Stone 9th Anniversary Ale

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

Bottle (650ml). Shared with blankboy, GregClow, jerc, tupalev - courtesy of GregClow. Poured Poured clear reddish-amber with a large lasting foamy off-white head - nice lacing. Rich fresh resiny/citrusy hops, decent woody malt backing it - so far so good. Taste follows nose, a little more muted, longish linger, on balance more bitter but the malt keeps up with the evergreen hops. Moutfeel astringent, creamy, decent body. I like it - maybe a little unbalanced, but I like it.

Bottle: Hazy yellow with a thin white head, lemony citrus aroma with some piney hops, medium bodied with a slight alcohol touch, starts and ends lightly bitter, an odd interesting beer.

After much deliberation I chose Stone 9th Anniversary to be my thousandth rating. The logic behind this is somewhat complex and I’m not sure I can describe it properly w/o the appropriate diagrams. However, I will give you all hint and say it was the only beer in my fridge.

So here it is ladies and gentleman rating number one thousand:

*applause*

Oh, no you’re too kind. It’s really no big deal.

*applause*

Well, I do have a small speech prepared. I suppose I could say a few words...

First, I would like the thank myself because I couldn’t have done it w/o me. Wait for laughter. Oh shit! Did I say that out loud? Sorry, folks, I’m not much of a public speaker.

In all seriousness, I would like to thank my liver. He’s been through a lot and I do plan to keep him around for another four or five years until I can get a replacement a la Mickey Mantle. I’d also like the thank my parents, Hunter S. Thompson, your mom, Brett Favre for being a shitty quarterback and--more than anyone--the big dude w/ the beard upstairs.

I’d also like to thank the Ratebeer community. W/o you guys I’d be much less fat.

Now, about this beer: Well--I don’t know how or why this isn’t classified as an IPA here. I mean it looks, smells and tastes like an IPA. You can have wheat in an IPA. It’s OK. It doesn’t stop being a IPA.

That aside, this is a pretty tasty IPA. Good looking too--pours a crystal clear glowing orange (first pour) w/ a beautiful head that leaves an intricate multi-tiered web of lace. Big hops in the nose. I can’t pick out too many flavors but I’d call it vaguelly floral w/ some buscuity malt character to back it up (probably from the wheat malt--how about that?). The flavor is simple and malty more than anything w/ a bit of a crisp tart bite. It has a good full body w/o being overly sweet (it’s that wheat again--still an IPA). Finishes clean w/ a moderate bitterness that wanes to a lingering sweetness.

Golden color with a thick frothy white head. Relatively hoppy aroma. Rather sweet taste with some hints of wheat.

8-month re-rate -- This beer has aged very nicely. The aroma is a bit more pronounced and the hops aren’t as dominating as they were originally. A nice sweetness is now present that was lacking before. I’m not sure how much better this beer can get, drink it now.

Gold color with a good sized white head. Very little aroma, what there is if of pine. I’m not usually one who likes wheat beers (though in some senses this beer is almost a cross between a wheat beer and an IPA), yet as usual... Stone is able to pull off one that I like.

Pours a hazy orange hue with aromas of pine and wheat. Flavors of pine, wheat with a smooth lingering, bitter finish similar to an IPA. BLAS!!

Light and crisp but a with a fairly strong hop bite which is followed by a decent malt backbone. Interesting mix of a hoppy ale with characteristics of a wheat beer. Overall rather drinkable and fairly interesting offering from Stone.

Hazy orange body, medium off-white head. Big Amarillo hops aroma, citrusy, with a touch of pine, and bready malts. Bready, toasty, caramely body , light tartness, with plenty of grapefruit rind and pine. A touch earthy. In the APA "Harvest Ale" vein. Medium-bodied, rindy finish. This was well-made but it’s not quite my thing. The hops are already fading into biscuity malt, which makes drinking this ASAP a priority. Though I wasn’t overwhelmed, Stone continues to produce a quality product for a reasonable price.