Stone Brewing Co.
Stone Mocha IPA is a chocolatey, citrusy, coffee buzz
Stone Mocha IPA will be back in action this month across the brewery’s entire distribution network.
Taking the brewery’s love of India pale ales, and adding coffee and chocolate, and this new seasonal was born. Stone already excels at India pale ales. That little touch of chocolate and coffee makes this imperial IPA impossible to put down. So much so, another coffee and chocolate recipe was recently a part of the Enjoy By Series.
One of the best IPAs in Stone’s lineup. Everyone already knows Stone Brewing and hops are a match made in heaven. Some of their IPAs are extremely hoppy, some are citrus heavy, tropical, even fruited. Adding coffee and chocolate to hoppy/bitter IPA has been hit or miss in final flavor for years. Then we try Stone Mocha IPA, and we are sold. Coffee and chocolate can truly play well together. Chocolate flavors fade to coffee, with a burst of citrusy hops rounding out each sip. Weird and wonderful beginning to end.
Clearly, style lines have been crossed. Is it half-IPA, half-stout? Not quite. It’s definitely all IPA, but it’s also the best of both styles, making this love child of a beer simply just a beautiful, pleasure-seeking meld of imperial IPA and mocha indulgence. How did we come up with this inexplicably delicious creation? Well, that doesn’t really matter. What matters is that it exists and that it’s here for you now, thanks to our deliberate disregard for brewing norms. Some things are not meant to be known, just enjoyed…thoroughly.
Stone Mocha IPA is a draft and 12 ounce bottle offering, returning in June, 2017.
Style: Imperial IPA (w/ Chocolate, Coffee.)
Hops: Cascade, Citra, Amarillo
Availability: 12oz Bottles, Draft. Seasonal offering.
Debut: June, 2016
Returning: June, 2017
9% ABV, 80 IBUs
PIC: Beer Street Journal
Stone is brewing a New England IPA, Nor’East Nod
It’s undeniable that Stone Brewing is well-known for brewing big west coast style IPAs. Breweries like Stone and Sierra Nevada have shaped the perception of the American IPA. Then quietly, or not-so-quietly, folks in New England brought the the haze craze to life. Paying homage to the new, Stone Nor’ East Nod Double IPA is coming.
The lack of bitterness is an earmark of the “New England Style IPA” or NEIPA. Stone’s repertoire of west coast styles are big on hops, finishing notably bitter. Stone Nor’ East Nod Double IPA will be far less so than the brewery is accustomed to.
The 21st Anniversary Nor’East Nod India pale ale is in inspiration of, and ode to, what many of our comrades in the northeast are currently brewing, and we happily drinking. It’s an India pale ale, for sure, but not like we’ve ever experienced before. Our past as early progenitor of the West Coast style of India pale ale means we are intimately familiar, in fact still very much in love with, lingering bitterness. Unlike that, THIS India pale ale is all ’bout hop flavor with a sweet, bright, decidedly UN-bitter finish. ‘Nuff said. Give this sweet hoppy nectar a try. We’re pretty sure you’ll like it as much as we do.
Stone Nor’ East Nod Double IPA is slated for 22 ounce bottles and draft, potentially in August. The brewery has not yet announced this release.
Style: Imperial IPA
Availability: 22oz Bottles, Draft.
Debut: August, 2017
9% ABV
Stone Dayslayer India Pale Lager
Stone Dayslayer India Pale Lager
The next can for Stone: Ghost Hammer IPA
Stone Ghost Hammer IPA release is set for June 2017.
Hoppy mad scientists might be a better way to describe Stone Brewing. Their India pale ale arsenal is vast. Once the brewery settles on a hop combination for one beer, another combination is planned. In June, Stone Ghost Hammer IPA will rise.
Stone’s overnight crew is responsible for this one. While half the world slept, the brewers came up with this new IPA, brewed with coriander, grains of paradise, and blended with citrus. The hop bill is heavy on Belma, Centennial, and Magnum hops.
A brewhouse can never sleep, for brewing beer never slumbers. And what never sleeps must always be tended, and that charge falls to the shoulders of the Overnight Crew. Part brewer, part scientist, these mad fermentationists brave the never silent nights, often alone, to tend to what will become Stone beers. The nights are dark. The cellars are cavernous. Spooky things can happen. Sometimes scary things happen. Once, something terrifyingly good happened. Our mad fermentationists had an idea. Brewed with coriander, grains of paradise, blended with citrus and liberally hopped with Belma, Centennial and Magnum hops. A frighteningly flavorful creation indeed.
Stone Ghost Hammer IPA is slated to release in 12-ounce cans and draft in June 2017.
Style: IPA
Hops: Belma, Centennial, Magnum
Availability: 12oz Cans, Draft.
Debut: June, 2017
6.7% ABV
Image: Beer Street Journal
Stone Give Me IPA or Give Me Death, Virginia collaboration #2
Stone Give Me IPA or Give Me Death is a second Virginia commemorative collaboration, is now available.
For 20 years, Stone has been brewing in Escondido, California. Growth and demand has prompted the brewery to build on the east coast, in Richmond, Virginia. To commemorate the new digs coming online, Stone Give Me Stout or Give Me Death hit shelves as 2016 wound down. A second collaboration, Give Me IPA or Give Me Death is ready for a little patriotic drinking.
State Governor Terry McAuliffe, as well as Virginia based Ardent Craft Ales, Hardywood Park Craft Brewery, collaborated on this release. Much like its predecessor, Stone Give Me IPA or Give Me Death is brewed with blackberries and raspberries.
Just as Patrick Henry once stood addressing the city of Richmond in 1775 to spur resistance against the tyrannical British Empire, 20 years ago we were stirred to join the cry for resistance agains the tyrannical oppression of industrial beer. And now, the opening of our Richmond brewery is yet another shot in the salvo that has been fired on behalf of American brewing independence. If we wish to brew free, if we mean to retain our identity and preserve the privilege of access to independent craft beer, we must recognize it a group effort. We do not stand alone. And so, on our new brewing grounds, we gathered with fellow craft breweries and “His Excellency,” Governor McAuliffe, to join together in force. A group cry of freedom & independence! Consider this aggressively hopped imperial IPA, jam-packed with Virginia raspberries and blackberries, a testament to our passion and unwillingness to settle or sell out! We think Patrick Henry would be proud, and hope you will be too.
Stone Give Me IPA or Give Me Death is a 22 ounce bottle release, with larger distribution then Collaboration #1.
Style: Imperial IPA (w/ Blackberries, Raspberries)
Availability: 22oz Bottles, Draft.
Debut: February/March, 2017
8% ABV
Stone Enjoy By Chocolate & Coffee IPA debuts in “fresh” series
Stone Enjoy By Chocolate & Coffee IPA is officially the next in a line of “Enjoy By” beers.
Fresh and hoppy is the core of Stone Brewing’s Enjoy By Series, giving distributors and drinkers alike a time frame to ship, purchase and drink the “Devastatingly Fresh” India pale ale.
Since the beer’s inception, various iterations of the beer have been released, including Enjoy By Tangerine IPA, and Enjoy By Unfiltered IPA. Headed to shelves now – Stone Enjoy By Coffee & Chocolate IPA.
The brewing team tested several batches of fruit and chocolate beers before finding the right blend of hops, chocolate and and coffee. The coffee is San Diego Sunrise, a blonde roast by Ryan Bros. Coffee. This particular roast is less on the roast and more on the chocolate flavor. The cocoa beans were carefully sourced from Belize, and shelled roasted and shelled by the team.
It’s not unusual to see pronouncements of “I Heart Hops,” “I Heart Chocolate” or “I Heart Coffee” throughout #socialmedia, printed on T-shirts and, notch, emblazoned on coffee cups. Over the past couple of decades we have helped add “I Freaking Heart IPAs” to that lexicon. Today, passionate people can’t imagine a world without all of the above. For this special edition, we added chocolate and coffe to make this devastatingly fresh IPA even more seductive to the palate. We humbly suggest that you use this libation to proclaim your love for someone…and we suggest that someone be you. Loving yourself is exactly what this libation is all about.
Stone Enjoy By Coffee & Chocolate IPA will be a draft, 12 and 22 ounce bottle and draft release.
Style: Imperial IPA (w/ Coffee, Chocolate)
Hops: Nugget, Super Galena, Simcoe, Amarillo, Delta, Target, Cascade, Citra, Galaxy, Nelson Sauvin, Motueka, Helga
Availability: 12oz Bottles, 22oz Bottles, Draft.
Distribution: AK ,AL, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, IL, IN, KS, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MT, NC, NE, NH, NM, NV, NY, OH, PA, RI, SC, TN, UT, VA, VT, WA, WI
International Distribution: Japan, Korea, Singapore
Debut: January, 2017
9.4% ABV
Stone Ripper Pale Ale: Canned dank headed your way (nationally)
Stone Ripper Pale Ale is the newest canned offering by the Escondido, California based brewery.
While the United States has created some of the boldest hops in the brewing world. Example: Cascade hops. Austraila has put themselves on the hoppy world map with hops like Galaxy (first bred in 1994). Stone Ripper Pale Ale combines the Pacific Northwest with Aussie born hops in this new release.
It’s not often that Stone debuts a beer and does not immediately take it national. In this instance, Ripper was only available in only California until January, hitting national distribution at the start of 2017.
When it came to devising the concept of our next pale ale, we drew inspiration from the coastal locale of SoCal and the land down under. Sourcing classic Cascade hops from the Pacific Northwest and Australian Galaxy hops from… yes…Australia, we made a beer both lovers of resinous green buds and rip-curling surfers will find downright rad. At the same time, we stayed true to our San Diego love of pushing the hop boundaries of this style. While some might think it lingers on an edge far closer to IPA, with all the dry-hop flavor and aroma, it’s actually right in line with the current-day interpretation of a West Coast pale. Ours just so happens to have an Aussie accent that yields a juicy amount of grapefruit and passion fruit. So veg out or venture out. Either way, rip one open and taste for yourself this awesome golden amber nectar!
The brewery describes this beer as “Tropical and dank, flavors of orange and bright resiny hops”. Now that we’ve tried it, dank is a great description. The beer is very bright, very citrusy, clean, and well, dank. For those missing Levitation Ale, you’ll find a new home with Ripper. The alcohol by volume is higher, but once you taste it, you’ll see why. 2017 is looking great. (and hoppy.)
Stone Ripper Pale Ale is a 12 ounce can and draft release.
Style: Pale Ale
Hops: Cascade, Galaxy
Availability: 12oz Cans, Draft
Debut: Early November, 2016. National: January, 2017.
5.7% ABV
