Stone Cali-Belgique IPA (Cali-België)

Brewed by Stone Brewing Co.
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Escondido, California USA

Fresh bomber. Pours mostly clear and medium orange-amber in color. A frothy, cream colored head shows a nice, bubbly retention at the edge. Jagged, sticky rings of lacing circle the glass. Aromas include citrus blossoms, bitter orange peel, fresh cut grass, and estery light fruits. A distinctly Belgian, doughy yeast note is prominent throughout, as is a touch of coriander and peppery spice. Flavors continue this theme, bright, fresh citrus hop bitterness shining throughout, with sharp coriander and clove and a dry, fruity yeast profile. The palate is medium-bodied and semi-dry, with balanced carbonation and a lingering, grassy hop finish. This trend of American IPA’s done with Belgian yeast isn’t one I’m a big fan of, but this one is well executed and highly enjoyable.

Brilliant clear amber with no head. Bizzarre aroma is piney hops with clove coriander sweet spice. Medium body. Flavor is mainly malty grainy caramel with clove and coriander again, with a taste of floral hops. The Belgian wins the battle of styles in this brew.

DTM picked this one out at Hollingshead in Orange, CA. I heard about it originally via email, and thought the taste combo sounded odd at the time -- not so. The Belgian hints modifed/added to the IPA style in such a way to give it more body, even though the beer was generally light on the palate. I’d buy again, if I saw it.

22oz bottle from hophead22.....pours a semi-transparent orange brown with a thin soapy off-white head....aroma of yeast, citrus notes as well as light grassy hops and pine.... tangerine citrus flavors, earthiness, some sweet candied sugar, and an earthy bitterness in the finish. soft carbonation...i liked this more that the collaboration but that’s not saying a whole lot.

10/25/08 Thanks to pantanap for this. Pours a golden orange with a white head. Nose is yeasty and doughy, lots of that Belgian ale doughy yeast - with a touch of spicy hops. Sweet malts that are doughy with a grassy spicy finish. The hops are somewhat cloying and without that fresh pop to them. Solid beer though. 3/7/3/7/15 = 3.5

This was Avery Fifteen deja vu. Although not nearly as bad...Avery 15 w/o the heavy pepper. Dry, hoppy, spicy, piny - a bit weird, kinda makes your eyes get wide, and not necessarily in a good way. Super average, would never buy again.

I must say this is interesting to mix and IPA with a belgian style brew. I think in this case the belgian aspects overpower the IPA hoppy aspects and while its good, not my cup of tea. Then again, I’m no big fan of belgians either, so that could explain it.

Thanks to Rustychiles for this one. Pours the generic pale ale color. Little bit of chill haze and absolutely no head to speak of. Aroma much like the usual Stone of citrusy hops, especially Simcoe. Faint hints of sulphur? Something a little off. I wouldn’t really call it a ’’Belgian’’ smell. Taste is mostly the same as generic Stone IPA, but with a little different mouth texture. Smoother, a little less biting. Once I let this warm up more, I could finally pick out some distinct Belgian-ness. A little bit of spiciness that played well with some of the spicy hop varieties used. Not much different at all from their normal IPA, but better.