Stone IPA

[Beaver]

I finallly tried this fine brew, and WOW!

Stone IPA pours a golden color with some miniscule floaties. It has a huge, frothy, white head that lasts forever.

The nose is huge on hops (kind of on the grassy, piney side)! There are also some grapefruit tones. Very appealing!

The taste is hop juice up front, leading to some citrusey, bready malt. It ends with a big, bitter hop finish and aftertaste. It’s medium bodied and fairly well balanced - though it obviously favors the hops over the malts. The slight malt and citrus help balance it well.

Overall, this is probably the best IPA I’ve had to date. It’s a nose ahead of Avery IPA and Victory Hop Devil.

[chazwicke]

Congrats on your impending 500th post! Thanks for all your tasting notes.

[Beaver]

Thanks Chaz! It's been fun.

[Wolf359]

The Stone IPA is an excellent tasting brew, especially when on draft straight from the brewery. The hop aroma is simply awesome. My only criticism of this beer is that I find it to be a bit too light in color - I lean towards those copper colored Pacific NW IPAs.

[Beaver]

I would love to try Stone IPA on draft! I've never seen it around here though. I have been able to try Stone Pale Ale on tap here.

[Stodbrew]

I had it on tap at the Yard House in San Diego a few weeks ago. Pretty tasty.

[IPAfanatic]

What is the difference between draft and tap?

[Stodbrew]

Originally posted by IPAfanatic
What is the difference between draft and tap?


Nothing. The terms are interchangeable.

[IPAfanatic]

Cool, thanks. I reread what Beav wrote and realized the difference was in the beers, not the dispensing methods.

BTW Does anyone know if you can get Stone in Minnesota? (if not, maybe Wisconsin?) It sounds like I have a new beer I need to try!

[steveh]

Originally posted by IPAfanatic
BTW Does anyone know if you can get Stone in Minnesota? (if not, maybe Wisconsin?) It sounds like I have a new beer I need to try!

I've never seen it in Southern Wisconsin or Northern Illinois, but perhaps I've been overlooking it. Bluesharp?

S.

[Brownbeard]

They are not available in Minnesota or Iowa.

[davesarman]

N/A in Minnesota, but I've had a few of their varieties thanks to some trades. Stone makes some impressive beers. Their Imperial Stout is one of the best I've ever had, the Arrogant Bastard a wonderful IPA and the Double Bastard is a knock your socks off IIPA.

[Beaver]

Here's a list of Stone's distribution:

http://www.stonebrew.com/about_us/distributors/index.html

[BluesHarp]

Originally posted by steveh
I've never seen it in Southern Wisconsin or Northern Illinois, but perhaps I've been overlooking it. Bluesharp?

S.

No luck, I'm afraid...my Stone came from a cousin of a cousin in California; and some Double Bastard thanks to a trade with our very own Hopjack (maybe he can help).

I love their beers; they're big, they're bad, they are hoppy, but balanced with enough malt to make them extremely drinkable.
Work a trade if you need to, anyone calling themselves IPAfanatic must sample Stone's brews...and their packaging is without equal!

I still have an Arrogant Bastard, a 7'th Anniversary, a Smoked Porter, and a Double Bastard in my cellar...not a lightweight in the bunch.

On an aside, you can get Victory beers, including Hop Devil, Prima pils, and Old Horizontal at the Cellars stores in MN (at least at the Roseville and Woodbury stores)

[bluesnbrews]

Stone does not distribute to WI OR MN or IL.. they DO however distribute to Indiana and just over the IL/IN border is a quaint little burg by the name of Munster, IN(home of 3Floyd's brewery) and they carry Stone beers at the liquor marts there. I picked up a 6pk of Stone IPA for $10.99. It has become my favorite IPA.. Delicicous stuff. delightful hoppiness with an awesome malt backbone to balance it just right. Wish I could tell you it was somewhere closer but that is all for now. They have also began distributing to Ohio recently too but that isn't a whole lot closer I suppose. SOunds like a ROADTRIP!!! Joe

[Beaver]

Originally posted by bluesnbrews
I picked up a 6pk of Stone IPA for $10.99.

Ouch! I think it was $8.25 here.

[Stodbrew]

I don't think I've ever seen it in 6 packs here in NorCal. I've only seen it in 22 oz. bombers. Kinda Weird.

[Beaver]

Originally posted by Stodbrew
I don't think I've ever seen it in 6 packs here in NorCal. I've only seen it in 22 oz. bombers. Kinda Weird.

The 6 packs of the IPA and the Pale Ale are fairly new around here.

I think a 12 oz can be easier drinking than a 22 of something at 6.9%, Depends on the situation though. :p

[Stodbrew]

Originally posted by Beaver

I think a 12 oz can be easier drinking than a 22 of something at 6.9%, Depends on the situation though. [/B]

Agreed. It's kinda hard to drink a couple/few 22 oz'ers of any Stone product, really. Even though you really want to keep driking them. I'll have to keep my eye out for the 6'ers.

Unless, you're Tweek, of course! :D

[Tweek]

Originally posted by Stodbrew
Agreed. It's kinda hard to drink a couple/few 22 oz'ers of any Stone product, really. Even though you really want to keep driking them. I'll have to keep my eye out for the 6'ers.

Unless, you're Tweek, of course! :D


LOL!

[chazwicke]

You can also sunscribe to Stone Brewing's newsletter. I think this is the link:

http://www.stonebrew.com/newsletter/archives/040503/index.html

[hopjack13]

Originally posted by Stodbrew
I don't think I've ever seen it in 6 packs here in NorCal. I've only seen it in 22 oz. bombers. Kinda Weird.
check at your local beverages & more, they should have them on the shelves there.
i love all stone products, the one i buy the least is the levatation ale, although it's hoppy it's just a little on the light side for me. hmmm maybe i'll pick some more up soon, might go good with this weather.

[BluesHarp]

Originally posted by bluesnbrews
SOunds like a ROADTRIP!!! Joe

I'm ready! Let's roll!!! :D

[Beaver]

I just tried the Stone IPA next to the Avery IPA. Both were very good. The Avery was a little more piney whereas the Stone had more citrus action and a lot more bitterness. It was interesting to sample two quality brews in the same style next to each other...I'll have to try that more often!

[steveh]

Originally posted by Beaver
I just tried the Stone IPA next to the Avery IPA. Both were very good.

On Sunday afternoon I sampled half-pints of 60 Minute IPA, Burning River Pale Ale, and Alpha King Pale one after the other (all regular tap served). All were good, but the character of the Alpha King won the prize, with 60 Minute in second, and Burning River third.

The 60 Minute was crisp Chinook hoppy with a light color and body. The Burning River was much more mellow and smooth, as light in body but maybe a shade darker in color - though I'll admit any subtle hops in this beer probably suffered from my tasting the 60 Min. first. And the AK had a citrus hop nose with agressive malts, complex malt hop balance in the flavor (very interesting balance of esters and citrus hops) with an assertive - yet pleasing - aftertaste. Medium bodied and darker in color, deep amber/copper.

I've been promised some Stone products as part of a trade...I hear I should be salivating.

S.

[Beaver]

Originally posted by steveh

I've been promised some Stone products as part of a trade...I hear I should be salivating.

S.

I've really liked the ones I've had. I wasn't too impressed by their Smoked Porter, but I think I would like it more now. I'll just have to try it again! :)

[unkle bik]

Originally posted by Beaver
I finallly tried this fine brew, and WOW!

Stone IPA pours a golden color with some miniscule floaties. It has a huge, frothy, white head that lasts forever.

The nose is huge on hops (kind of on the grassy, piney side)! There are also some grapefruit tones. Very appealing!

The taste is hop juice up front, leading to some citrusey, bready malt. It ends with a big, bitter hop finish and aftertaste. It’s medium bodied and fairly well balanced - though it obviously favors the hops over the malts. The slight malt and citrus help balance it well.

Overall, this is probably the best IPA I’ve had to date. It’s a nose ahead of Avery IPA and Victory Hop Devil.

Had my first bottle this past weekend.
While I agree the hops are out front, something got lost in the mix. For some reason, this beer seemed overly carbonated and the malt was hard to taste. Nicer selection of hops than 60 Minute. Cascade, I assume?
While truer to the form than 60 Minute, I still prefer Stoudt's IPA the best.

[chazwicke]

Originally posted by steveh
On Sunday afternoon I sampled half-pints of 60 Minute IPA, Burning River Pale Ale, and Alpha King Pale one after the other (all regular tap served). All were good, but the character of the Alpha King won the prize, with 60 Minute in second, and Burning River third.

S.

I adore the Alpha King. I voted for it over DFH in the Battle of the beers.

[Brownbeard]

The Alpha King has become my favorite beer. I went from being a malthead to a hophead on that stuff. Talk about balance, that is the stuff.

[BluesHarp]

Originally posted by steveh
I've been promised some Stone products as part of a trade...I hear I should be salivating.

S.

Make a trip to:

Liquor Stop
9218 Indianapolis Boulevard, Highland, IN

a few minutes East of Calumet City...ask for Robyn; tell him the guys from Wisconsin sent you!

[hopjack13]

Originally posted by chazwicke
I adore the Alpha King.

ditto ! i like it better then the hopdevil myself , although they are pretty similar....imo

[BluesHarp]

I find both the Stone and HopDevil to be somewhat sweeter than Alpha King, with slightly more "floral" hoppiness and slightly less bitterness.
I immensely like all three, however...picking a favorite would be hard; although I don't have to drive two hours to buy Alpha King!!

[davesarman]

Was digging in my cellar this afternoon and low and behold I stumble upon a Stone Ruination IPA that I had acquired in a trade some months back (Thanks again, batkins!). Pulled it out and tasted this bad boy. While the hop aroma did not knock my block off as the text on the label might suggest (perhaps due to cellaring for a few months?), the taste was in fact extremely hoppy. There was in fact substantial malt as well to keep this from becoming too one dimensional, but the hops are definitely in the spot light here. As one poster mentioned, the color could be a bit darker, but this is in fact one bad ass IIPA. Now, if I had the beer (and the guts), I'd like to sample the Ruination next to the Double Bastard to compare and contrast. I think the Double Bastard has a higher ABV, but other than that I think they might be fairly similar. It's been quite a while since I've had the Double Bastard, so my recollection might not be accurate. Anyways....whatta beer! Gotta love those guys at Stone! (OVerall, I would say their Imperial Stout is my favorite Stone beer.)

[BluesHarp]

My memory of the Double B is a good balance of hops and malt; but an assload of both (please excuse the "technical" term :D) .

I found it to be extremely sweet and malty, yet also having an abundance of both hop flavor and bitterness; some might think it needs cellaring for the two to mellow and combine, but I loved the battle raging on my palate.

I have one more bottle of '03 DB in my fridge and one more in the cellar...I may have to break down and drink another one to see if my memory is correct...

[ratman03]

While I'm impressed with Stone's products, I live on the
east coast and a $10 six-pack is just something I don't need
in my life right now.

Someone mentioned Hopdevil. I recently purchased a six-pack that was discounted because it was WAY out of date - over a year after the best by date on the bottle - and surprisingly I liked it BETTER than a fresh Hopdevil. Not only was it mellower, but the overall taste showed more of a grainy complexity. I'd be interested to see if the other super hoppy beers mentioned in this thread also develop with age.

Ratman

[watermelonman]

Yes, Stone IPA is outstanding. It's probably my favorite IPA to date.

Oh how I love being able to snag Stone products for 3 dollar 22's and 7 dollar sixers.

It would be really cool if I could trade some for some 3 Floyd's stuff or something.

[fretlessman71]

Originally posted by ratman03
While I'm impressed with Stone's products, I live on the
east coast and a $10 six-pack is just something I don't need
in my life right now.

Someone mentioned Hopdevil. I recently purchased a six-pack that was discounted because it was WAY out of date - over a year after the best by date on the bottle - and surprisingly I liked it BETTER than a fresh Hopdevil. Not only was it mellower, but the overall taste showed more of a grainy complexity. I'd be interested to see if the other super hoppy beers mentioned in this thread also develop with age.

Ratman

Hops and high alcohol seem to be the two factors that contribute to a long shelf life. I've got some pretty hefty brews just waiting for a good reason to bring them out; otherwise, I'm happy to let them sit in the dark of my folks' cellar until such a time occurs. Be glad that whoever was storing your ancient sixer knew how to take care of it (i.e., dark, cool location away from lights and windows)!

I've even found that beer in my growler sometimes seems to taste just a little bit better after a day or two. This is not always the case, but it's happened to me more than once...

[chazwicke]

Originally posted by watermelonman
Yes, Stone IPA is outstanding. It's probably my favorite IPA to date.

Oh how I love being able to snag Stone products for 3 dollar 22's and 7 dollar sixers.

It would be really cool if I could trade some for some 3 Floyd's stuff or something.

I really like the 3 Floyds beers. Even their Gumballhead Wheat is excellent.