Over the holidays, Stone Brewing introduced their first ever Stone Twelve Days of IPAs Mixed Pack. Twelve distinct IPAs including year-round favorites, archived wonders and a few new releases. Each IPA celebrates the style in its own unique way, showcasing Stone’s love of the style. While some were more memorable than others, I had a lot of fun tasting and dissecting each. Enjoy 🙂

What Stone Brewing has to say…
Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous Black IPA graced our year-round lineup for a few years before its retirement in 2015. Since then, nearly every single day, we receive multiple emails, phone calls and social media comments from diehard fans of this hoppy and dark delicacy, pleading, begging and sometimes demanding us to bring it back. (Seriously, we tried to add them all up and it was easily in the thousands.) 

Because you can’t keep a great beer permanently retired, it’s made a few appearances in our Stone Mixed Packs as well as on draft at our Tap Rooms and Bistros over the years. But now it’s back nationwide on its own in all its glory. Original recipe. Original artwork. 

Gnome Tasting Notes 
When I first poured this beer, a nice rich rootbeer came to mind. It was dark with red highlights and a creamy mocha head. It was really pretty when held up to the light, and I found myself wondering what a “Black IPA Float” would taste like. Has anyone tried that? 

Initially, that bitter IPA taste hits you full-on, but there were definitely notes of citrus and chocolate. I was reminded of one of my favorite candy/dessert combinations of orange and dark chocolate, but this beer leaned a little more in the tangerine direction. The dark roasted malt flavor was almost overpowered by the bitterness, especially since it lingered throughout the mouth. With such a strong flavor profile and the touch of dryness it has at the end, I’d say this beer would be good with a flight unless you’re a one-and-done type as it does wage war on your palette… and has a good chance of winning. 

What Stone Brewing has to say…
Stone Delicious IPA is a tangible example of why continual IPA and hop exploration are so fulfilling. With the Lemondrop varietal as a centerpiece and a massive dry hop composed exclusively of lemony El Dorado hops from Washington State, this beer lives up to its name behind a plethora of tart, citrusy notes and stunning grove – like, lemon tree bouquet, providing a graceful yet in no way subtle one-two punch to the senses. 

Gnome Tasting Notes
Lemondrop and El Dorado… two hops I was not very familiar with until tasting this citrus heavy beer. And I have to say, I don’t think I’m a fan. This is one IPA that is just too bitter for my palette. At only 75 IBU that shouldn’t be so, but the lemon combined with the hop spice flavors is really powerful. That bitterness lingers as well rather than providing a clean finish (something I look for in a beer). There is a bit of earthiness in the flavor, but again, mostly citrus and lemon.  

The aroma leads you to believe there will be some sweet notes in the flavor profile, but it is still pretty heavy on the lemon – Stone describes it as “reminiscent of lemongrass” and I can’t disagree. The sweetness may come from Calypso, which features crisp fruity aromas. Color is a pretty hazy gold with equally pretty lacing from a white head.  

What Stone Brewing has to say…
There’s no way you can make an insanely flavorful hop-forward IPA in true STeon fashion while keeping it under 100 calories, right? And surely not with just 2.9 carbs, gluten-reduced and 4% ABV! Well, our brewers, along with the rest of Team Stone, love proving preconceived notions wrong. 

Stone Features & Benefits Craft Light IPA brings all the above together with the hop-driven boldness you’d expect from a Stone beer. Now, you can have both the features and the benefits. 

Gnome Tasting Notes
Unlike the previous Stone beers I tried, F+B featured a thin, wispy head that dissipated quickly. The color was extremely pale as well, reminiscent of a lager or pilsner rather than an IPA. Following the same theme of ‘light and wispy,’ it’s a gently flavored beer, almost kolach-like; a friend described it as a ‘hopped up Coors,’ which is pretty spot on. It was hard to get much on the nose with this one, though there were subtle notes of lemon or citrus which most likely come from the Cashmere, though Vic Secret, Azacca and Mosaic are known for their citrus as well.  

Well balanced and well suited for a hot day, F+B is a great introduction to the heavier IPAs Stone is known for. What I like to call a ‘first step beer’ – that beer you suggest to someone not into the big hop flavors and bitterness but might want to move away from domestic light lagers. 

What Stone Brewing has to say…
Stone Ruination IPA was the first full-time brewed and bottled West Coast Double IPA on the planet. As craft beer has evolved over the years, so too have techniques for maximizing hop flavors and aromas. When we updated this incarnation in 2015, we employed dry hopping and hop bursting to squeeze every last drop of piney, citrusy, tropical, punk, metal & hard rock essence from the hops that give this beer its hugely assertive character. Now we’ve arrived at its newest evolutionary form by shoving it into the bottle unfiltered (aka sans filter) and bringing it to you in its most excellently raw form. This beer has always been unbridled. Now it’s unfiltered. 

Gnome Tasting Notes 
Pouring a slightly hazy golden/amber color, highlighting it’s unfiltered state, Ruination had a faint orange smell that I wish was a bit stronger to pair with the resinous pine of the hops. The initial flavor profile was strong, with beautiful bitterness taking over your whole mouth… it did linger a bit though, which was unfortunate. We got some of the orangey-citrus flavor as well, and a sweet note to balance all that bitterness. It isn’t listed on Stone’s webpage, but I’d guess a pale or crystal malt was used, contributing to the bready flavor mixed in. Compared to Stone Delicious, Ruination is much more full-bodied and balanced in my opinion.

What Stone Brewing has to say…
This ain’t no just-add-juice approach. This one is for adults. We use bountiful whole tangerine puree, which brings pithy, crisp bitterness to the citrus flavor. In addition to the complexities of the tangerine – the likes of which you can only get by using the whole fruit – we judiciously employ just a hint of whole pineapple for a back note (you’d likely not even pick it out of the mix if we didn’t tell you it was there). We’re not looking for a sweet concoction to appease the “I want my beer to taste like fruit juice” crowd. This is Stone. We like our IPAs to taste like IPAs. Big, bold and not for kids. 

Gnome Tasting Notes 
Unlike Runiation’s orange notes, Tangerine Express has some of the bite from the rind which increased in bitterness after it left your mouth. This was surprising since the nose was so sweet, like the tangerine it’s named after. You’re expecting that sweetness to carry over on the taste, but the bitterness and piney notes from the hops was front and center. I’m a huge fan of pineapple juice, so I was hoping to catch more of that flavor through the pine and grapefruit… a little disappointed there, but overall not a bad beer. As Stone said, they weren’t looking to create an overly sweet concoction with the tangerine and pineapple, and I’d say they definitely hit the mark with this bitter, citrus heavy beer. 

What Stone Brewing has to say…
Introducing Stone Exotic Destinations IPA, a 7.5% creation loaded with Citra and the brand new Talus (HBC 692) hops. Huge floral aroma with notes of citrus and sweet fruit plus just the right hint of tartness. Greetings from Beer Paradise. Population: you. 

Gnome Tasting Notes
This was a bit of a weird one for me, not gonna lie. While tasting, we weren’t sure if it was a strawberry flavor or perhaps just some light floral notes we were getting. I’ve never experienced strawberry in beer, as most brewers opt for citrus and stone fruit, but it wasn’t unpleasant and something I’m keen to explore. Overall a dry beer, there were some very faint citrus notes, but the floral flavors took center stage. I struggled to see the harmony between the citrus, which wasn’t well showcased, and the floral/strawberry flavors. While I enjoyed the new flavors, not the well-balanced beer I was hoping for from Stone. Maybe we’ll see a 2.0 version in the future. 

Stay tuned for the next six Stone Brewing IPAs 😉 and be sure to check out their website.

~Steph