Stone Levitation Ale

Brewed by Stone Brewing Co.
Style: Amber Ale
Escondido, California USA

#548 (Mike Schmidt) Why isn’t there more hype surrounding this ale? This is basically the Bastard in less arrogant and aggressive form, and still comes off admirably. I note the style designation as an amber, and on that note I recall describing Rogue’s American Amber (rated 4.1 by this rater, the difference being the aroma quality) as like the Bastard gone off steroids. So let’s posit that the Bastard is some kind of vicious Amber Ale that refuses to be lumped in with such a tame style. On that note, this is clearly a better Amber than the rest of the bunch.

Pours deep copper/ amber color with frothy off-white head. Nose is lots of malt with resiny citrus hop sting. Flavor is h2o, some malt, and a lot of biting grapefruit hops. Interesting, but even Stone’s hop presence can’t do it for an amber. I am not a big fan of the style. Light-medium bodied and not bad overall.

Stately amber with red-orange underpinning and decent head. Well stated Cascade accented aroma and flavor. Malt background supports the easy Cascade flavors. Raw Cascade hop bite with good finishing bitterness, possibly Chinook, on the finish. This could probably more accurately be descriped as an APA.

Pours amber with a fully receding tan head. Aroma of mild pine and citrus. Taste is moderately bitter, light toffee, crystal malt, and lightly acidic. Mouthfeel is medium to moderate resins and carbonation.

12oz bottle. ruby pour with a medium tan head with some soapy stick. nice aroma of apricot, grass, pine, grapefruit and sweet malts. taste is roasty malt and light citrus. light hop bitter finish.

12 oz bottle. Pours a perfect amber, small head with some lacing. Aroma of malt and citrus undertones. Flavor has a dominant roasty malt, but impressed with the perfect balance of citrus from the hops. A bit thin, but surprisingly this amber is full of flavor. Not my favorite style, but I could drink this on a regular basis.

Nice reddish brown color with very thin head. Big aroma of hops and some wood, maybe some dirt. Taste is not strong, with a bit of overcarbonation, and a light bitter to it. A fair bit of hops show through, but for what it is, its not bad really.

Picked this up the other day at the package store and was totally impressed with this easily quaffable brew. I will admit I was a skeptic at first when I saw the 4.4 ABV. Poured a deep dark copper colour with a medium sized almond coloured head. Aroma was biscuity and softly hopped. Taste was delightful with some brown sugar, rich malts and caramel undertones. Another winner from Stone. Everybody must get Stoned!