Stone Brewing 18th Anniversary IPA

18th Anniversary IPA

 

Stone Brewing in Escondido, California, United States 🇺🇸

  IPA - Imperial / Double Special Out of Production
Score
7.18
ABV: 8.5% IBU: 75 Ticks: 69
The Hoppiest Golden-Brown IPA on Earth

As we compose the text for this celebratory beer—a golden‐brown India pale ale dry-hopped exclusively and abundantly with El Dorado hops—we stand ready to leap from the precipice of all we know into a new era for our company, our beers and, most importantly, our fans. It’s one that will see us exploring new territory, both geographically and creatively, as we evolve from pacesetters for the American craft brewing movement to cross‐planetary champions of the worldwide cause of craft, hoisting our banner to proclaim artisanal beers’ vast superiority over stripped‐down, business-driven, industrialized, fizzy yellow mediocrity. We thank you for shadowing us for the first 18 years of our journey, and welcome you to join us for next leg and all that follows.

Several iterations of this beer were created before we settled on this recipe. Using a small amount of English Brown Coffee Malt in a double IPA seemed like an interesting idea to me, and was inspired in part by the success we had brewing Aleman/Two Brothers/Stone DayMan Coffee IPA and The Alchemist/Ninkasi/Stone More Brown Than Black IPA. The malt character is rich and complex, with hints of cocoa and coffee that don’t interfere with the hop intensity. We used one of our favorite new hop varieties, El Dorado, 100 percent in the dry-hop stage, which provides a distinctive lemony character in the aroma and taste.
 

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6/10 Appearance 6 Aroma 6 Flavor 6 Texture 6 Overall 6
(tap) clear dark amber brown colour with a small brown head; aroma of tropical fruit; balanced flavour with a long, medium bitter finish
Tried from Draft on 26 Nov 2014 at 15:59

7.4/10 Appearance 8 Aroma 7 Flavor 7 Texture 8 Overall 7.5
Warm brown colour, white head. Malty aroma, hops, metallic notes, apricot, pineapple, tropical fruits and caramel. Bitter finish.
(from 66cL bottle @ Zwanze Day 2014, Moeder Lambik Fontainas. Bottle share. Thanks Matthieu!)
Tried from Bottle on 24 Nov 2014 at 00:22

7.4/10 Appearance 6 Aroma 7 Flavor 8 Texture 8 Overall 7.5
Bottle @ Yespr tasting. Clear amber with an off-white head. Aroma is sweet, malty, caramel and moderate hoppy - grapefruit. Flavor is quite sweet and rather bitter. Dry and rather bitter finish. 221114
Tried from Bottle on 22 Nov 2014 at 08:15

7.6/10 Appearance 6 Aroma 8 Flavor 8 Texture 8 Overall 7.5
Bottled. An amber beer with a lazing beige head. The aroma has notes of hops, straw, and citrus fruits. The flavor is sweet with notes of alcohol, malt, citrus fruits, and hops, leading to a bitter finish.
Tried from Bottle on 22 Nov 2014 at 08:06

7.1/10 Appearance 8 Aroma 7 Flavor 7 Texture 6 Overall 7.5
22 fl oz bottle. Pours clear and golden orange with a small off white head. Aroma is pine, grapefruity and slight peachy hoppy. Toasted malty, fruity and light herbal to teaich. Bitter and crisp hoppy, pine and herbal. Dry and bitter finish.
Tried from Bottle on 22 Nov 2014 at 07:51

8/10
Tried on 15 Nov 2014 at 20:13

8.2/10 Appearance 8 Aroma 8 Flavor 8 Texture 10 Overall 8
Bottle at Craig’s. Pours clear amber with a thin white head. Aromas of pine cones, cedar, aniseed, resin. Taste is woody, aniseed, rich, oily. Finishes long in to the night.
Tried from Bottle on 14 Nov 2014 at 13:42

7.6/10 Appearance 8 Aroma 8 Flavor 8 Texture 6 Overall 7.5
Bottle at Craig’s. Pours amber, nose is aniseed, woody, taste is orange, aniseed, sweet toffee, pine.
Tried from Bottle on 14 Nov 2014 at 13:40

7.3/10 Appearance 6 Aroma 7 Flavor 8 Texture 6 Overall 8
bottle at home ... copper .. small tan head ... soft zezty citrus toffee fruit nose... big citrus nose .. soft fruits .. oily fruits .. juicy toffee hop .. floral fruits ... big passion ... woody .. odd .. but interesting
Tried from Bottle on 14 Nov 2014 at 13:39

7.1/10 Appearance 6 Aroma 8 Flavor 7 Texture 6 Overall 7.5
Bottle from QClub at home. Translucent/hazy dark copper pour with frothy head and sticky lacing (frothy bubbles sticking to the walls of the glass). Aroma is dank and almost a bit nutty - hoppiness tastes very west coast-y. Taste follows - dank bitter hops with a slightly nutty malty backbone (maltiness somewhat similar to dead guy ale, but way way hoppier). Sharp even peppery hop finish. Lingering warmth. Quite good.
Tried from Bottle on 14 Nov 2014 at 07:57