Stone 16th Anniversary IPA

Brewed by Stone Brewing Co.
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
Escondido, California USA

Serve in Shaker, Snifter

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16th Anniversary IPA is delicious. It pours a honey amber color with a tall light yellow head. It is very aromatic (lemon, herbal). The flavor harmonizes with the aroma in that it is very lemony with notes of herbal spice. Excellent beer. ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

22oz bomber.Pours a hazy golden amber color with a thick white bubbly head. Aroma of citrus hops, lemon, slight pine, grapefruit, and malt. Taste is lemon, grapefruit, pine, an herbal spiciness, and some bready malt.

On tap at Taps. Pours orange bronze with an off white head. Aroma is strong detergent, pine sol soapy yuk. Flavor is lemon verbena soap. Not a fan.

Hazy bronze and copper coloured body with a thin, one centimetre tall tan head. Aroma of assertive hops, lemons, tea, light malt and quite a bit more hops - nice. Medium to Full-bodied; Assertive medicinal and pungent resinous flavour with alcohol, lemons, tea and a lot of pine noticeable. Aftertaste shows way more hops than malt with a very pungent alcohol bite and a lingering bitterness that doesn’t fare very well. Overall, a rather bitter and pungent beer that doesn’t vibe well and shows a bit too much bitterness and not enough malt - not a horrible beer, just one that goes on a bit strong and is in a large format bottle. I sampled this 65 cL bottle purchased from Wegman’s in Woodbridge, Virginia on 25-August-2012 for US$7.99 sampled at home in Washington on 01-June-2013.

Bottle. Pours a clear light copper body with a one inch frothy off-white head that had very nice retention. Lots of heavy lacing left. The nose is quite interesting, there’s a hefty hoppiness, some rye, a touch of lemons, and a hefty caramel malt base. The flavor is very bitter and there’s a lot of spiciness from the rye. There’s a sweetness that’s under it all that turns me off a good bit though, I’m not generally a big fan of DIPA’s that are overly sweet. Finishes with some lingering resiny hops and a bit of a lemony smack. Medium bodied and slightly sticky with fizzy prickly carbonation. Can’t say that I really care for this one. Too many of Stone’s big beers are overly sweet.

Poured into a perfect pint. 4.0 A: Clear light orange color. Two and a half fingers of frothy off-white head. Retention is pretty good given the ABV and a ton of lacing is left. 4.0 S: Surprisingly earthy. Usually Stone goes for floral and, while there is some of that, the hops are decidedly earthy. I’m loving the lemon components in this, which makes this come off somewhat like a hoppy saison. Though this is hop forward, the malts are quite potent as well. Plenty of caramel with just as much toastiness. This really isn’t all that complex and I doubt many will think much of this nose, but I am just loving the lemon too much to not give it a good score. 3.5 T: The taste is good, but there isn’t enough hops, which is something I rarely have to say about Stone’s beers. To be fair, it does have a big earthy hoppiness, but I want some complexity from the hops. There is some floral and woody notes, but not enough. There is a good balance between hops and malts though. Caramel and toastiness sticks out quite well. Moderate to heavy moderate bitterness. Booze is just barely detectable. The lemon products give a nice earthy lemony vibe, but not much in terms of tartness. Still, I like what they bring. 3.5 M: Heavier medium body. Good moderate carbonation. Not a lot of creaminess given that this is an IPA, but it’s not bad overall and it is quite smooth. 3.5 D: Decent effort. Doesn’t "wow" me in any way, but it was worth a try. Serving type: bottle 10-26-2012 04:02:02

Mango, papayas and a lot of sweet tropical fruits in the nose. Very fruity and mildly citrus. Pours a clear amber color with little head and no lacing. The first taste is very malty and sweet. A combination of molasses and front bitterness with a subtext of grassy hops. Very interesting flavor profile. The palate could be smoother. Lots of bitterness lingers in the middle and back of the tongue. ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

Bottle: Poured a slight hazy amber color ale with a large foamy head with great retention and some good lacing. Aroma consists of citrus floral hoppy notes with some good notes of lemon. Taste is dominated by citrus and resinous hops notes with clear lemon notes without any tart flavours. Fruity notes from the Amarillo with light residual sugar form the malt backbone bring out a good balanced mix overall. Body was quite full with great carbonation and no apparent alcohol. Very good and one beer that Stone should keep producing as a regular instead on an Anniversary one.

A nice copper body with a slightly off white head that had good retention and nice lace. Aroma had a nice caramel malt base and a heavy amount of hops some dank, resin hops upfront but there was a nice citrus hop note that balanced it out nicely. Mild lemon peel. Flavor was nice and sweet initially nice bitter hops upfront and the lemon and citrus flavors were strong enough but not to overpowering. A mild, almost peach-like flavor in the finish. Mildly dry and easy to drink. Alcohol was well hidden.

Had this fresh but didn’t rate. Now having it on draft aged almost a year. It’s a bit of a different beer, but it’s real good. Big mint, rosemary, and rye aromas and taste. The hops have faded and the rye has taken over. Real good. Real crisp. Dangerously drinkable.