Stone 9th Anniversary Ale

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

Not too bad, it was not as wheaty as I had expected, Sure didn’t look like a wheat. Classic Stone hops made it bitter in the end. I had it on cask and filtered from the keg. I actually liked it on the keg better, seemed crisper and more balanced. Not too bad.

Cloudy orange body with a good sized head. Granted I poured it like a jackass, but after having Stone’s 8th just prior... I had to test it. Aroma is hops.... grapefruit and citrus. Flavor has the hops... but also some alcohol. Grrr. It’s an American Wheat with a lot of hops. Nothing like Ruinition (thank god!), but enough to make it interesting and different. It could really use some refinement though as it felt a little off balance. Very drinkable, but kind of a mess with the jumble of flavors and the alcohol taste in the background.

Bottle: poured a deep golden yellow, almost orange with a full, somewhat fizzy head. Big aroma of caramel, malt with a touch of citrusy hops. Flavor and body was full with a good bit of hoppiness and some sweet malts. Moderate sour finish. A nice beer.

Lucid translucency and polished copper-orange in color with a creamy, bubbly white head and a lacey/doily wrung around the edges. Aroma is intense. Honey, nectarines, basted maple, nectary apple fig neutons, apple butter, candied apricots and caramelized wheat. Certainly has no lack of originality. Caramelized bitterness sweeps in and leaves honey dipped willow wheat in its wake. Melding honey glazes meander between the smacking action of the tongue to mouth. Honeydew and nectar drizzles underlie the persuasive background sweetness. Rough spun sweet rolls and sourdough combo. Creamy vanilla blossoms sweetly serenade the backend while a thick, tight viscosity preoccupies the palate. Sweet wheat, honey and caramelized malts stand up to the American hop brigade. Finish is a bittersweet symphony at its most dramatic maturation. Butterscotch tones and a spicy flair from the hop activity collide with caramel drizzles along sweetened oat flakes, and then it’s sprinkled with a couple crumbled hop pellets as an ever lasting signature. Licking the chops post mortem brings out salty, baked rye sourdough pretzels. It’s a West Coast IPA cut loose in the prairie lands (not that I’m trying to define it; I’m just trying to wrap my mouth around it.)

Light amber with a thin head. Smells caramel sweet with a touch of spices. Smooth med.body. Taste mjrrors the smell with a hoppy bitterness to finish. 61006

Sampled at Mr Owenby’s halloween party. He liked it perhaps a geek in the making. The aroma is full of pine, bananas, lemons, and gensing. The flavor is more bent toward a pale ale than a hefe IMO. Some lemons and banana show up with a piney orange taste as well. I enjoyed it.

from a bottle.caramel pour with a sticky grey head. floral and pine dance in my nose. oh the visions. if only this wasn’t a bad anniverary personally, but fuck it. i’ll enjoy it anyway. lime scent mingles with the hops in a glorious dance. wow this bastard is hoppy. really bites my tongue, but pain is good today. more lime with strong grapefruit flavor too. there is some sweetness on the ass end that tries to balance this monster out, but fails. i can not taste anything wheat like, but i could just be a jackass. lingering pepper and dandelion flavor in the finish, but the hops keep going. i’m going to lay one down and see what happens in about a year or so.

Bottle from crown liquors 15 in fishers, in. Just about clear gold with thick pillow esque head thick lacing. Funky hop aroma with similar taste with a bitter finish. This beer held up extremely well. has a doughy finish almost chewy.