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 8
Overall 7.5
65 cl bottle @ home. Rated on 12.03.2011
Aroma is rather hoppy with some exotic fruits and caramel. Flavour has rather bitter hops with exotic fruits, grapefruit and some caramel. Really bitter finish. Too sweet but good anyway.
Aroma is rather hoppy with some exotic fruits and caramel. Flavour has rather bitter hops with exotic fruits, grapefruit and some caramel. Really bitter finish. Too sweet but good anyway.
Tried
from Bottle
on 08 Sep 2012
at 04:04
6.4/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 6.5
Bottle sample at a tasting at Porter & Sons. Thanks Ariel. Cloudy golden. Fruity hoppy aroma with some oranges, flowers and some malty notes. Sweetish fruity flavor with a bit of somewhat honey-ish malt and a bitter hoppy finish. Medium-bodied.
Tried
from Bottle
on 30 Oct 2011
at 13:55
7.5/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 6
Pours a very light yellow, not unlike a wheat beer, with a good-sized head. Aroma is very floral and hoppy, with an alcohol-booze scent that’s present as well. Flavor is a nice, smooth IPA with citrusy-hop bitterness nicely balanced by a subtle malt/grain sweetness that underlies everything. This is a very nice IPA.
Tried
on 14 Oct 2011
at 13:52
7/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7
Draught at Chez Moeder Lambic Fontainas during the three day Stone Event, 16-18 september 2011. Clear yellow / golden color, big white head. Smell is not very good for an Imperial/Double IPA, but overall still decent. Taste is also a little disappointing, a little bit like old, somewhat fainted hops. Ok carbo, medium body.
Tried
on 20 Sep 2011
at 09:48
7/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7
Draught Small dense, just off-white head over hazy orange-yellow beer. Ureum!! Dry, ureum-rich (indeed, British) hops. Strawy, hay. Ureum seems to be volatile, less obvious after a moment, but it is really adaptation: leave the glass for a couple of minutes, and the smell returns in force. Dry bitter, other grains hints, even drier finish. Medium bodied, very slick, hopoils. Aftertaste shows the alcohol and... liquorice? Ureum is just too present to be really great. I fear that the American idea of "more is better" just doesn’t work for British hops, some of which indeed have this enormous amount of ureum-like components.
Tried
from Can
on 17 Sep 2011
at 23:50