Stone Levitation Ale

Brewed by Stone Brewing Co.
Style: Amber Ale
Escondido, California USA

Bottle. Poured a hazy amber color with a tall off-white head. Nose is fruity with a mild hop presence and hints of caramel. Somewhat thin in body with soft carbonation and a watery mouthfeel. Flavor is dry with spicy notes and pretty decent hops bitterness. Finishes dry. It’s an amber, still pretty good ofering for such a lackluster style.

12 oz. bottle. Obviously pours amber, albeit a very pleasant looking amber. Slightly off-white almost tannish thin head. Floral aroma on nose but tapers off and takes on more of a malty flavor. Peculiar, slightly peppery sensation on the tip of the tongue as it settles. Light to medium bodied. Unusual.

Aroma was good. Appearance was very nice. Flavor was great, the dry hops really came through from begining to end. Palate was very good. Lost points on the alcohol %. Good beer, great flavor.

"Beer appears to be hazy brownish red sitting as in my glass a good size one inch cap was produce and reduced to a thick skiff. I would have liked to have seen this a little more red. Aroma is delicious candied peach hops that are very sweet, malt is noticeable but barley. Bitter hops that have the same sour peach candy flavour as the smell but not as intense. Arg…. What is that taste? Leather? There seems to mild chemical in the taste but it barley noticeable. Brew is good and malty but they seem slightly watery but still acceptable. Ok beer easy to slam and above average taste but nothing to overly exciting. "

#548 (Mike Schmidt) Why isn’t there more hype surrounding this ale? This is basically the Bastard in less arrogant and aggressive form, and still comes off admirably. I note the style designation as an amber, and on that note I recall describing Rogue’s American Amber (rated 4.1 by this rater, the difference being the aroma quality) as like the Bastard gone off steroids. So let’s posit that the Bastard is some kind of vicious Amber Ale that refuses to be lumped in with such a tame style. On that note, this is clearly a better Amber than the rest of the bunch.

Pours deep copper/ amber color with frothy off-white head. Nose is lots of malt with resiny citrus hop sting. Flavor is h2o, some malt, and a lot of biting grapefruit hops. Interesting, but even Stone’s hop presence can’t do it for an amber. I am not a big fan of the style. Light-medium bodied and not bad overall.

Stately amber with red-orange underpinning and decent head. Well stated Cascade accented aroma and flavor. Malt background supports the easy Cascade flavors. Raw Cascade hop bite with good finishing bitterness, possibly Chinook, on the finish. This could probably more accurately be descriped as an APA.

Pours amber with a fully receding tan head. Aroma of mild pine and citrus. Taste is moderately bitter, light toffee, crystal malt, and lightly acidic. Mouthfeel is medium to moderate resins and carbonation.