Stone 9th Anniversary Ale

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

Pours a hazy golden amber with an average light lacing off white head that went away rather quickly. Aroma is sweet citrus (mostly orange) caramel, some floral hops, very nice. Almost like a IIPA aroma. Flavor is grapefruit with a slight hop bitterness in the tail. Very similar to the other Stone IPA’s. Great hops with a nice malt backbone, very enjoyable.

Opaque orange, very thin lacing and soapy bubbles. You’d get a bit of head on it only after significant swirling. For something that’s been sitting a while in the cellar, it’s nothing unusual.
Speaking of unusual, the hop signature you usually get from Stone isn’t quite there in this Beer, so it came off as a bit of a surprise. Sure, the citrus and pine were there, but it was way more mellow, there definately had some cheezy element and some kind of corked character that I enjoyed. Another after-effect of the aging process? Perhaps.
Carbonation was just right to leave some room for the malt and to prevent the hops from taking center stage, but obviously they keep the leading role. The pineyness of the hops came out the most, another surprise for me as I’m used to more of a grapefruit finish, and there definately had some yeast action going on as well. It went down wickedly smooth and I enjoyed it. Note to self: keep aging your Stones!

Pours a bright orange-copper color, with lively carbonation, and topped by a frothy inch of white foam. Okay head retention, moderate lacing. Citrus and pine hop aroma. The very first sip stabs my palate with sharply bitter pine hops, but then it, um... (mellows is NOT the right word), it um,... let’s just say that it backs down a bit. Still very bitter, with tons of pine and a bit of citrus, just not quite as stabbingly sharp. Behind the hops is a malt profile that doesn’t exactly provide balance, but does provide ample body. As long as a hoppy beer’s not a thin hop tea, I don’t really care about the balance - I like the extremes. Then, in the finish, there is a little bit of licorice maltiness that I always seem to find (and enjoy tremendously) in Stone beers. Medium full body, soft but prevalent carbonation. Too bitterly hoppy to be called smooth, but the mouthfeel is fairly soft. Drinkability? While I can’t exactly say that I’d want another bomber of this TODAY, I’d sure love another tomorrow

bottle thanks to secret santa. pours a nice golden color. nice head. no lacing. aroma is citrus hops and malt very sweet smelling. taste is hops malt and orange. smooth and very refreshing. damn good

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!

Bottle. Hazy golden pour. This is like Gumball Head, but more hoppy, more body, a tad more alcohol. Hoppy citrus and pine aroma, with some banana and some esters. More of the same in flavor. Decent palate, and an easy drinker. The sad part of this beer to me is that I don’t see it keeping too well. Drink and enjoy while you have it - dont try to save it.

great beer starts off like lemony gummy bears and finishes like pine needles.....the alcohol rounds it out and keeps you from pounding this one.....while it is still quite refreshing.........nice

Piscator and I shared this for lunch on Friday with a nice sangwich from Quiznos. Almost orange in colour with quite a head on it. Very hoppy, and had quite a bite to it. The alcohol content forced me to have a catnap after lunch. Too bad I had to go to Anaheim to get this one.