18th Anniversary IPA
Stone Brewing in Escondido, California, United States 🇺🇸
IPA - Imperial / Double Special Out of Production|
Score
7.18
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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.
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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7.2/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7
Bottle split at CBC Clerko, thanks to Kenwold, 30/09/14. Rich amber with a moderate beige covering that dissipates then retains as a swirl and edgeing. Nose is big on pine, bitter tropicana, tea bags, spice, malty. Taste comprises candied fruit peel, pine, earthy hop, orange pith, red grapefruit, caramel malt. Medium bodied, fine carbonation, semi aggressive hop bitterness in the close. Decent enough DIPA.
Tried
from Bottle
on 12 Oct 2014
at 02:38
8/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
Light brown color. White head. The nose is fantastic and goes all over the place with pine, citrus, milk chocolate, cherries. Just so bizzare, I didn’t know it was single hopped. I though tons of hops taking it many different directions. Clean mouth that is heavy, not too bitter, not too sweet, never cloying. What great depth for a single hopped beer. Really interesting. Clean, tad sweet and bitter finish. Absolutely enjoyable. Super good.
Tried
on 10 Oct 2014
at 05:40
6.6/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 8
Overall 6.5
Bottle. Pours hazy reddish burnt sienna, small beige head, some lacing. Aroma is caramelly, some pine. Flavor is carmel and pine, some spruce undertow. Medium sweet, light plus bitter. Medium body, creamy mouthfeel. Certainly a drinkable beer, but not cutting it for me.
Tried
from Bottle
on 08 Oct 2014
at 18:21
7.6/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
Beautiful, robust tropical aromas. Slight pine and matza bread. Clear, copper-brown with full, lingering white head. Flavor is spice, overt pine and moderate low citrus. Moderate bitterness with bitter lingering.
Tried
on 02 Oct 2014
at 21:06
6.8/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7
Bottle shared by Kenny. It pours clear deep amber with a small beige head. The nose is fresh pine, mild caramel, wood, varnish, resin, mild sherbet and some underlying sweetness. The taste is crisp, bitter, piney, light resin, caramel, oily, toffee, pepper spice, lemon peel, grapefruit and toast with a warming finish. Medium body and fine carbonation. Not as punchy as I was hoping for. Seems a bit light, but it is pretty easy going...
Tried
from Bottle
on 01 Oct 2014
at 04:49
6.9/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
Bottle shared in London - many thanks to Kenwise. Pours clear copper-gold with a frothy white head. Lots of floral notes on the nose, herbs, anise, some ripe citrus, melon. Big sweet flavor with lots of dank citrus, herbal tea, melon, papaya, piney bitterness, grainy brown bread. Full bodied with fine to verage carbonation and oily texture. Resinous finish, more tea, flowers, ripe and dank citrus, grainy bread. Not bad.
Tried
from Bottle
on 30 Sep 2014
at 11:03