Stone 9th Anniversary Ale

Wow - Stone does it again! Picked up two bombers - don’t usually like wheats, hedged my bet with Stone IPA - wish I’d bought some more. This one’s like an over the top wheat/IPA or something. All the cloudiness and complexity of a good wheat, with the typical hops bite of a Stone. The alcohol comes through a little too clearly, but other than that, a VERY fine brew. Definitely gonna pick up a case or two for long-term appreciation.

The color is a mix of gold and orange, with a thick peach colored head. The aroma is apricot and hops. Medium to heavy body with a smooth, almost oily texture. The finish is a bit sweet.

Orange with a small white head. This beer is very hoppy, floral, lightly citrusy, detectable malt. A bitter but fruity finish in the flavor.

Pours a slightly less than clear yellow, through a bit richer than macroyellow with a thining white head. The aroma is a pungent with grapefruit and pine. Slightly sweet with a bit of graininess. This is really well balanced in the aroma. The palate is above average in terms of mouthfeel. A little fizzy, a little viscous and slippery, with a bit of warmth. The flavors are precisely in line with the aromas. Big pungent grapefruit and sharp pine balanced with sweet light malt, that might even be slightly cloying without the big bitterness. The flavors almost meld into an american style barleywine or IIPA, other than that though of graininess. Really a sharp clean bitterness as an aftertaste. I really enjoyed this brew and wish it weren’t just a one off!

Bottle from droopy49 (Secret Santa). Thanks! Pours a dense amber with a frothy head and eniticing lace. Aroma is sour malt and faint hints of rose. Flavor is a bitter malt with a hoppy finish. Thick and flowing mouthfeel. Great Strong Ale.

bomber. Aroma: Honey, grapefruit, slight pine, breadiness, sweet malt. Appearance: Amber and slightly hazed. Big, foamy, off-white head. Head diminished into a nice cap. Good lacing. Flavor: A nice sweet malt backbone with nice flavors of bread, caramel, and honey. Lots of complex hop flavors. grapefruit, resin, pine, floral, and grassiness. A slight alcohol flavor is noticed right before the finish. Finish has a nice bitterness to it. Palate: Medium bodied. moderate-high carbonation. Finish was dry. Slight alcohol warming left in rear of mouth. Overall: This was pretty good, but not as godd as I had hoped. I think alot of the subtleties of the wheat beer were overrun by an abundance of hop flavor. Not bad, but not great.

Amber with a smallish, foamy head. Myriad of hops in the nose. Bitter, citrus and bubblegum coming out at first. Caramel malts and a warming aroma. Bitter flavors of strong citrus and bubblegum. Candy like almost with some notes of caramel. The alcohol comes out a bit more here and it has an extra bitter finish.

Clear golden amber with decent white head, fades to ring of bubbles. Aroma is rather oxidized already, lots of cardboard and sweet malt. Don’t get any hop whatsoever. Flavor again slightly oxidized, with tons of sweet malt and little else. Rather unimpressed overall.