07th Anniversary Ale
Stone Brewing in Escondido, California, United States 🇺🇸
IPA - Imperial / Double Special Out of Production|
Score
7.33
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Ahh, the annual hullabaloo. The time for my relentless soliloquy to banish the quotidian summer ennui, midst simultaneously imbuing a rich obfuscation upon the part of the poor reader (alas, felicitous imbiber) who must certainly promulgate a healthy gumption to attempt to forage through this precisely 7.7 point font work. No, not for the nebbish most definitely. The conundrum? What is the conundrum of a Stone 7th Anniversary Ale that is not the hop? “Hop to it!” we instinctually say. Indeed. Does the glorious “hop shudder” in its non-verbal expression constitute its own non-verbal onomatopoeia? Certainly, we at Stone have the chutzpah to find out, self-described “despots of the hop” we are. Decry bugaboos of the venal bevvy bamboozlers we do. Non-sequiturs are a non-issue for us lupulin warriors. We live in that world, rolling around playfully in the bales. We couldn’t be incommoded with the fact that few understand. No, we are not known to display ursine behaviour, and I’m not sure why you would ask. Or was that the Magnum, Ahtanum or Amarillo fresh-talking up their quizzically inspirational aromatics? I’m really nonplussed now. Schismic largess I guess. So, I just now queried Brewmeisetermasterbrewer Steve if he had a quote for this year’s nonsensical label flapdoodle, he looked up, paused “Not on me at the moment, but I’ll think of something.” Little did he realize that was more than quote enough. Not only can I take that ball and run with it, I can make it go across my shoulders, behind my neck and down my arm ending up twirling on my extended finger only to punt it into the ditch and leave it there when I suddenly become distracted by some small shiny object... hopefully something with which I can use to pry the top offa this here bottle. It’s 10pm on Monday eve. I’m hungry and I’m going to leave the brewery now. Be careful not to end up with the ball. In the ditch. Know what I'm a sayin’? Of course you do.
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7.5/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 8
[Sampled 1 and 1½ years old] An amber beer with a disappearing, but lacing off-white head. The aroma is sweet with alcohol being most dominant, but also lesser notes of fruit - especially peach - and wood. The flavor contains notes of anise, wood, fruit - just on the edge of being over ripe, as well as cinnamon. And in the background the alcohol gives you warmth and it ends up giving a slight burn.
Tried
on 08 Jun 2005
at 17:23
8.1/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
Well well. My palate just dosent agree with the norm when it comes to stone. Easily my favorite beer of theirs. Awesome aroma of juicy, sweet/bitter hops. Light pine, big caramel malt. Aroma stays til the end of the bottle. Very hazy, golden with light burnt red tones. Small yellow head. Incredibly lush, creamy mouthfeel. Juicy hops meets big sugary sweet malt. The malt probably wins for dominance but in the end, a near perfect balance is achieved. The hops flavor does not bore me, the malt does not cloy and the alcohol is not overpowering. Great quality in moderation. Yes.
Tried
from Bottle
on 28 Dec 2003
at 23:47
7/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 7
Copper colour with a thin white head. Strong hoppy aroma with a bit of alcohol and some pears. Medium to Heavy-bodied; Sweet taste with a mild fruit flavour and some complex spiceyness noticeable. Overall, decent but really not the best APA i've had. I had this bottle at the Winter Party at Oakes' place in Toronto, Canada on 05-December-2003. Many thanks go out to KimChee for bringing this one to the party as it turned out to be one of the best from the show!
Tried
from Bottle
on 07 Dec 2003
at 01:12
8.8/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 9
Flavor 9
Texture 8
Overall 9
Orangey amber glow, slight haze. Firm lasting head. Notably floral hop aroma. Caramelized malts, toasty flavors almost Munichy. Well balanced hops in the palate, tingly, peppery and floral. Light warming finish. Just an outstanding pale ale, really.
Tried
on 04 Dec 2003
at 06:53
8.1/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 9
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
Bottled. Reddish brown. Nutty, grapefruity hop aroma. Aromatic and softly malty. Soem cookie malt. Long, rather clean and very aromatic finish with a lot of bitterness. A typically rude and straight forward Stone ale.
Tried
from Bottle
on 22 Oct 2003
at 15:08
8.4/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 9
Texture 10
Overall 8.5
Copper in color, with a decent lacing - sweet citrus aroma - malts and hops in wonderful abundance - big time grapefruit and other citrus flavors (I swear I can see pulp in this beer) - highly sweet at first, but the hops swell up out of the maltiness to dominate the toasty finish - great stuff.
Tried
from Can
on 13 Oct 2003
at 19:42
7/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7
Reasonably bright orange-amber; no head. Real pine-wood, resiny hopscharacter already in the nose. Very hopbitter. Good underlying malt, but stops just short of balancing. Thick, oily hops keep filling the palate. One question. I have had the Arrogant B., Double ditto, IPA, etc. etc. And loved most of them. But aren't they never interested in changing it just that little bit to get something original?
Tried
on 01 Oct 2003
at 14:58
7.9/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 10
Overall 8.5
Bottle. Rich amber color with little head. Caramel flavors. Big hop flavors with a good malt presence. Warming presence from the alcohol. Lingering taste of grapefruit. A tad too much malt for the hops, but its a good beer and would be better in coolor weather.
Tried
from Bottle
on 17 Sep 2003
at 20:46