Stone 9th Anniversary Ale

From tap at Stone Bistro. Pours hazy to cloudy yellow with a lacing white head. Mild fruity hops aroma. Flavour is grapefruity and smooth, not as sharp as this normally gets. Good balance to the malt too. Smooth and refreshing hoppy finish.

~RBSG ’08~

On tap at Stone. Pours a murky golden copper color, with a small white head and frothy lacing. Aroma has some bitterness, although I wouldn’t describe them as hops. Hard to describe at all. Flavor has some distant hoppiness, creamy malts, caramel, and that same interesting bitter component. Start is bitter and sticky, somewhat oxidized maybe? Interesting, but not too sure what I just had.

RBSG on tap. Very light color with not a lot of aroma. The remarkably big flavor was a suprize that took my mouth completely off guard. A huge flavor for such an unassuming looking pour, when compared to the other anniversary ales. It was fruity and crisp, while being full and round at the same time.

Bottled at Petalax Beer Festival. Hazy golden, rich but brief head. Perfumy tropical fruit aroma. Sweet and soapy with medium to full body. Flavour of pine needles, bubbly esters and alcohol. A bit sweet with Belgian style fruit yyeastiness, Bready syrupy finish with long bitterness. Has that clean, biscuity streamlined typical Stone-style mouthfeel and a juicy concentrated flavour, even though the hop freshenss is lost in this one.

Bottled. Golden colour, mediumsized white head. Aroma is tropical fruits, hops, some grass and alcohol. Flavour is hops, sweet malts, mild alcohol and then caramel malts with some grassy bitterness in the finish. Nice brew!

(Bottled, 0.66l) Very hazy golden with a medium, lacy head. Cardamom, citrusy-aromatic hops, pale, grainy malt in the aroma. Pale-malty, very aromatic-hoppy, grassy, slightly honeyish, very grainy, a bit alcoholic flavor. Medium body, quite low carbonation. A very malty American Strong Ale with pleasant hopping.

Rating from notes. Tap at Mugs. Very enjoyable flavors of hops and wheat. Some thick breadiness, nice body. Big head, larger bubbles. Some dark fruit skins maybe give a dry touch at the end. Very interesting.

22oz bottle. Never had this one fresh, but it seems to be developing along quite nicely. Juicy and fruity hops along with a good dose of thick, doughy and caramel malt on the nose. Apricots and tangerines backed by a whackload of bready malt. As the beer opens, the hops fade a bit and a more drying, cracker malt characteristic takes over. Still inviting, though. Pours a hazed peach skin/orange with a decent sized white head leaving light spotty lacing. Still a fair amount of bright and bittering hops on the palate. Slightly floral with your requisite grapefruit notes. Cracker and toasted bread crust to balance out the hops. Some light bubblegum sweetness and lemon peel tartness as well. Bordering on full bodied with lively carbonation with a lengthy dry and bitter finish. Stood up to age quite nicely, methinks. Thanks Mike!