Stone Cali-Belgique IPA (Cali-België)

Ah yes Stone does it again. Nice pour leaves just shy of an inch head. Nice floral hop aroma on the nose. Drinkable, yes indeed this will be the perfect summer beer. Can almost taste the sweetness here and an aftertaste that is oh so pleasant. Very nice IPA that is also very unique as well.

Pours a light to medium golden with a persistent one inch white head. Powerful aroma of orange with notes of angel food cake, and pine. Flavor is not quite as potent as other IPAs, although it it quite pleasant. I detect floral hops, dish soap, and bananas. This beer is very smooth on the palate with a pleasant subtle lingering bitterness that I found refreshing. I approached this with an open mind and found it to be an extremely smooth and easy to drink IPA with an interesting twist.

Pours copper with a thin white head that sticks around. Smells of citrus, fruity, melons, some soapy hints. Tastes citrussy and grassy with some underlying earthiness and a light spicy finish.

bomber from Ginger Man NYC Poures medium gold with thick white head. Floral apple aroma, some citrus, earthy yeasty tones. Flavour was light floral bitterness, pale malt, light spiciness. Lingering dry bitter finish.

Bottle.

Nice amber color, substantial head. Super-fruity sour-peach aroma; here the hops and belgian yeast dance nicely together. But in the flavor, not so. Bubblegum and clove yeasts struggle against classic west-coast IPA hops, citrus all around, too much like a bastard hoppy imperial wit. While I could have easily drank it without minding, there’s better in the fridge. I ended up leaving this one to my friends and cracking another Green Flash. This is no Hop-It, that’s for certain.

Bottle sampled in 8/2008: Pours a transparent dark golden brass color with a spotty-lacing froth of white head. Aroma of assertive grapefruity hops and some light toasty pale malty notes and a touch of light fruity esters. Body starts with decent fullness and faint malty sweetness with a lot of citrusy bittering hops before a drier crisp bittersweet finish. Could use a little more sweetness and some Belgian yeasty character.

Amber pour. Aroma of floral hops, orange, and a touch of yeast. The flavor was dry, herbal, and hoppy, almost like a rich APA. Very flavorful, but I don’t taste much of Belgium in this equation. Stone used a Belgian yeast, according to the label. A very enjoyable, fully bittered IPA, some esters, powerful and flavorful. Another excellent Stone release.

Beer fit for a king. Wonderful glowing golden color with white head. Head laces well down the glass. Good sweet smell and taste. Wonderful IPA.