Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Draught pint at Horshoe Pub with OldGrowth on 3/4/06
Deep brown, near black-looking liquid is unfiltered with a slow-to-recede light tan head, that leaves little to no lacing in its wake. Thick and heavy looking in the glass, and the head being quite dense, it comes off quite ominous.
The nose is rather muted at first, being served on draught, unfiltered, quite cold to start and in an English pint glass, with a thick head. So, ya, it’s got a lot working against it. But as it breathes and warms, a dry, mildly lactic, dark chocolate and mild espresso note emerges, with some vanilla beans, crusty/bready brown malts and a touch of sweet raisins and caramel, just a hint really.
The flavor is chocolatey and with light bits of fudginess, but mainly quite dry, with light roast notes. The cascades add a resilient amount of bitterness and green, juicy hop flavors, which when combined with the malts come off as rather floral. The unfiltered, chewy texture with the right amount of attenuation (dry, but not too dry), combined with a tasteful amount of hops really works well. Lactic, roast, chocolate, caramel, raisins. . .quite complex all told, and increasing with every sip as it warms. These guys can brew. No alcohol apparency.
Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
2005 bottle consumed 6/22/2005. Pale copper, light peachy/rose hues. Clear, with fine bubbles rising and just tons of fluffy white head, wonderfully retained and providing sheets of lacing. Aroma smells of pale malt, light crystally malts and toasted grains. Just a hint of fruit esters (peach, tangerine, apricots; mainly peach though). Hops are soily and lightly fruity, but quite subdued. Flavor has minty, herbally hops with sweet caramel, very sticky and well-extracted. Light sourness coming from somewhere, is it the hops? or the malt? Perhaps caramunich, or just some stale hops, not sure. As it breaths I get a full-on soily, lightly spicy, very sweaty hops flavor. Must be goldings, or just some really old American type. Low carbonation, no sediment at the bottom, but I still don’t think it’s heavily filtered, and the lacing can attest to that as well. Smooth, lightly sticky, in a pleasing way. Medium body. Still don’t know where that light sourness is coming from. Reminds me of wheat dough and olive oil. Whatever the case, this is a very drinkable, unique interpretation. 100 IPAs and I still can’t figure out the hops. I’m afraid that’s one aspect of beer that’s quite lost on me. . .
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 6.5
2005 bottle. Light copper-gold, tending towards yellow, clear. Large white head recedes to cover. Aroma of muted pale malt, light vanilla and honey. No corn notes noted, no yeast presence. Flavor has a touch of caramel malt which adds a bit of an interesting twist. Mostly dry in flavor. Fluffy, medium-light body. Tastes like light thabouli (sp?), oily consistency on the finish, some olive oil notes, getting slightly sticky as it warms. Very odd, all told, methinks, but I didn’t mind it.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7
Orangey-amber. Low carbonation is visible. Minimal aroma, though, but I do find some nice woody, berryish notes. Hoppy, fruity (berry, apricot) body. Bitterness starts muted but then lingers. About right for an IPA - right down the middle, though elevated slightly for me because I dig the low carbo (did I ever tell you about the famous low-carbo batch of Sailor Hagar's Narwhal Pale Ale? Oh man, fucking nectar. That was THE showpiece beer for BC Kent Goldings (RIP) and my first real introduction to Gary Lohin's skills...damn when's his new brewery going to open). Oh yeah, back to Stone Coast 420, a fresh-tasting, quenching and thoroughly enjoyable IPA.