Stone Scorpion Bowl IPA

Val and I went to Hawaii for our honeymoon and now, when I see tiki drink inspired beers, I think of that time. Let’s see how this beer was.

ABV: 7.5%

Style: American IPA

Trivia: According to wikipedia.com, “A Scorpion Bowl is a communally shared alcoholic tiki drink served in a large ceramic bowl traditionally decorated with wahine or hula-girl island scenes and meant to be drunk through long straws. Bowl shapes and decorations can vary considerably. Starting off as a single-serve drink known as the Scorpion cocktail, its immense popularity as a bowl drink in tiki culture is attributed to Trader Vic. The drink contains light rum, brandy, and orgeat syrup along with orange and lemon juice and is typically heavily garnished. The ceramic vessel itself is also referred to as a ‘scorpion bowl’. Different versions can have multiple types of rum (overproof, dark and white), gin, wine, and fruit juices. If a sparkling wine ‘floater’ is being added this should be done last after the other ingredients have been mixed.”

Random: When I lived in North Jersey, there was a dive bar that had the best tiki drinks. They also had amazing beef cubes with spicy sauce.

The beer poured with a three finger, loose, cream-colored head. It dissipated at a moderate pace. The body was mostly clear and light orange in color with some carbonation visible. The nose had some grapefruit and pineapple. Not much else came through. The taste had slightly more tropical fruit with some mango and pineapple. There was moderate bitterness to this and the alcohol was apparent on it. The body was heavier than expected with a lot of carbonation. It had a quick and fruity finish. I really wanted this beer to be more like a tiki drink and it just missed the mark for me.

Untappd Rating: 3.0/5.0

Stone Grapefruit Slam

Since I’ve been so busy at work, I really fell off doing reviews, so I had about a month that I didn’t have anything scheduled. Work is still crazy, but I’m going to try to do a better job at scheduling posts. So, let’s jump into it.

ABV: 8.0%

Style: American Double/Imperial IPA

Trivia: According to beeradvocate.com, “First Release: February 2014 India pale ales harness the inherent flavor characteristics of hops to bring forward familiar flavors of pine, resin, spice, and citrus. In some cases, those botanicals are so potent, they exactly mirror specific edibles. Such is the case with Centennial hops, which hail from the Great Northwest and come across on the palate like a mouthful of citrus fruit. That sensation is amplified with this, the first beer introduced via the Stochasticity Project–a double IPA brewed with Centennial, Chinook and Magnum hops as well as an immense dosing of fresh grapefruit peel. The result is over-the-top bittersweet grapefruit intensity that is at once refreshing and bracing in its citrusy bitterness.”

Random: I like Stone’s rebranding a lot. It makes them stand out more.

The beer poured with a one finger, white head. It dissipated rather rapidly and left some lacing on the glass. The body was a hazy yellow with no visible carbonation. The nose was filled with fresh squeezed grapefruit juice. It had a note of flowers as well. The taste was filled with intense grapefruit with flowers. It had a moderately thick body with a lot of carbonation. The finish was lengthy and sticky. I enjoyed this one, but all I got was grapefruit juice. I wouldn’t rush back to have this again.

Untappd Rating: 3.5/5.0

Stone Enjoy By Brut IPA

One of my clients at work was discussing how much he enjoys Brut IPAs. Since I had never had one, I went to the beer store specifically to find one. This was the first one I found.

ABV: 9.4%

Style: American Double/Imperial IPA

Trivia: According to the brewery website, “What better way to commemorate a fresh start than with an uber-fresh beer? This variant of our Enjoy By IPA series features innovative brewing techniques that give it a bright effervescence and a super-dry finish. It makes for a great craft beer alternative to traditional “bubbles,” and it’s still blasted with enough explosive hop flavor to rival any fireworks display. Enjoy its refreshing notes of citrus and peach before, during or after the holidays… just not TOO long after. While this beer is brewed NOT to last, here’s hoping your resolutions are the opposite.”

Random: This beer comes in at 90 IBUs.

The beer poured with a one finger, white head. It dissipated quickly and left a crown on top of the clear, copper-colored body. There was a lot of carbonation visible. The nose was muted with notes of grapefruit and peach. The taste was filled with citrus. I specifically picked up grapefruit, tangerine, peach and apricot. There was not much else. The body was medium thickness with lots of carbonation. It had a very dry finish, which was to be expected. A can of this beer was $2.75, which came to $.23 per ounce. I thought this was an interesting take on an IPA, but due to the ABV, one that I would only have sparingly.

Untappd Rating: 4.0/5.0

Stone 22nd Anniversary Anni-Matter Double IPA

I haven’t had a Stone Anniversary beer in awhile, so I decided to give this one a shot.

ABV: 9.1%

Style: American Double/Imperial IPA

Trivia: According to the brewery website, “Stone 22nd Anniversary Anni-Matter Double IPA is a clean, crisp IPA that reinforces bold, flavorful, juicy IPAs can still be perfectly clear. This beer is proudly haze-free. Every year our brewers have a special recipe creation challenge with two-person teams. We call it the Stone Spotlight Competition. This year’s winner ‘Anni-Matter’ was brewed (and named) by Stone brewers Jason Smith and Jose Flores. We felt it was a great candidate for our 22nd Anniversary beer, as it’s not only an amazing IPA, but a great way to showcase the deep bench of talented and dedicated brewers on Team Stone. This No Haze Double IPA is the perfect tribute to 22 years of challenging convention and doing things our way.”

Random: This beer comes in at 85 IBUs.

The beer poured with a two finger, thick, cream-colored head. It dissipated at a moderate pace and left some lacing on the glass. The body of the beer was clear and a bright orange color with a lot of carbonation visible. The nose started with some floral notes and quickly went into some sweet malt. The taste had some grapefruit pith and lemon rind that provided a generous bitterness. It was quickly followed up by malt and some alcohol as well. The body was on the medium side with just enough carbonation. It had a lengthy finish with grapefruit rind. A bottle of this was $3, which came to $.25 per ounce. I enjoyed this beer a lot. It was a welcome trip back to a West Coast IPA.

Untappd Rating: 4.0/5.0

Stone ///Fear.Movie.Lions

This beer is a relatively new release from Stone. Let’s see how it was.

ABV: 8.5%

Style: American Double/Imperial IPA

Trivia: According to the brewery website, “New England-Style IPAs are all the rage. Fans of Stone repeatedly ask for our take on the style, which can be met with some criticism. Rooted in West-Coast style IPAs for decades, how would we do it? Fear no more. Our brewers took the approach to deliver incredibly hoppy and aromatic flavor while keeping it very balanced, and upping the alcohol unnoticeably – nailing this astounding one-of-a-kind creation. Overall this unfiltered double IPA is juiced up with massive tropical & citrus notes. The mild bitterness and relatively dry body compliment the style, and the residual maltiness nicely rounds it out. Lingering lime peel and tropical fruit derived from the hops stand out on the finish, begging one to seek out more. What 3 words pinpoint where this beast was born? The location is printed on the can.”

Random: Val and I haven’t seen a movie in the theater yet this year.

The beer poured with a one finger, white head. It dissipated slowly and left some lacing on the glass. The body was a hazy yellow color with a lot of floaties. There was a lot of carbonation visible. The nose was not as strong as I thought it was going to be, given it was a Stone IPA. It had some citrus, but not a huge amount. The taste was a little stronger. It started with some grapefruit, pineapple and mango. It had malt as well that provided some sweetness, along with some booze as well. The body was on the thicker side with high carbonation. It had a lengthy finish with fruit. A pounder can of this was $2.17, which broke down to $.14 per ounce. I wasn’t a huge fan of this beer. I wish it had a lot more depth, which is surprising for me to say for a Stone beer.

Untappd Rating: 3.0/5.0

Stone Enjoy After Brett IPA

Tonight’s selection is a beer from Stone I bought years ago. Let’s pop it open.

ABV: 7%

Style: American IPA

Trivia: According to the brewery website, “This IPA is spiked at bottling with Brettanomyces, a wild yeast that, over time, brings about charmingly unpredictable complexities of spice, funk, acidity and more. The operative words in our beer-cellaring thesis are ‘over time.’ For those of you who are impatient or like to experiment, the earliest we recommend sampling this beer is one year before the date on the label. The beer won’t be fully carbonated until that date. Ideally, you’ll want to cellar the beer up to-or beyond-the Enjoy After date to help it reach its full evolutionary potential. At that point, some facets of the Brett characteristics will have mellowed, while others will have become more profound; it all matures into a fascinating and delicious culmination. Individual results will vary…and that’s both the beauty and the intent behind this beer.”

Random: Stone has really lengthy descriptions on their beer bottles.

This beer poured with a super fluffy, four finger, pure white head. It hung around for awhile and left some lacing on the glass. The body was bright yellow and cloudy and had some visible carbonation. The nose had a lot of funk and lemon zest as well. There was some grass and hay as well. The taste also had a lot of funk, like the nose with a lot of hay. The lemon was present as well and then there was a slight pine note with bitterness from the hops. The body was on the lighter side and there was a punch of booze. The finish was lengthy with hay. This was $14.99 for the bomber, which came to $.68 per ounce. I thought this was an interesting concept and the flavors were solid. I’m glad I tried it, but I’m not sure that I can justify the pricetag.

Untappd Rating: 3.5/5.0

Stone Mocha IPA

Tonight’s selection is a beer from Stone that I was very interested to try. I thought this beer would either be great or just completely miss the mark, with no middle ground. Let’s see how it was.

ABV: 9%

Style: American Double/Imperial IPA

Trivia: According to the brewery website, “Clearly, style lines have been crossed. Is it half-IPA, half-stout? Not quite. It’s definitely all IPA, but it’s also the best of both styles, making this love child of a beer simply just a beautiful, pleasure-seeking meld of imperial IPA and mocha indulgence. How did we come up with this inexplicably delicious creation? Well, that doesn’t really matter. What matters is that it exists and that it’s here for you now, thanks to our deliberate disregard for brewing norms. Some things are not meant to be known, just enjoyed…thoroughly.”

Random: Val and I love a good cup of coffee or a good mocha.

This beer poured with a fluffy, two and a half finger, slightly off white head. It took awhile to dissipate and left a lot of lacing on the glass. The body was quite cloudy and bright orange in color. There was some carbonation visible. The nose was definitely interesting. It had the normal notes that I’ve come to expect from the style: pine, lemon, grapefruit pith. But, it transitioned quickly into cocoa powder and instant coffee. The taste was equally unique. It had a nice dose of booze along with pine resin, but quickly went into milk chocolate shavings, instant espresso and cocoa powder. It had some tropical notes as well, specifically pineapple. The body was on the thicker side with lots of carbonation. It had a lengthy finish with coffee and chocolate. A bottle of this was $2.50, which came to $.21 per ounce. Despite the price, I think this beer combined some interesting flavors and is definitely worth a shot.

Untappd Rating: 4.0/5.0

Stone Pataskala Red X IPA

Tonight’s beer is one that I’ve never tried from Stone. Let’s see how it was.

ABV: 7.3%

Style: American Amber/Red Ale

Trivia: According to the brewery website, “Pat-ASK-ala? Pata-SKALA? Pa-TASK-a-la? While those in the know favor the third pronunciation, no matter how you say it, this is a unique red IPA. The beer was first brewed in September 2015 to support music and arts education programs in Pataskala, Ohio, where Stone co-founder Greg Koch grew up. People there loved it, so we added the beer to our seasonal lineup, and the Pataskala name stuck. The crimson hue is courtesy of a special German malt variety by BESTMALZ® called Red X. Appearances, however, only tell so much. Heavily dry-hopped with Mosaic, Cascade and Amarillo hops, the beer is incredibly citrus-forward, rounded out with notes of biscuit and toffee from the malt bill. The result is evocative of red IPAs yet different. And as luck — or perhaps skill is more the appropriate word, to give our brewing team their due — would have it, it’s quite wonderful. We think you’ll find this unusual red IPA to be quite deliciously satisfying, no matter how you choose to pronounce it.”

Random: I’m so glad that “So You Think You Can Dance” features adults this season, instead of children.

This beer poured with a full finger of off white head. It took awhile to go away and left a lot of lacing on the glass. The body was a dark brown color that had red highlights. There was a lot of carbonation visible. The nose was nutty and had pine sap and sweet orange flesh. The taste had a lot of nutty malt, along with old pine sap and peanuts. The alcohol was astringent and prevalent in this one. It had a medium thick body with moderate carbonation. The finish was quick and nutty. A bottle of this set me back $2, which came to $.17 per ounce. This beer was a miss for me. It needed more hops, which is weird to say for a Stone beer.

Untappd Rating: 3.0/5.0

Stone Xocoveza

Tonight’s selection is a beer from Stone that I was really excited to try. It gets some great reviews on blogs and I always want to try stouts with hot peppers.

ABV: 8.1%

Style: Milk/Sweet Stout

Trivia: According to the brewery website, “A WINTER-SPICED MOCHA STOUT. Harmoniously layered with cocoa, Mostra coffee, pasilla peppers, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and milk sugar, this beer is an insanely delicious take on Mexican hot chocolate. Thanks entirely to you and fan demand, it has gone from being a one-time offering to a yearly tradition too special to skip. Feel free to enjoy it long into the winter months because this festive beer will age beautifully and is definitely not exclusive to the holidays!”

Random: Val made enchiladas for dinner with a great sauce.

The beer poured with a half a finger of light brown head that dissipated quickly and left limited lacing on the glass. The body was dark and black in color with no visible carbonation. The nose had a jalapeño note to it with some char, smoke and cocoa powder. It also had some lactose with nutmeg. The taste started with cocoa powder, smoke and char. It went into hot pepper with some vanilla and lactose. The booze was well-hidden. It had a thick and chewy body with light carbonation. The finish was lengthy with dark chocolate and hot peppers. I enjoyed this beer a lot. It was a great take on a stout and I’m a sucker for a beer with a good hot pepper presence.

Untappd Rating: 4.5/5.0

Stone Citrusy Wit

Today’s selection is a beer that reminded me of warmer weather, which I think is right around the corner.

ABV: 5.3%

Style: Witbier

Trivia: According to the brewery website, “CLEVERLY TWISTED WITH TANGERINE & KAFFIR LIME LEAF. When it comes to our beers and the ingredients we use, we give a wit. So rather than spinning just the same fruit wheel of the classic orange peel, we punched up our wit with the dynamic duo of tangerine and kaffir lime leaf. The fruit-forward aromatics and flavors are perfectly balanced, so you don’t have to bother adding a slice (or leaf) to the rim of your glass. Even with this lack of unnecessary garnish, you won’t find an absence of intense fruit. In fact, each dryly refreshing, citrusy sip of this coriander-spiced, tangerine-infused, Mandarina Bavaria-hopped creation will satisfy even the most hardcore fan.”

Random: Stone seems to be really into the Mandarina Bavaria hops. I’ve already had a few of their beers that utilize them.

This beer poured with a two finger, thick, white head. It took forever to dissipate and left some lacing on the glass. The body was cloudy and bright yellow in color. Despite the haziness, there was still some carbonation visible. The nose had wheat, lemon and lime zest. The kaffir lime leaves are quite apparent in the nose. The taste had a lot of lime and coriander. There was also wheat and lemon juice as well, but huge amounts of lime and kaffir lime leaves. It had a light and crisp body with high carbonation. The finish was quick with kaffir lime leaves and coriander. A bottle of this was $1.79 ($.15 per ounce). I enjoyed this beer a lot and it would make for a great summer beer. My only complaint is that it came in bottles as opposed to cans.

Untappd Rating: 4.0/5.0