Stone 8th Anniversary Ale

Formerly brewed at Stone Brewing Co.
Style: American Strong Ale
Escondido, California USA

Nice ruby red color. Chocolaty malt and pale malt cereal grain smell. Smooth mouthfeel and med. bodied. Great taste of chocolate and blackened malts. Very smooth finish, barely bitter at all. Incredibly easy drinking. Good stuff. 8305

On tap @ Stone Winter Storm 2008. Poured a mostly hazed amber with a medium sized foamy white head, light lacing. Nose of roasted malt, citrus, toffee, and slightly smoky. Had a medium body with a light tingle on the palate. Finish was clean and sharp.

On tap at Stone’s 2008 Winter Storm. Had twice, and rated twice unknowingly. It’s interesting to see variance in your rating over the course of two hours. First time: amber color. Slightly cloudy. Malty. Little hops aroma or taste. Easy to drink. Little carbonation 7,2,7,4,16:3.6. Second time: 7,3,8,4,16:3.8. Dark amber. Medium carbonation. Malty. Some oxidation. Some bitterness. Good. Little cloudy.

On tap at Stone Winter Storm. Cloudy brown with no head. Aroma roasty, chocolate, and citrus. Taste of choclate and orange, brown sugar, mild banana, roasty taste, and a crisp finish.

April 2006 - There is a lot going on in this beer. Poured a dark ruby brown with smallish head, but nice lacing. Aroma and taste was predominantly caramel. As it warmed, a whole lot of other flavors came out which balanced nicely...some smokey flavor, some chocolate and a little nut. This was a good beer, but it was a bit thin and weak. If only it were more rich, like the AleSmith Decadence, which I had right after this (similar but BETTER). This scores pts for me for being out of the normal realm of style. Enjoyable.

22 oz. bottle courtesy of FlacoAlto - Pours a dark amber color with a 3/4 finger thick light tan head which faded fairly quick. Aroma is doughy malt, lots of esters, and faint oak. Very Barleywine like. Flavor is toasted malt with some light roastiness, light esters, and faint oak. Medium body and fairly smooth palate. Would have like to have tried this when originally released. Thanks Sebastian.

Bomber sampled in 2008. Thanks after4ever! Pours clear reddish amber with a thin off-white head. Sweet, nutty aroma with a bit of fruit and oxidized apple. Medium body and light carbonation. Sweet toffee taste, raisins. The finish dries it out completely.

Bottle. Pours a somewhat murky brown with small tan head. Aroma a nice mix of piney hops and toffee from the malt. Flavor has more of the same, along with vanilla, some fruit and nuts, but for me most noticeably lots of luscious chocolate. Very well-rounded with all these flavors considering the still-strong hop background common for Stone. Mouthfeel was at times as creamy as an American strong ale can be due to the chocolate notes, but again, the hops still remain. Excellent brew.

Another go at this brew reveals an aroma still heavy with the chocolate and increasingly strong notes of dark fruits with a hint of coffee bean. Flavor follows suit and remarkable still has some hop bitterness, although certainly the dark fruits are about to override that completely. Came over to me as a mix between Arrogant Bastard and Southern Tier Choklat, as those chocolate notes are still something to marvel at. If I were to rerate this numerically, it would probably drop from 4.1 since I preferred the slightly hoppier, less malt bomb/dark fruit result of about a year ago, but I just don’t want to.