Review 98: Stone 16 Year Anniversary IPA

Review 98

9/19/12

Stone Anniversary IPA 16 Years: 10% abv

Stone. We’ve been to Stone before. There is no doubt that Stone is an intense West-sider with a big flavor and huge punch. And apparently, for their 16th anniversary (now they can drive) they are producing an IPA for us. KCM didn’t know what to expect with this IPA, so instead of expecting, we just found out what the deal was with this, and hoped for the best. This is certainly a craft beer, at a hefty 10% abv and some interesting brewing additives. Like what you ask? Well...lemon verbena and lemon oils. You thought it would be pizza, didn’t you? It’s not. It’s lemon. This isn’t a mind-blowing combination, but enough to perk our ears up. So we poured a glass and took a deeper look. And look we did. And smelled. And here’s what we smelled. (It seems as if I’m trying to get as many periods in this review as possible...I’m not.)

 Onto the nose, my friends! The nose does introduce exactly what this beer is about. There are naturally some strong citrus notes to be found, including a bitter grapefruit with sweet lemon and clementine. The sweeter notes involved include honey, pineapple, honeydew, complimented by the sharp, refreshing pine notes and earthiness in the nose. And I’m sorry ladies and gents, but M insists that the earthy notes are actually notes of the left testicle of a fully grown ox OR moose (he’s not sure which one). In tasting the beer, there is a few sensations in the arrival, including a pleasant maltiness more common to a barleywine, perhaps, with some bitter pine, caramel and apple. 

The body has more detail to it, including caramel to it, malt and wheat adding graininess to the flavor, some pine wood and green grape, and then large lemon rind and lemon flavors jumping to the top. The finish gives out a little more to us, including big earthiness, which has nothing to do with moose or ox, and strange sweetness with sugarcane, agave and orange. There is some dry wheatiness is finish and some bitter grapefruit. Overall, this beer is not the typical bitter Stone beer that we’ve grown to know, but it does have a distinct and unique flavor to it. Unfortunately, it lacks the overall complexity of the barleywine and other IPAs, but looking at the intrinsic quality of this beer makes us think that we’re okay with that. This would be a nice enjoyable IPA for many occasions. Cue the ending credits.

Score: 9.0/10

Review 74: Stone Old Guardian Barleywine

Review 74

7/2/12

Stone Old Guardian Barleywine: 11.3% abv

Stone is a well known micro brewery from California. Before we go any further, this is a good time for you to know that this beer is not for the faint of heart. It will kick you in the face if you aren't ready for it. Here's an example for you. The IBUs for this beer is 85, which is higher than most of your average beers. FYI, IBUs are International Bitterness Units, and they're a real thing. And we confirmed that when we tried the beer for the first time. Don't think this changes anything for us, because we can handle any acronyms this beer throws at us. So let's see what we experienced when we tried this barleywine. 

The nose gives a wonderful blend of flavors, including sweet fruit flavors of apple, lemon, pear, and a counteracting bittersweet grapefruit character. The nose continues with sweet notes of caramel, molasses and brown sugar, honey, sweet malt, chocolate and toffee. The nose is wonderful, and everything about it eludes to a complexity following in the taste and finish. If this was foreshadowing, then we were excited. And sure enough, it was. 

The taste is insanely complex, showing an odd creamy character with hints of vanilla, with extreme balance of bitter and sweetness going at the same time. Bitter notes include pine, hops, and grapefruit, with sweet notes of malt, caramel, wheat, pear, apple, and a maple brown sugar flavor hitting as well. Unfortunately, the finish is slightly disappointing, as the bitterness overpowers any details tasting notes, but pine, grapefruit, and a long lasting flavor are noticeable. This is a sipping beer. If you want to pull a prank on somebody, try having them chug this beast. It is a complex, wonderful beer, and you should definitely try it. The lack of complexity in the finish really is the only reservation in this beer. Give it a try.

Score: 9.5/10