StoneWall Ale

Formerly brewed at Stone Brewing Co.
Style: Barley Wine
Escondido, California USA

Serve in Snifter

Bottle... Light copper with lots of gold, a bright color, very carbonated after all this time, very light tan head, good looking... The nose is a bit weak but solid, what a barley wine should smell like, smooth caramel and hops, balance... So easy to drink, caramel, dark fruits, a nice hop note but not bitter, still in its prime

This poured a murky medium brown color with a tiny beige head. Aroma was lots of dark fruits, mainly cherries, and thick caramel and toffee too. Flavor was sticky sweet, a tiny bit oxidized and lots of cherry and plum notes. Has held up pretty well.

Got a double pour out of the bottle at Stone Winter Storm. Really looked forward to trying this out of the bottle instead of draft. The pour had a small amount of slightly tan head the dissipated somewhat quick to a small lace around the edge of the snifter. Smell- wow, the aroma is sweet fruity malt with just a hint of alcohol in the very back of the nose. mouthfeel- this brew is pretty thick nice and coating on the palate. Taste- lots of sweet mild cherry like malt in the front with very clean and crisp finish in the end. The alcohol os almost totally hidden. I drank through my full pour way faster then I had planned. Time is doing this brew wonders for sure!

Lucky enough to try twice at this point. Dark reddish brown with a small head. Aroma and flavor have sweet caramel malt, a touch of alcohol, molasses. Very smooth, great flavor, maybe a touch of oxidation but I never had it fresh to really be able to tell. Just that hint of raisins and cardboard. Really nice.

Pours a dark golden apricot color with golden orange hues anda one finger off-white head that slowly fades into a lasting ring. Spotty lacing left behind. Surprisingly hoppy aroma with hints earthy pine along with subtle oxidized cardboard, boozy alcohol and sweet malt. Lots of caramel, toffee and nut. Boozy with some dry, earthy, resinous hops that give off hints of pine needle. A bit too hot with lots of sweet booze. Slightly oxidized with a sweet malt backbone giving off hints of caramel, toffee and rye. Overall this was decent but way past its prime. Surprisingly the hops have held up and are only slightly stale but the oxidization is a bit too heavy hurting the overall flavor. His was probably very good when fresh but that is not the case at this stage.

StoneWall? StoneWall? Are you shittin’ me?!? Damn! Another white whale is had at this send-off tasting. That’s like 3 in a row for me. Awesome! Like Bass No 1 and Bells 6000 this one has been a prized want for years and years. Thanks to everyone involved! Pours a bit murky with dark copper body and white head. The aroma is modest in strength and offers up smooth spicy hops, some sweet stale citrus and then near the end of the draw pummeling boozy pine hops. The taste is smooth to start and then quickly ramps up into firm levels of pine hop flavor. To midway it picks up more and more pine hops as well as lesser amounts of spicy hops and sweet maltiness. It maintains a fairly smooth body from front to back. This is tasting great with just some mildly blunted notes here and there!

messy amber, light head. heavy cardboard, caramel. Flavor has light hop and still some malt left, caramel and burnt sugar, light chocolate on slick, oxidized body. Not great, but flavor has survived some and its still nice in its own right.

Huge malt nose, lots of oxidization, some raisins and prunes, just a bit of pine and spruce hops. The taste is moderately sweet, lightly bitter, with lots of toffee, lots of raisins and prune juice, lots of sherry.