Stoneface Blip

I’m listening to a podcast about the Black Dahlia murder. One of the people on this podcast is the son of the main suspect. He wrote a book that is now going on my Amazon wishlist. Let’s get to something happier…like this beer.

ABV: 5.6%

Style: American IPA

Trivia: According to the brewery website, “A ‘small’ IPA that’s been dry hopped with Mosaic, Columbus, and Simcoe hops.”

Random: If Val and I go back to Maine, we’re making our way back here again. The beers were outstanding and the staff was quite friendly and informative.

This beer poured with a huge, three finger white head. It took forever to dissipate and left a lot of lacing on the glass. The body was the color of melted lemon Italian ice with light carbonation visible. The nose was filled with lemon flesh and fresh-cut grass clippings. Weirdly enough, I got Lemon Italian ice too. The taste was also very light and not nearly as pungent as the nose. Lemon pith and a vegetal note too. It was almost like arugula. The body was thin with light carbonation that needed to be dialed up. It had a quick finish with the same vegetal notes and grass. I received this beer as a gift, so I have no idea how much it was and New Jersey doesn’t get distribution. This reminded me more of a pale ale than a true IPA, but it was alright. I don’t think it was their best showing, but definitely drinkable.

Untappd Rating: 3.5/5.0

Stoneface Porter

This is (unfortunately) the last beer that I have from Stoneface. If you’re ever in New Hampshire, definitely stop there. The beer is solid and the staff is insanely friendly.

ABV: 5.5%

Style: American Porter

Trivia: According to the brewery website, “Currently, our IPA, India Red Rye Ale and Pale Ale are available on draft and in bottles. You can find our beers in better beer stores and beer centric bars and restaurants. Right now, we are only distributing our beer in NH. You can also find our beers at the brewery in bottles and growlers. We live free to make [and drink] what we want. We love to make beers we like to drink — we hope you enjoy them too.”

Random: I really wish that Stoneface would update their website. They have no information about the beers they currently have.

This beer poured with a one finger, thick, khaki colored head. It dissipated slowly and left some lacing on the glass. The body was black and no light passed through it. As a result of the color, I couldn’t see any carbonation. The nose had espresso, roasted malts and smoke. The taste was really robust given the ABV on the beer. It had a lot of espresso, like the nose did. Dark chocolate came through next, with some smoke and bready malt. The mouthfeel was thick and chewy with light carbonation. It had a lengthy finish with espresso and roasted malts. The beer was $5.49 for the bottle, which came to $.32 per ounce. I really enjoyed this beer on a cold night and was an affordable price. If only they would distribute to New Jersey.

Untappd Rating: 4.0/5.0

Stoneface Pale Ale

Merry Christmas! Hopefully everyone is having a good time with family and friends and enjoying the holiday. For tonight’s review, I have a pale ale from New Hampshire.

ABV: 5.6%

Style: American Pale Ale

Trivia: According to the brewery website, “Currently, our IPA, India Red Rye Ale and Pale Ale are available on draft and in bottles. You can find our beers in better beer stores and beer centric bars and restaurants. Right now, we are only distributing our beer in NH. You can also find our beers at the brewery in bottles and growlers. We live free to make [and drink] what we want. We love to make beers we like to drink — we hope you enjoy them too.”

Random: I will be watching “Muppet Christmas Carol” at some point today. I do it every year.

This brew poured with a huge head, three fingers of white foam, in fact. It dissipated at a moderate pace and left lots of lacing. The body was a cloudy, lemon yellow color with lots of floaties visible and high carbonation. The nose was heavy on the citrus with grapefruit and orange. It had a decent amount of bready malt behind it as well. The taste was bright and crisp with lots of grapefruit and grapefruit rind. It had some breadiness from the malt, but it didn’t provide a lot of sweetness. It had pleasant, but not overwhelming bitterness. The body was thicker than expected with high carbonation. It had a long finish with grapefruit zest. The 16 ounce bottle of this was $5.49 ($.34 per ounce). This was a very drinkable, and flavorful pale that would appeal more to the hophead than the novice drinker.

Untappd Rating: 4.0/5.0

Stoneface India Rye Ale

Happy Christmas Eve to everyone! I’m most likely still working so people can get their furniture in time for the holiday. Instead of me talking about work, let’s talk about a beer straight out of New Hampshire.

ABV: 6%

Style: Rye Beer

Trivia: According to the brewery website, “We’re increasing capacity already! It’s only been two months since we released our first beer, but in order to quench your summer thirst, we’ll be upgrading the brewery with more fermentation space, which means more beer! We’ll be tripling capacity over the summer, so you’ll start seeing more Stoneface across the state. Third, our bottling line is nearly up and running. We hope to have bottles at better beer stores within the next two months or so. Keep an eye out at your local beer shop–we’ll be doing our first test bottling runs this weekend! Finally, we’d like to send a sincere thank you to all of those who have been out there emptying kegs, we hope you enjoy drinking the beer as much as we enjoy making it for you. We hope to see you out at some of our upcoming events over the summer!”

Random: Last minute Christmas wrapping is not fun.

The brew poured with a huge, three finger, slightly off white head. It dissipated slowly and left significant lacing on the glass. It also left a crown on top of the mahogany body with high carbonation. The nose had rye spice along with pine needles and cracker. The taste had a really nice amount of rye and nutty malt. It had a pleasant amount of bitterness as well. It had a chewy body with high carbonation. The finish was long with rye and hazelnuts. The 16 ounce bottle set me back $5.49 ($.34 per ounce), which isn’t a bad deal, although it’s not distributed in Jersey. I really enjoyed this beer and I think it incorporated the rye really nicely. I would search this beer out again. If you find yourself by the brewery, definitely give this a try.

Untappd Rating: 4.5/5.0

Stoneface IPA

We’re getting into more of the beers I picked up on vacation. This is the first of the Stoneface beers that I picked up directly from the source.

ABV: 7.2%

Style: American IPA

Trivia: According to the brewery website, “Currently, our IPA, India Red Rye Ale and Pale Ale are available on draft and in bottles. You can find our beers in better beer stores and beer centric bars and restaurants. Right now, we are only distributing our beer in NH. You can also find our beers at the brewery in bottles and growlers. We live free to make [and drink] what we want. We love to make beers we like to drink — we hope you enjoy them too.”

Random: I love their label design. I bought a shirt from them and it’s one of my favorites.

The brew poured with a thick and meringue-like, four finger white head. It took a long time to get anywhere and left lots of lacing on my IPA glass. The body was lightly hazy with light carbonation visible. The nose was very fragrant and citrus forward. Grapefruit and orange came through first, and then sweet malt came through. The taste was much of the same. It started with grapefruit flesh and orange and then quickly went into a big, floral note. The malt wasn’t as pronounced as in the nose. The alcohol didn’t make an appearance on the taste. There were strong, floral hops as well. Orange peel was there too. The bitterness was strong, but not over the top. It had a really pithy taste, but not a huge amount of pine. The body was medium thickness with moderate carbonation. It had a quick finish, especially for the style with grapefruit pith and malt. This was $5.49 for the bottle, which came to $.34 per ounce. I liked this beer, but I think I enjoyed it just a bit more at the brewery. It was still an outstanding beer that I would have again.

Untappd Rating: 4.0/5.0