethless grin) are dry, bitter/sour and bereft of perfumed petals...But to make this experience bearable (he’s a classy dude after all), he covers you in aromatic, sweet chocolates and the GrimMother’s clove-laden molasses...An incredible experience, but not to be lived too often...

A 2 1/2-year-old bottle showed some more balance between the fragrant/bitter hoppiness and the roasted malt/molasses. Not as intense, but as enjoyable, nourishing and well-brewed.

this beer is difficult for me to rate. very attractive - almost black with reddish hints. however it seemed over hopped and a little strong for a porter. don't get me wrong, though, I thought it tasted quite good, just not what I expected

Very very roasty porter with creamy chocolate hints. Along the lines of Fuller's London Porter, but to put it simply, moreso in every regard. However, strengthening beers does not always make them better and I think something is lost occasionally in the translation. This beer was a dark, dark brown with tinges of ruby amber. Small but substantial head. Flavor was primarily chocolate and raisins (raisinettes?) with tinges of smoke here and there.

Very dark burgundy. Aroma shows roast, coffee, hazelnuts, light smoke. Palate also has some subtle smoke, lots of dry hoppiness, good roast character. Light creaminess comes in late but there's another flurry of hops as well. A few less of those would do well. More of a foreign stout IMO.

Dark brown, tan head. Nose is roast, roast and a little more roast. Expectedly the body is very roasty with licorice conotations. Alcohol is prevalent and finishes with a subtle hoppiness that is barely discernible over the bitter roastiness. The roastiness comes with a touch of mint that is quite welcome. Although I doubt this is very much a porter, I did love the roastiness, I could feel it in my mouth for the next few beers.

Nice black pour with a dark tan head. Lovely warm chocolate and coffee nose and tones. Really really great. Definitely the best beer we had while on our trip to California.

Already very traditional/characteristically landmark of Stone - hopy spruce -juniper aroma. Honestly this brew was not really to the full extend porter like. Not to thick, high oh hops that worked out nicely. Very specific to the West Coast, interesting, different.