This year our brewing team was inspired by some exotic-ish additions of the lemony persuasion. Yes, it's a double IPA (Can you really say you're surprised?), but as we strive to do with all our Stone Anniversary Ales of the let's-take-this-IPA-in-a-new-direction variety, we've brewed up a Stone-worthy divergence from tradition. The amount of rye malt we used isn't quite enough to warrant the…
In the 15 years since we entered the craft brewing world, change has come not in a straight line, but as an exponential curve. The craft brewing movement has long been called a "revolution." But today the air is so thick with revolution, it's palpable. No longer is it only an awareness among the faithful; the unconverted are beginning to feel it as well. Denial and ignorance are disappearing in…
We went to England this past spring as self-styled “IPA Hunters” on a mission to learn more about the confusing and often contradictory history of India Pale Ale—to look for some certainty where those before us have found mostly mystery and mercantilism. While our success in this pursuit is open to debate, there can be no question that we returned home inspired by the ghosts of Burton and by the…
Stone is a teenager now. Like all teenagers, we’re entering an unpredictable age. Soon our voice will begin to get deeper, yet crack at the most embarrassing time (like when we’re trying to impress a cute girl…just our luck). We do finally get to watch the PG-13 movies, not that that ever stopped us, we do look old for our age. And we have an unmistakable maturity about us. At least that’s what…
Summer dreaming in late January...many of us do it. I am right now as I write this label. Planned to do the writing with a Stone Special Release beer from years past at Stone Winter Storm, which kicked off at the bistro today, but plans were side-railed by a cavalcade of like-minded folk. And they got the first dibs. I found myself not on the kick-back-with-a-beer side of the equation, but on the…
A year. That simple word seems totally inadequate to even attempt to encapsulate the past 12 months. Good thing I suppose, or there would be no need for any other text on this bottle (those that would prefer it that way may feel free to stop here). This time last year saw us feeling our way around our new brewery, reveling in the space. It was positively roomy. And new. And shiny. These days, it’…
Stone 10th Anniversary IPA harkens back to our earlier Anniversary Ales, with abundant hopping at many stages of the brewing process. Appropriately, the aroma is over the top, with pronounced piney and resiny hop flavors combined with tropical fruit esters and more subtle notes of toasted malts and alcohol. Our Stone 10th Anniversary Ale weighs in at 10% alcohol by volume (perfect for a 10th…
As has been a tradition, we have “Anniversary-ized” a recipe from our history by cranking it up, making it stronger and more assertive. With this year’s anniversary we decided to look back at a wheat beer that we released a couple of spring/summers a few years ago: Stone Heat Seeking Wheat. While it was a plenty tasty beer, we ultimately decided that it wasn’t that reflective of what Stone was…
This year's 8th anniversary is, like all previous Stone Anniversary Ales, an adaptation of a previous Stone Brewing Co. release. This year we set out to make an "Anniversary-ized" version of Lee's Mild, a limited-release beer from 1999. For this beer we used some of the same malts that we had used in Lee's Mild, added more hops, less water (to bring the alcohol content up), and found a tasty…
Ahh, the annual hullabaloo. The time for my relentless soliloquy to banish the quotidian summer ennui, midst simultaneously imbuing a rich obfuscation upon the part of the poor reader (alas, felicitous imbiber) who must certainly promulgate a healthy gumption to attempt to forage through this precisely 7.7 point font work. No, not for the nebbish most definitely. The conundrum? What is the…
