Stone Levitation Ale

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

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.

12oz. bottle. Pours a really deep amber color, topped with an active head that fades fairly quickly. Not a lot of lace. Flat, faintly metallic aroma is not incredibly inviting. Very dry, hoppy flavor for an amber, and not much of a finish. There are some things to like here, but this turns out to be one of Stone’s weakest offerings.

A good brew, but kind of sub-par for a Stone beer. THere just isn’t much going on with this one. Nice hoppiness, but little noticeable flavors otherwise. Pours a nice, but unremarkable dark copper. A few sweeter, malty notes come out in the nose, but it’s a tad thin. A bit disappointing, really.

Truly amber, with a slightly ruddy brown hue. Light caramel, toffe nose, with peachy alcohol and some resiny pine. Taste smooth bitter, resinous, with sweet (peachy) fruitiness and sweet breadiness and faint roasty, chocolate. Palate is creamy and thin with a dry finish, slightly sticking mild bitterness and a faint tropical, fruit roll-up. Very drinkable, but finish is slightly thin and lacking.

nicely bright and tangy with a bit of sweetness and a surprisingly modest fruit and pine hop presence. particularly so since the aroma is quite hoppy with pine and grapefruit. modest malt character to this slightly slippery mouthfeel of a brew. alcohol seemed higher to me as it is so full flavored and fruity with its light farmfresh malt flavor . aaahhh something to overindulge in by stone and still walk home (HHOORRAAYY).

Oh I love this beer. Stones has yet to dissappoint me. You can smell the hops but barely taste any, in fact I am not sure how to describe the taste. Its just damn good. This beer seems to have its own distinct flavor/s that really drive my tongue crazy. 4.4% are you crazy...obviously a session beer. I would love a stronger version of this.

12 oz bottle from a six pack that is FINALLY available in NJ. Nice mber body, nice off white head and nice lacing. Aroma is very hoppy, imagine that from Stone? The hop flavor isn’t as strong as the aroma would make you believe but it does have a nice dose of bitterness to it. I’m actually shocked and amazed a 4.4% brew can smell this good and taste almost just as good. My only minor complaint is why thte hell is this beer so expensive for being only 4.4%. Despite that it looks like I have finally found a session beer that I can call my own.