Stone 9th Anniversary Ale

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

Beer pours an attractive apricoat color with a well retained off white colored head. Aroma is delightfully hoppy with a bit of spiciness. Flavor is unique. The initial, enjoyable hop bitterness is followed by a quirky, strong bubblegum flavor that seems a bit over done. There is an enjoyable spiciness that is overwhemed by the bubblegum flavor. Good beer, just not up to the standard Stone set with its 6th and 7th Anniversary beers.

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.

Slightly herbal nose with some mustiness and sour apple. Beautiful golden in appearance with a huge head and oozing lace. Crisp and sharp flavor, lemon with bread, not real yeasty, with some perfumy hops. Thickens as it warms. Interesting…

Bottle courtesy of <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/ViewUser.asp?U target=blank> mds, thanks Mike. Light orange-amber in colour, lingering large off-white head, nice puffy lacing. The aroma was of generous amounts of hops (oranges, pine), some caramels malts, light sweetness. The flavour was again hoppy, lots of oranges citrus, caramel sweetness, creamy. Chewy dry mouthfeel, medium body, medium carbonation. Finishes bitter and dry, lingering. Quite nice.

22oz bottle. Glowing golden orange color, white- tan head with lacing. Aroma starts out spicy and bready, fresh and spring-like with some juicy hops coming on midway through the sip.

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.

Tried again and gave the exact same rating. Dark gold and orange body. The head is fluffy and white. The aroma is righ with flowers, orange peels and prunes. There is a nice hops presence here. There is also an herbal quality that is hard to pin down. The taste is nice and rich orange peels with some old toffee candy. There is also a hint of dry hay that comes in after the initial fruit sweetness. I like this one a lot and imagine it would smooth out nicely with a little age.

Bottle. Pours a gorgeous amber with a fluffy manilla colored head. Nose is big hops - piney and laden with citrus. Light wheat notes to this and mild sweetness as well. Taste is big hops as well, lots of lemon, lighter pine, wheat, light yeast, chewy malts and a bit of fruit notes - orange, grapefruit and perhaps a bit of sweet, ripe tangerine. Body is medium-full with moderate carbonation and lingering hop bitterness. Finishes with a big hop splash and more citrus notes. Lighter pine, more wheat, some lemony tartness, faint yeast notes, and lighter fruitiness. Pretty good!