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 90: Sierra Nevada Hoptimum

Review 90

8/15/12

Sierra Nevada Hoptimum: 10.4% abv

Sierra Nevada. What do you know about Sierra Nevada? Well if you know anything about them, they’re pretty big. Like Sam Adams big. Not quite that big, but certainly big, all the same, they’re big. So what kind of beers they produce? A large variety of them, friends. One of those varieties is a double IPA, which is probably not as common as some of their more universal versions. Redundancy at its best. So what does Hoptimum have to offer, besides alcohol percent? Isn’t that enough? No. You need to spend your dollars well, friends. And here’s what we think of it: 

On the nose, you will find very fruity notes, with light bitterness to it. The fruity flavors include grapefruit, melon, citrus, lemon, pineapple, and light tart apple. There is caramel as well, followed by some pine and floral notes. The taste follows with consistency. There is honey and caramel on the arrival, along with apple, brown sugar and raisons. There is no doubt that there are some unique flavors in this beer, as it leads into the full flavor. 

The body provides a little more bitterness, with pine resin, grapefruit, and I seem to have written bitterness in here like five more times...this beer is bitter. I guess. Alright. So moving on. The finish is bitter...again...with some grain character, grapefruit, more bitterness, pineapple, floral notes, earthiness, and a dry aftertaste. This beer is syrupy in texture and full-bodied, but it is certainly unbalanced, and we weren’t necessary impressed. 

Score: 7.5/10

Review 82: Founders Devil Dancers

Review 82

7/17/12

Founders Devil Dancer: 12% abv

It’s not often we report IBUs (International Bitterness Units) in our reviews, but for this one, I think you have to. This is why. Devil Dancer is one of Founders specialty beers, but it is not just some lame oak aged beer. It is a TRIPLE IPA. There is certainly some intimidation that goes along with drinking a beer called Devil Dancer that’s a Triple IPA and ranks 112 IBUs on a scale that you rarely ever see above 90. I won’t lie, after having had Double Crooked Tree, I wasn’t so much interested in trying this beer at all, but we have some IPA junkies over here, so we did it out of obligation to our audience. I will say, it does have a calmingly beautiful amber color to it. And then it eats you alive like Cerberus would on your decent to Hades. I exaggerate. 

So what can we say about this one? The nose is not like Cerberus eating you alive, frankly. It is actually quite fruity, with an immediate impression of pineapple, peach, ripe pear, apple, lemon, cantaloupe, and grapefruit. Yeah, that’s just the fruitiness behind it. It has those sweet flavors of caramel, molasses, honey, and malt to it, but you don’t miss out on the floral and piny flavors as well. The taste will surprise you. And no, it doesn’t start or end with BITTER!!!!! The taste isn’t very “IPA”. It is malty, with a full mouth-feel, meaning it’s a little thicker in texture. It’s certainly not a lager. The sweeter notes resemble caramel, milk chocolate, maple syrup and pineapple. Contrasting that are the grapefruit and pine notes that are strangely not overpowering. So this beer isn’t bitter? What was all this hype about Cerberus and triple headed dogs and what-not. Yeah, hold onto your shorts, impatient reader. 

The finish will hit you different ways different times. It happens now and again that the beer you’re drinking can be hugely impacted by HOW you drink it. Meaning, how much of a gulp did you take, which part of the back of your throat did it hit, etc. And the bitterness behind this beer is the same way. Also, it builds up, like the heat behind a ghost pepper would. Needless to say, the finish is long and bitter no matter what, but there is sweetness and some interesting stuff goes on here. Let’s start with the basics: pine and lemony citrus, and that’s the basics. From here, our tasters came up with orange rind, coffee bean, sugarcane, rock candy, and Meyer Dark rum mixed with tonic. These notes might be a little obscure, but there is some truth to each of them. Like I said, this beer’s bark is worse than it’s bite. Ha! See, I went back to that Cerberus thing one more time! It’s good, but maybe not having the depth and complexity, or the balance that we seek in ideal beer world. 

Score: 9.0/10

Review 52: New Holland Imperial Hatter

Review 52
6/3/12
New Holland Imperial Hatter: 9.38% abv

Another double IPA, and an introduction to our countdown to Hatter Day, June 16th. After having had the Mad Hatter IPA, we had a lot of respect for New Holland's IPA style. This one sits at a very reasonable percent, which is encouraging. So onto the tasting notes.

On the nose, like most of the higher percent IPAs we've had, most of the flavo...rs were balanced and well blended. There is strong notes of honey, earthiness, subtle hops, lemon, orange, pear, white grape, pineapple, and caramel on the nose. The taste contains caramel, lemon, with a slightly creamy arrival (which struck us as odd for an IPA), honey, molasses, apple, and grape on the arrival, with a slight hint of nutmeg. The taste is very complex, very refreshing, and considerably better than the Mad Hatter.

The finish is very long, containing vanilla, grapefruit, orange, nutmeg, a slight bitterness and lemon after a few seconds, with the same creaminess as in the arrival. This is an incredibly well crafted IPA, and deserves to be looked at. Taste and enjoy.

Score: 9.5/10