Stone 9th Anniversary Ale

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

I went in with a completely open mind, really. It poured a slight hazy deep bronze color with thin sheets of whispy froth..the aroma had a ton of fresh hoppy notes intertwined with yeast, fruit, and more specifically dried orange. The mouthfeel was thick...starting yeasty, turning hoppy, then ending grainy. Well, guess what, the yeast..it sucks..as it always sucks..the strain they use here is complete garbage, in every freakin’ way imaginable. You know what though, I don’t really give a damn anymore, its a loss cause. BLAS! Basically, it tastes like a hoppy belgian wheat ale, but fermented with tijuana river yeast. Its to the point of syrupy...the hops they use are mangled with the autistic qualities of the yeast... BLAS!

Poured from 22 oz bomber 3/23/06. Clear golden color with a good head that lasts. Big hop aroma and favor. Light residual sweetness. Can’t taste much wheat, but the beer is a little tart. Medium body with a slight peach flavored aftertaste. Not bad

Bottle: Clear light copper color with a medium white head. Aroma is citrusy and bready, and not much else. Flavor had a light grapefruit taste to it, some tangyness, a bit of a spice to it as well. The hops were holding up pretty well after a year, quite enjoyable.

An immediate hop aroma. Pours a deep gold with just a tinge of orange and a ncie white fluffy head. A bittersweet taste of caramelly malt and hops. A sweet almost thick palate. A damn fine bitter end that grows.

Bomber. Pours a clear light reddish/orange color. Aroma is somewhat sweet and piney. Reminds me of an IPA. Slight candy aroma. A little yeasty as well. Piney and bitter right up front with some alcohol present as well. Tastes like a very dry IPA with a very bitter finish. Nothing at all special about this. I think they need to spend more tme on their brews and less on the mumbo jumbo on the bottle.

22 oz. bottle courtesy of a trade with jgd0608. Pours a cloudy peach gold with a moderate-large linen white head that lasted to the end and left substantial lace on the glass. Very pleasant aroma of grapefruit, oranges and apples. I was pleasantly surprised at how fruity and plentiful the hops presence was given the age of the bottle. The flavor is similar to the aroma with lots of grapefruit, orange and apples, however, this is eventually overtaken by the flavor of isopropyl alcohol, which carries to the end. Bitter at the finish. This would have been a 4.0 beer had it not been for the isopropyl alcohol flavor. Even with that, this is a very good brew.

bottle-thanks for foolish_mortal for hooking me up with a few of these. this is the first stone beer i have had to trade for. Living in NM for 2 years, we pretty much got the entire stone lineup minus the pale and levitation. I must say to start, this beer is better than 8th, even though i gave that beer a better rating. a big citric nose comes right at you when you first pour. those amarillos and crystals come screaming at you. I have to say, the amarillo notes make this smell quite a bit like gumballhead The orange and peach notes are huge here with some pineapple and lemon to mix. big citric flavors of orange, tangerine and lemon. there really isn’t that much bitterness here i must add. the beer is actually very sweet and reminds me of stone ipa. unfortunately, the alcohol is not well covered here and inhibits this beer from being great. not much malt here and no sign of wheat malt at all. palate is somewhat fizzy, but still full at the same time. long pineapple and orange finish. I like it!

Clear sparkling gold, creamy white head. Not a favorite of mine in the aroma department. Seemed to have a plastic tone early, but thankfully it faded just enough to detect notes of sweet grapefruit, sugared tropical fruit and melon, light pine, with subdued hints of lemongrass. Flavor up front was a boatload of citrus, slightly earthy, with wheat coming out late to dry out the mouth. Medium bodied, soft carbonation, hoppy finish. Stone is one of favorites, but this brew from them unfortunately is not...