Stone Ruination IPA

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

Wow. Aroma is beautiful. Obviously expected this to be heavy on the hops, and it is with beautiful flower and perfume aromas. Malts come in the form of a bit of hay and nuts, but it is light. There is also honey and a bit of oak. It pours with virtually no head and has a slightly hazy body clarity. The color is a rich, peachy orange. Flavor is amazing, and your first sip really is the best, you can never get the same jubilation from drinking more (trust me, I tried). The flavor starts lightly sweet and then goes into a heavy bitterness. Mouth feel is oily. This brew has an intense, complex character, that in reality stays awhile, but I want it to last longer, to have that taste with me forever!

Orange colour, small firm white head. Nad and brutal hop aroma of grapefruit and orangepeels. Mostly bitter citric hops in flavour. Lot’s of hops. Can’t pick up much else. Maybe some notes of fresh oranges and spices. long brutal hoppy aftertaste that lingers. Grapefruit, pines, mint and lot’s of bitter citric fruit. Wow. Very rewarding and addictive.

Bottle. Golden-amber beer with a big off-white head. Aroma of sweet grapefruit with some caramel backing. There’s some balance here (if you can call something that’s still dominated by hops balanced). It’s smooth for a beer of this type. Bitterness prevails in some grapefruit/tar flavors, but it’s relatively easy to drink. Less malt and assertiveness than an arogant bastard.

Golden color with a thin white head. Strong aroma of slightly piney hops with caramel. Strong piney and spicy hops flavor with caramel. Strong bitter finish,medium body. A good assertive beer but not excellent.

This beer will definitely make your tongue stand up and do a little jig. IPAs are not one of my favorite styles but I will make an exception in this case. Nice dark golden color with a medium thick off-white head. Sinus-clearing hops aroma with a nice floral touch. Senses-shattering hops flavor along with grapefruit and a little malt to keep your heart from stopping. Nice long, bitter finish. Excellent.

Bottled. Tnx Caesar for the import. Strong aroma of aprikots, pine and grapefruit. Hazy, orange coloured with an off-white head. The taste is very bitter. Bitterness lingers in the end. Quite on the fruity and piny site. Well bodied and a bit oily. Good one.

Bottle: Translucent orange, medium to large off-white head, nice lacing, subtle carbonation.   Hoppy nose, slight pine resin but very subtle.   Bitter start, definitely hoppy, soft pine notes, but it doesn’t seem very thick or viscous.   This seems more of a 1½ IPA to me.   Nope, definitely not big enough.   Tasty, but without the big sweet malty background it tastes quite average.   Clean finish, but seems way too light for an Imperial IPA.   Still prefer Dreadnaught and Double Crooked Tree over this one.   Top 50?   Doesn’t seem that way to me... and I was really looking forward to this one too!   Its just not big enough... heavily hopped without the big malt backbone to support it.

In short: A rather unbalanced IPA with a overwhelming pine-tree hop bitterness.
How: Bottle + tap many times. This re-rate for a fresh 12oz bottle consumed a few days after purchase. Drank side-by-side with the Stone Ruination IPA just for the fun of it
The look: Clear dark golden body topped by an initially large off-white head with medium retention and leaving excellent lacings
In long: Nose of pine-needles juice with some citrusy notes. Compared to the More focus on the pine-needles. Sharp assertive bitterness, hops totally dominates this beer, one could even call it unbalanced. Barely toasted and lightly caramelized malts make for a weaker-than-it-should-be body and even the alcohol becomes apparent despite the not so high abv. The sharp assertive foresty bitterness is really the start here. I’m talking very very very bitter. Maybe even one more “very”. Coniferous woody notes gives an overall dryness impression. May not be my favourite IPA but it probably is my favourite totally unbalanced IPA. Very nice beer, give it a try and you won’t regret it, trust me you’ll soon be buying cases of this. In a way I’m like a TV Preacher, those who trust me will experience ruination.