Stone Levitation Ale

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

Dark reddish amber color and a pretty good sized head. Nice hoppy aroma and a good blend of malts and hops in the flavor. Very dry finish and somewhat bitter finish. A nice hopped up amber ale.

12oz bottle, that tells me to "enjoy by 7/16/09." Red-brown color with a medium sized off-white head that leaves some lasting foam. The aroma is mostyly malt in a toasty, nutty fashion. Digging deeper, there is a whiff of pine and flowers. I really didn’t get much out of the aroma overall, and was expecting a little more hop expression. With the best by date still a couple months away... well, I guess you never know how the bottle was handled before you got it. The flavor exhibits a light malt sweetness of darker bread crust, caramel, and finishes dry a bitter. Light in body with ample carbonation. The hops dominate the flavor profile with a somewhat coarse bitterness that doesn’t have much malt or even hop flavor (aroma) to balance. Still, very drinkable and not something that I would refuse if offered. I can’t help but compare it to hop head red and calico though, and both of those soundly rout it.

Pours clear amber with a small creamy beige head. Mild aroma of roasted malt, some citric hops, slight grapefruit notes, and a bit of caramel. Flavor is certainly dominated by hops, although very muted by an understated creaminess. Palate is a little thin, and slightly watery though it still has a bit of a creamy mouth-feel, and at least the hops hang on throughout. Basically HopBack, but thinner, and not quite as well balanced. Can’t say it’s not incredibly drinking though.

Tap @ Rattle n Hum. Pour is clear amber. Noticeably too hoppy for the style. But this is Stone so I’m not surprised. A decent ale.

On-Tap @ Bailey’s Taproom, poured into Shaker Pint glass. pours a medium brown that has a copper glow around the glass with a creamy white head that dissolves into a broken ring around the shaker. Aroma has caramel malt, tart cranberry and earthy hops. Very unique aroma for an Amber. Flavor is a little watery upfront but develops into a caramel and toffee, once it shows itself, and a mild bitterness. It has a light-medium body that coats your mouth with every sip. Extremely sessionable and unique ale but the nose leads you to believe it may be more complex than it ends up being.

Bottle. Woody caramel nose with big citric hops. Clearish deep mahogany pour with a sudsy yellow-tinged head. Taste is bitter and hoppy, very dry and woody with strong but not off-putting resin. A little touch of soap with slight roast way in the back. Medium body with not that much alky. A lot of interesting character,

Had a growler of this filled from Big Z beverage in Huntington NY. Pours a transparent, deep ruby amber with a frothy white head. Aroma is very hoppy for an amber ale, citrus hops, some pine, light sweetness. Here’s where this beer becomes very ingenious. At first the flavor whacks you with hops, citrus, lemons, some light pine. There’s also some carmel sweetness and a light cracker flavor. Funny thing about this was the complete lack of hop bitterness. It had all of the flavor of hops with very little hop bitterness. Sessionable and easy to share.

Growler - pours a medium amber, with an impressive, foamy head - the aroma has the explosion of earthy, citrusy hops you’d expect from Stone, with underlying notes of toffee and fruity esters - those hops in the nose are quite nice - light-bodied and very sessionable - dry and quite bitter up front - the beer remains dry for a while, but the bitterness mellows, and notes of cocoa, cherry, and toffee come after that - a wee bit of brown sugar sweetness on the end keeps it from being overly dry - quite a lovely session ale.