Bottle from the Stone on Tap event at BeerTemple in Amsterdam. Lacing, cream white, medium thick head over a deep orangey blonde, almost clear beer with lively sparkling. Complex and refined DIPA aroma of grapefruit, baking pork fat, freshly cut nettles, bitter honey, green tea, celery, hemp, wet hay, barbecue sausages, bell peppers - in all, less sweet citrussy than usual for the style. Clean onset of dried orange peel, sweetish peach, dried herbs and a touch of pineapple, never turning sweet but instead ’halted’ by a powerful, resiny, lemon peel-like hop bitterness, complex, herbal and spicy, drying for a very long time but still allowing some subtle, juicy malt sweetness to peep through; hint of whisky-like warming alcohol as well, just in the right place. Refinement and balance is key here, and is achieved to a very high extent. One of the most ’aristocraticly’ restrained DIPAs I tasted so far, while still retaining the hoppy force typifying the style. Impressive.

Another superlative beer from Stone. An ode to the NW hops, biting, bitter, pungent, resinous, hints of caramel, pine, soap. Bracing, a wake up call for your palate.

--- Beer aliased from original tick of Ruination Double IPA - Berlin on 09 Jul 2017 at 22:48 - Score: 7

Aroma: caramel, spruce, citrus, Appearance: clear, golden, generous white head Taste: medium sweetness, medium bitterness, Palate: medium body, creamy, average carbonation, long finish, Great stuff