Stone 9th Anniversary Ale

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

Rerate 11/13/06: Pours has a good amount of white foam. Aroma still has a health dose of citrusy hops. Body is somewhat oxidized but has good complexity of sweet caramel malt. Has lost some of its hop sharpness, and is probably past its prime. but is still quite drinkable.

Original rating 9/15/05: Pours a lightly hazy copper orange with a frothy and well-lacing white head. Nice fresh crisp hoppy aroma has some sweet crystal malt and grainy wheat. Body starts with a nice candy malty sweetness and good mild citrusy and piney hops. Finishes sugary, semi-bitter, earthy and lightly warming. An interesting and enjoyable beer.

Hazy orange beer with an off white head. Malty and fruity aroma with a light hoppy note. Sweet malty flavor with a hoppy and bitter finish.

The Lure:
Grapefruity hops and faint candy-like sweetness reign over some alcoholic minions. Frank, but somewhat closed-minded.

The Festivities:
Hot malts are felt but not tasted much, yielding an appreciable body and a few alcohol fumes. Pink grapefruit pith and doughy yeast combine for potent flavoring in yet another clean and intense Stone brew. This one just didn’t do it for me though, the result was too predictable and felt like a slightly dumbed down Ruination. A good brew yes, but not inspiring.

Transcendence:
These family traits are really striking.

An aged bottle rendered a well-balanced flavor profile in which biscuity and caramel malts played effortlessly with the floral and citrusy hops in a creamy, smooth mouthfeel. at 1.5 years old, this was smashing.

Bottled from trade with BBB63 - Thanks. Orange coloured. Unclear. Dense beige ehad. Sweet and caramelly aroma. Herbal and flowery notes and some citric pine. Flavour is herbal and sweet, almost soapy. Quite mild and mellow, but still with a very nice hopbite. Quite impressive a year after release. Some caramelly notes. Full bodied. Light bitter end, and a light alcoholbite as well. Very good one in my book, but Stone usually pleases my palate. Happy to have one more in the fridge, thanks to Sammy.

Pours a hazy amber with a thin white head. Smells of nice sweet citrus, dough, some bananas, lots of resin. Tastes of creamy malt and citrus with some peppery splashes. This is holding up very well!

22 oz bomber. Orange beer, thick yellow head. Creamy and sticky lacing. Beautiful tropical fruit and pine resin hops. Spicy and slightly orange as well. Great hop bill. Some light soft wheaty aroma underneath the assertive tropical/spicy hops. Flavour delivers the goods. Big bright tropical hops, strong citrus and a bit of pine. Soft creamy texture. Wheaty spice mingles with the spicy hops in the finish. Bitterness is present but surprisingly restrained. Lingering orange/tangerine flavour. The hops work well with all of the wheat in here producing a very tasty and original brew. Nice work.

Smells full of fruity sugars and light pine, over sweet pineapple and some mango as well. Very interesting aroma, sharp sweet sugary hops that resemble a gummy-bear scent, along with either a honey or a slight coriander aroma. These hops are goooooood.... overly sweet yes, but still delicious. Frothy, sweet, fresh tasting pine and some fruity clove flavors. Frothy and crisp.

Nice NW hop aroma emanating from this clear amber brew. The tall, solid dense head does some serious lacing as it dissolves. I’m not getting any wheat out of this well hopped ale, but that’s cool, since wheat ales (excepting hefeweizens) aren’t favorite styles of mine. Basically, this comes across as an aggressive APA, and I like that in a beer.

<font size=-4><a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/Places/ShowPlace.asp? Stop, Highland, IN<font size=-1>