Cali-Belgique IPA
Stone Brewing in Escondido, California, United States 🇺🇸
IPA - Belgian Rotating|
Score
7.18
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A California-style IPA with a Belgian twist
Stone Cali-Belgique IPA features a complex and surprising combination of flavors, but behind the fancy title is the simply delicious Stone IPA. The addition of a carefully selected strain of Belgian yeast adds banana and spice notes to the hoppy brightness of our flagship IPA. Think of it as an otherwise identical twin to Stone IPA that was raised in a Belgian culture. Literally.
This beer was created in 2008 when we used Stone IPA as the propagation wort for fermenting our Stone 08.08.08 Vertical Epic Ale. We liked what the Belgian yeast flavors added to Stone IPA, so we kept brewing it and eventually released it as one of our year-round beers.
Stone Cali-Belgique IPA features a complex and surprising combination of flavors, but behind the fancy title is the simply delicious Stone IPA. The addition of a carefully selected strain of Belgian yeast adds banana and spice notes to the hoppy brightness of our flagship IPA. Think of it as an otherwise identical twin to Stone IPA that was raised in a Belgian culture. Literally.
This beer was created in 2008 when we used Stone IPA as the propagation wort for fermenting our Stone 08.08.08 Vertical Epic Ale. We liked what the Belgian yeast flavors added to Stone IPA, so we kept brewing it and eventually released it as one of our year-round beers.
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7.9/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
Sample at SBWF 2015. A bit hazy medium amber with a white head. Aroma and taste of fruit, yeast, grapefruit, hops and some light grass. Balanced and with a medium body. The finish was nicely bitter. A pleasant one.
Tried
on 04 Oct 2015
at 08:13
7.5/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 8
Bottle from the LCBO. Hazy medium gold with a small off white head that fades quickly to a sheet and leaves nice lace. Nose is sweet toffee and honey with citrus and grass over some yeast and notes of coriander. Light sweet honey start leading to the regular Stone IPA bitter middle but with a bit of spiciness. Medium chewy mouth with average carbonation and a long bitter finish. Nice but the spice and yeast actually detracts from the base IPA.
Tried
from Bottle
on 21 Sep 2015
at 18:45
7/10
--- Beer aliased from original tick of Cali-Belgique IPA - Berlin on 29 Oct 2016 at 15:39 - Score: 7
Tried
at
Craft & Draft
on 08 Sep 2015
at 18:12
7.9/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 9
Texture 6
Overall 8.5
From a 355ml bottle on 31/8/2015. Pours a clear golden with a small white head. The nose features lots of Belgian yeast and spice. In the mouth, there’s beady malt, more Belgian yeast, orange, lemon and spice, finished off by a big, lingering hop bitterness.Medium bodies with average carbonation. A very enjoyable, full on IPA variant.
Tried
from Bottle
on 31 Aug 2015
at 05:23
7.1/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
Bottle (enjoy by 7/25/2015, thanks QClub) from QClub at home. Clear golden pour. Foamy frog eyes head. Aroma is what it says on the bottle - Belgian with spice and honey with pine hops. Taste follows - nicely balanced between the two. Certainly better than most "Belgian IPAs". Taste has some pine hops, good honey malt, Belgian yeastiness. Tasty. Not my favorite style but really nice nonetheless.
Tried
from Bottle
on 29 Aug 2015
at 06:21
8.8/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 9
Flavor 9
Texture 8
Overall 9
Stone IPA fermented with a Belgian yeast strain, thanks to Beertemple’s Ster for keeping this one aside for me. Clear ’old gold’ colour with calm sparkling under a creamy, egg-white, lacing head consisting of medium-sized but equal little bubbles. Interesting aroma indeed bearing the Stone IPA characteristics with an estery Belgian twist: bubblegum and banana on the one hand and fragrant, delicate, blossomy hops on the other hand; I get, apart from the aforementioned bubblegum and banana odours, lots of delicate impressions involving lime zest, toasted bread, chamomille, raw parsley as in many other Stone IPAs, white pepper, pink grapefruit, rose petals, a whiff of fresh cantaloupe, dry hay, dried apricot, dry crémant, bitter honey, lavender soap, strawberry, hints of cigar tobacco, faint pine resin and green, moist moss, as well as some very weak ’burnt rubber’ (maybe DTMS, but too weak to be sure) - the ’Belgian’ qualities seem a bit stronger than the American hop qualities, but I guess I left this one standing in the cellar for too long, making it lose part of its fragrance; my mistake. Clean fruity onset, touching the tip of the tongue with suggestions of unripe pear, raw pineapple and passion fruit, some minerals as usual with Stone but also a (remarkably restrained) impression of ’Belgian banana’, medium carb, smooth and lean body of slightly biscuity malt sweetishness with a vaguely honeyish as well as undisturbing metallic edge but rather ’bitter honey’ (and yes, such a thing really exists) in combination with the hop bitterness, which becomes apparent from an early stage, bittering with a salty touch and increasing in the finish, where they far overrule the Belgian yeast qualities; this IPA ends with the resiny, oily, piney, citrus peel-like hop bitterness you’d expect, fragrant retronasally, with a long but still fairly gentle and deep, tonic water-like bitterness to it. A dash of warming alcohol is noticeable too without disturbing. Very interesting, quite complex and flavourful beer with an elegantly ’feminine’, delicate aroma and well-balanced taste. The Belgian effect, if it can be qualified that way, renders this beer some extra depth; the aroma has certain ’animalistic’ traits but in all, blends the Belgian fruitiness with the American hoppiness very well. This is Stone IPA with an extra dimension just the way it was intended. Hugely enjoyed this, and many would-be Belgian IPAs in Belgium can take this as an example.
Tried
from Can
on 28 Aug 2015
at 17:42
8/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
Bottle from Stone in Asagaya. Pours a clear goldenrod color with a small soapy white head. Aromas of iyokan, orange and lemon with some nice Belgian yeast character on the nose. Taste is more of the same. Very bright citric flavor on the palate with a nice light peppery and semi-sweet character. Mouthfeel is almost saison-like...wonderful carbonation throughout. Very crisp and refreshing. It is what it says it is perfectly. --- Beer merged from original tick of Cali-Belgique IPA (Cali-België) on 25 Aug 2015 at 08:51 - Score: 7
Tried
from Bottle
on 25 Aug 2015
at 09:14
7.9/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
22 ounce bottle. Pours a brassy gold with a thick creamy, rocky beige head.nice clinging lace. Aroma is yeasty and tropical fruit. Flavor is sweet malt with notes of melon and floral hops. Midtaste comes as pine and citrus hops. Bitter peppery finish. Nice balance and drinkability. Mildly carbonated. Very good!
Tried
from Bottle
on 06 Aug 2015
at 20:45