Stone IPA

Name: India Pale Ale
Style: American IPA
ABV: 6.9%
Serving: 22oz bottle
Brewery: Stone Brewing Co.
Location: Escondido, CA, USA
Weblink: Stone IPA

So, an imported beer smuggled across the USA-Canada border by Pyropette from her recent trip to deepest, darkest Tennessee... Ok, I gather she did actually declare that she had a few beers on her when she came through customs, although I don't think she told them that the bottles were quite this big!

Anyway, the beer pours a pale yellow-amber colour, moderately cloudy, with a thin head of loose, large bubbles, just what you'd expect from an IPA. Also befitting an ale there is only a gentle effervescence, so I don't quite know where the shots on their website were taken, with their gargantuan heads of fine white bubbles sitting atop the glass. Anyway, once in the glass this beer is anything but gentle. The aromas rip into your nose right from the start, dominated by an astringent, pine-tar and coriander pallete, backed by a touch of grapefruit and yeast. The flavours are similarly hoppy; perhaps more of the dry-hopped spiceyness coming through, with hints of clove oil and orange peel. Backing it all is a toasty, yeasty strength, that helps to carry along the exceedingly dry and somewhat thin beer. The beer finishes with a final flourish of resinous citrus, and fades to a gentle, bread-dough yeasty scent that lingers.

Overall a very pleasant beer, although I'll admit that the American uber-hopped IPA isn't my favourite style. They seem to have become something more akin to a religion down there lately, with many believing that if it doesn't know your head off with hop flavours then somehow it would be a failed IPA. If I'm honest I find that attitude a bit juvenile. If you were to believe the RateBeer site this should be one of the top 1% of beers in the World... Hmm... For me it lacks balance. All that hop flavour isn't really supported by any significant malt, and after a few minutes it just gets to the point where the beer begins to taste slightly artificial. A good beer to drink cold on a hot day, not sip gently.