Stone Pale Ale

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

12oz bottle from my Summer Secret Santa. Standard amber colored pale ale body with a craggy, 2 fingers thick white head. Leaves some sporadic foam on top of the beer and decent cobweb lacing. Grapefruit hops, oranges, lemon grass, pine, bread dough and caramel malts highlight the aroma. Flavor profile is very similar, actually a pretty nice balance between the hops and the sweet components. Adds a touch of honey to further sweeten things up. Very slick on the palate, tons of hop resin left behind, coating the tongue. Surprisingly not that bitter or astringent at all. Medium bodied. Finish is mostly sweet, with a bitterness that stays on the edges and is really a costar to the malty sweetness. I like it, but it’s completely different from what I expected from this brewery.

From a 12 oz. bottle--Poured a pale amber body with a nice fluffy white head. Nose of bready malts and citrus hops. Mildly caramel and fruity. Nice sessionable offering from a usually hyped up bold brewery.

Nice to have a Stone session beer. I like their beer, but most of them are too strong to drink all night. I think I’ve finally realized that I don’t like IPAs that much, but I do like pale ales and love Double IPAs. And this beer made me realize that. Very well balance. TECHNICAL: Bottle. Poured a dark amber with a small, off-white head. The aroma was light carmel malt, light to moderate perfume and citrus hops along with maybe some cherry. The initial flavor was lightly sweet and lightly to moderately bitter, while the finish was moderately sweet and moderately to heavily bitter with and average to long finish. The flavor was a nice balance of caramel malt and citrus hops. The medium body was dry with soft carbonation and light metallic finish.

This beer was poured into a shaker and has a nice clear amber pale color and no head just some minor foam at the top but it fades rather quick. It does however leave some minor streaks along the sides of the glass.There is a nice sweet honey like and hoppy aroma to it. as you drink it there is a robust and intence woody initial flavor which hits the top of your tounge and tastes rather great. The palate is very malty with hopps to complement the woody and malty flavor. There is a nice warming honey taste that lasts for a decent amount of time along the sides of your mouth.

Bright hoppy aroma. Nice malt sweet flavor balanced by the bitterness of the hops. Finish is crisp bitter hops. A very good pale ale.

Aroma is fruity and malty. Traditional Stone malt profile. Taste is decently malty and slightly hoppy. Finish is very smooth and, well, I really wish I had this fresh. This bottle tastes aged. It is a good beer, but I cannot give it the marks I would a fresh beer. Good but not overwhelmingly so.

Had this beer on 6/21/2003. Aroma is a nice fresh hop scent with a hint of mildly roasted malt. Color is a deep burnt orange with good carbonation and nice head. Like the IPA there is a small amount of fish food looking floaties, but little less. Taste is sweet, hoppy, and bitter. Starting with a medium body it goes down crisp with a genteelly sweet taste coming on. Finish comes with this sweet malt flavor followed by a crisp bitterness and smooth fresh hop flavor. Overall I feel this is one of the best Pale Ales I have ever had and only misses being excellent by a hair. I think the only thing that could make it better would be to back off the sweetness a bit. As you drink it this part gets a bit stronger making it feel a bit like a Scottish Ale.

Bottle. Very nice balance of hops and malt. Delicious. One of my favorites.