Beer Wednesday - "Enjoy by 05.17.13" IPA by Stone

This beer is a little unusual.  Stone's "Enjoy by" series is meant to be a fresh IPA that you drink before a certain optimal date.  Beer advocate has a list of the different releases so far.  I had the release named Stone Enjoy by 05.17.13 IPA.

I'm going to copy the description on the back of the bottle provided by Stone, because it's the easiest way to summarize what they're going for:

"You have in your hands a devastatingly fresh double IPA. While freshness is a key component of many beers - especially big, citrusy, floral IPAs - we've taken it further, a lot further, in this IPA. You see, we specifically brewed it NOT to last. We've not only gone to extensive lengths to ensure that you're getting this beer in your hands within an extraordinarily short window, we made sure that the Enjoy By date isn't randomly etched in tiny text somewhere on the label, to be overlooked by all but the most attentive of retailers and consumers. Instead, we've sent a clear message with the name of the beer itself that there is no better time than right now to enjoy this IPA."

 Anyway, I'm not a huge IPA guy in general (I tend to prefer darker beers) and I thought this beer was pretty good.  I certainly do not prefer it to, say, Stone's Ruination IPA.  However, it is a pretty interesting concept and I've read several positive reviews from other beer sites (from Das Ale Haus and Tasty Mug, for example)  For big IPA fans like Aaron it might be worth trying just for the fresh IPA experience.

Earlier batches such as the 09.21.12 release and the 04.20.13 release have also received rave reviews.  So there's that.

The beer is 9.4% abv and cost me $6.99 for a 22oz bottle.

Beer Wednesday: Stone 15th Anniversary Escondidian Imperial Black IPA

Aaron and I sat down to do a tasting of the Stone 15th Anniversary Escondidian Imperial Black IPA by Stone, and here is the chat we had about this very interesting beer:

Beer Wednesday: Cherry Chocolate Stout by Stone, Jason Fields and Kevin Sheppard, and Troegs

A new beer is available from the Stone collaborations series, and I was really excited to give it a try. You don't see an ambitious flavor mix like 'Cherry Chocolate Stout' every day, so I was pretty excited about this one. The short version: it tastes a lot like a beer version of a Cherry Coke. Make of that what you will.

Beer Wednesday: Stone Brewery Anniversary

This last weekend I attended Stone Brewery's 14th Anniversary Celebration held at Cal State San Marcos. It was not as brutally hot as expected and the beers were fantastic.

Beer Wednesday: Le Freak by Green Flash Brewing

Green Flash is yet another good brewery in San Diego. They are best known for their Green Flash IPA. We reviewed their Le Freak in a tag-team effort between Aaron and myself. The Le Freak is a fusion of styles, it is alternately described as a Belgian IPA, an Abbey Trippel, a blond, and as Green Flash's own combo description described below. (Feedback on the format is appreciated; this is our first time experimenting.)

It is $7.49 for a 22oz bottle and has 9.2% ABV. Below is the discussion Aaron and I had in which we reviewed the beer.

Beer Wednesday: Imperial Russian Stout by Stone Brewing

I am quite familiar with Stone Brewing. For one thing they are based in San Diego, just like Ballast Point Brewery; that innate characteristic makes them awesome by default. We all know how much Aaron loves Stone's Ruination IPA, which we all agree is one of the pinnacles of the IPA style. Stone clearly knows how to make a good beer.

That makes their lackluster Imperial Russian Stout all the more disappointing.

Wet Wednesday: In Search of More Hops

We're going to go all the way back to the beginning. Not the beginning of alcohol, but my personal drinking experiences. It started with Captain Morgan straight from the bottle at the fraternity of a good friend of mine. Later that college summer I started drinking beer from the keg. It was disgusting. I don't know if it was all the rum or the blacklight, but both the beer and I were a little green. Throughout that year of college, I realized that you can't just keep taking shots to maintain a level of drunkeness. And once you've had enough shots, you can't taste the beer anyways, so I started to develop a tolerance to the taste of beer.

Beer Wednesday: El Camino (un)Real Black Ale by Stone, Firestone Walker, and 21st Amendment

The El Camino (un)Real Black Ale is another collaboration effort initiated by Stone Brewing and featuring Firestone Walker and 21st Amendment. (We previously sampled this as an adjunct to the FIWK IPA Tasting.) One of Stone's previous collaborative beers, the Kona Coffee Macadamia Nut Porter, was a delicious product of their team-up with Kona Brewing and a Hawai'i homebrewer. Much like that beer, the El Camino has a particular mission in mind. It seeks to use local flora found along the historic El Camino Real in California and create a unique black ale. They achieved their goal.

Beer Wednesday: The FIWK IPA Tasting

Towards the end of April, Aaron came down to LA. We decided to celebrate this occasion by assembling a crew and drinking some beers. Aaron loves IPAs so we focused the tasting mainly around those. Here is the list:

IPAs
- Longhammer IPA by Redhook (6.5% ABV)
- Blind Pig IPA by Russian River (6.1%)
- Pliny the Elder IPA by Russian River (8%)
- Torpedo IPA by Sierra Nevada (7.2%)
- Hop Ottin' IPA (organic) by Anderson Valley (7%)
- Big Daddy IPA by Speakeasy (6.5%)
- Ruination IPA by Stone (7.7%)


Non-IPAs
- Noble Pilsner by Sam Adams (5%?)
- McGarvey's Scottish Ale by Left Coast (5%)
- El Camino (Un)Real Black Ale by Stone, Firestone Walker, and 21st Amendment (9.5%)
- Red & White Ale by Dogfish Head (10%)
- Victory at Sea Vanilla Coffee Imperial Porter by Ballast Point (10%)


Pictures are forthcoming. Feel free to add your comments in the meantime, especially if you've had these beers before.