14th Anniversary Emperial IPA
(has 1 batch)
Stone Brewing in Escondido, California, United States 🇺🇸
IPA - Imperial / Double Special Out of Production|
Score
7.55
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We went to England this past spring as self-styled “IPA Hunters” on a mission to learn more about the confusing and often contradictory history of India Pale Ale—to look for some certainty where those before us have found mostly mystery and mercantilism. While our success in this pursuit is open to debate, there can be no question that we returned home inspired by the ghosts of Burton and by the experience of poring over 150-year-old brewer’s logs handwritten in (India?) ink. Stone Brewing Co., after all, traces its lineage back to the British Empire’s brewing history: We make ales, and all of our original offerings used traditional British styles as a jumping-off point. If this seems a roundabout way of letting you know that, yes, we are in fact brewing another IPA to mark our anniversary, well, so be it.
This one, however, promises to be different! From the imported white malt to the “Burtonised” water to the rare yeast strain to the most pungent hops Kent has to offer, we used all British ingredients to brew our “Emperial” IPA.* While we may have brewed Stone 14th Anniversary Emperial IPA with our own distinctively modern, San Diego-style touch, what good is history if you can’t rewrite it to suit your tastes?
In this case, our tastes called for highly intemperate quantities of Target, East Kent Golding and Boadicea hops, bestowing upon this dry-bodied ale a powerfully spicy, earthy aroma. On the palate, peppery hops assert themselves early and often, with malt sweetness making a brief appearance before being beaten back by a long, complex, and decisively bitter finish. What better way to contemplate the fate of empires past, present, and future?
*Um, except for our filtered Colorado River water, of course.
Our Stone 14th Anniversary Emperial IPA may defy today’s expectations of a British-inspired IPA. It’s not a "maltier" IPA, and no crystal malts were used in the brewing of this beer. British brewers in the 1800s made their IPAs as light in color and as dry as possible, and that was our inspiration. And though we still like to encourage everyone to drink our IPAs fresh, this one may be interesting to age. Especially on a 6-month-long ocean voyage…
This one, however, promises to be different! From the imported white malt to the “Burtonised” water to the rare yeast strain to the most pungent hops Kent has to offer, we used all British ingredients to brew our “Emperial” IPA.* While we may have brewed Stone 14th Anniversary Emperial IPA with our own distinctively modern, San Diego-style touch, what good is history if you can’t rewrite it to suit your tastes?
In this case, our tastes called for highly intemperate quantities of Target, East Kent Golding and Boadicea hops, bestowing upon this dry-bodied ale a powerfully spicy, earthy aroma. On the palate, peppery hops assert themselves early and often, with malt sweetness making a brief appearance before being beaten back by a long, complex, and decisively bitter finish. What better way to contemplate the fate of empires past, present, and future?
*Um, except for our filtered Colorado River water, of course.
Our Stone 14th Anniversary Emperial IPA may defy today’s expectations of a British-inspired IPA. It’s not a "maltier" IPA, and no crystal malts were used in the brewing of this beer. British brewers in the 1800s made their IPAs as light in color and as dry as possible, and that was our inspiration. And though we still like to encourage everyone to drink our IPAs fresh, this one may be interesting to age. Especially on a 6-month-long ocean voyage…
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7.6/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 8.5
An active white head on an appealing light caramel body. The nose lets you know this is a Stone of a different colour. An earthy, grassy bitterness blends with a sweet malt. The taste follows through on the nose in spades. Astringent grassy and earthy hops, pine, cedar, pepper, warming booze and sweet chewy malt are significant under tastes. Tougher to navigate that the typical fruit forward IIPA hop bomb. A punchy and biting variation, but I can’t say it is one of my favourite big Stone products.
Tried
from Can
on 23 Sep 2025
at 20:08
7.5/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 8
Many thanks to Erzengel for sharing! A hazy orange golden beer with a mid-sized most good lasting off-white head. Aroma of intense hoppy orange fruits, resinous hops, apricot. Taste of apricot, bitter orange fruits, resins, red malt, long bitter finish.
Tried
on 14 Jan 2018
at 12:49
7.8/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 7
Many thanks to Werckmeister for organising this bottle. Great floral fresh nose. The beer starts deep and intense. Fresh-floral, moderate sweetish but very nice and round. Fresh long floral, moderate bitter, nice floral sweetness in the aftertaste. Long smooth and mild. Great.
Tried
from Bottle
on 13 Jan 2018
at 14:24
7.1/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
From bomber to pint glass. Hazy orange sunset with moderate white head. Dirt and orange are central to both the aroma and palate. Semi-dry finish really brings out the earthy hops. There is restrained juice throughout - as though it were being squeezed out of a hop bag at the last minute.
Tried
on 17 Mar 2017
at 22:58
8.9/10
—
Appearance 10
Aroma 8.5
Flavor 8.5
Texture 10
Overall 8.5
Flarra restaurant Krokius. Ljus lätt grumlig .Doftar Nektariner, klenentiner lite aprikos. Åhh smakar mest Persika lite söt brödig malt. Men helvete vad persika och sen nu efter en stund melon också. En perfekt sommar Dipa ättegod . Jättegod
Tried
on 16 Mar 2017
at 14:17
7.5/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 8
Bottle from Brewcraft at home. Slightly hazy golden pour with dense white head. Aroma is earthy hops with some resin underneath. Taste is big grassy earthy bitterness with smooth honey biscuit malt. It’s very much as promised - big Stone take on an English IPA. Nice heavy but not unbalanced booziness. Finish is quite sweet malt which lasts, along with some bitter booze and vegetal flavors. Palate is slightly rich. Quite good to try.
Tried
from Bottle
on 10 Feb 2017
at 12:23