Stone India Pale Ale (IPA)

Brewed by Stone Brewing Co.
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Escondido, California USA

Pours a nice hazy golden amber with a thick, buttery, fine-bubbled head. Aroma is hoppy to the point of being piny. Flavor is rich and seriously hoppy, pleasantly bitter and evergreenish with just a touch of caramel sweetness. Finish is edgy and lively. A hop lover’s delight.

12 fl oz bottle from BOTW (Rochester), served at cellar temperature in a tulip glass. SE04/08.

App.: Deep golden, clear, fair white foam. Aroma: Really sweet orange, blood orange, grapefruit, pine hops that has some grass and pepper notes, a bit fruity. Palate: Medium body and carbonation. Flav.: Much like the nose – lots of pine and citrus notes, light caramel; somewhat fruity; kinda sweet and fairly bitter with light hops in the aftertaste.

Decent but not mind-blowing.

Pours a cloudy orange color with a thick white head that disapates in a few minutes. Smells and taste of a decent amount of hops. A solid IPA. 12 oz. bottle

Bright hazy orange, wispy tendrils of yeast(?) extending down the glass; frothy eggshell white head. Citric hop oil aroma. Floral citric hop flavor on light pale malt base. Cascade for the most part. A little one-dimensional but still tasty and very drinkable.

Bottle. Wow, this is good. Hoptastic aroma. I want to bathe in this. Taste is amazing. Heavy hops, but not totally unbalanced. Very quenching. I could drink a few, and that’s what makes a great beer.

Draft. Very good hop aroma. A golden hue in color. Flavors of grapefruit and orange are prominent. A nice bitter finish. Very fine IPA!

Amber in color with a tiny, off white head with little to no lacing. The aroma is of citrus, hops, and caramel. The flavor is very hoppy and bitter throughout with notes of citrus and an orange peel finish. The palate is syrupy. Overall I’d say its a good IPA, not as good as Stone’s Ruination IPA, but nothing to be scoffed at. Very enjoyable.

Bottle. Found at Tyler’s Bottle Shop. Pours a clear gold with moderate carbonation and a medium, white head. Pretty much all around the Ruination times 0.5. Even though I enjoy it a little less, in terms of everyday drinking this is more palatable. The hops insanity is very much toned down here allowing you to enjoy the citrus aroma a little more. The body is smoother and the aftertaste more neutral in contrast to the Ruination’s twenty minute lingering bitterness. For 70 IBU’s this is pretty sweet and creamy- no hops onslaught like you would expect.