Stone 7th Anniversary Ale

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Rated in May 2006. Mmmm, Mmmm Good. This is one tasty beer. 22 oz bottle from Fine Wines & Cigars - Redmond, WA. Pours out light copper in color. The aroma is a bit on the mild side with citrus-fruity hops with a certain touch of spice. The taste is a nice mix of hop flavor, malt, hop bitterness and hint of some sort of un-knowable spice. Very nice, making this a refreshing and drinkable ale.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

a little past it's prime, given the past high scores. sampled at Stone 1/09...over 5 years old. Still pretty good, but i've had many better pales. everything mellowed just a bit too much.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Very nice. I have one put away, it'll be fun to see how well it ages. Very citrus esters in both the taste and scent. The alcohol content certainly is present, but that should mellow quite well.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

This one is starting to show its age. In other words, if you have it, drink it. It’s a deep amber with a dense, small head. There’s a slight haze to the beer that gradually clears as it warms. There’s a distinct cookie-like aspect to the malt in the aroma and the flavor and maybe some slight oxidation. The hops are mainly present in the bitterness in the back of the flavor.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9

I luckily stumbled across Stones 7th Anniversary at Marty's Liqour in Newton, MA. A few year old, but I was happy as hell to find it. It poured a nice amber hue with a small head. The taste was slightly sweet, grapefruity, and very hop heavy. A great brew.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 8

Big hoppy,malty mutha of a brew. Big citrusy hop bite balanced by huge doses of malt. Some sweetness. I wish they would start exploring new styles for the anniversary brews rather than super charge existing ones.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

A very interesting offering from Stone, sort of a Double Amber Ale. Fits that description rather nicely with a deep ruddy color, sweet crystal-esque sweetness followed up by the muted hop thump.

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9

"My, what a big Pale Ale you have, Mr. Koch..."

First things first with this bad-ass beer. Yes, it is a big Pale Ale. Yes, it is something in range of 77 IBU's. and yes, I'm quite sure that it's 7.7%ABV. But this most definately *not* an IPA. How is that possible? That I'm not nearly as sure of, to be honest. All I can really say for sure about this most unussual beast of a beer is that it's damn tasty.

Pours with a reddish-orange effervescence, with a avalanche of hop aroma springing forth out of the bottle and into the glass. And tons of delcate Belgian lace as things progress.

A complex blending of hop character, maltiness, and warming alcohol makes this a fascinating beer from a clinical aspect, but putting all that aside, this also an interesting beer for the non beer-geeks amongst us, too.

But what fascinates me the most with this Pale Ale is how it takes a rather run-of-the-mill, everybody-and-their-brother-brews-this style and gives it a whole new twist. An enjoyable big beer that tastes great now, and I suspect may improve with age. Highly recommended.
//TB

Aroma: 10 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 9

Orange gold color. Small white foamy head. Aroma is grapefruity, piney, fruity and slightly sweet. A full to medium bodied pale ale. The hops will assault your taste buds, take no prisoners and you will be lucky to only have to walk the plank, stripped don to your undies. Your taste buds are then rescued by the really big nutty malt sweetness. Malts are nutty and sweet. Hops are grapefruity, piney and a touch resiny. This beer goes from being hoppy to malty then back to hoppy again, all while staying in balance. Smooth tasting. This is a very nice beer, Stone has done it again, produced a very familiar style beer, but in a way that is unique and very definitely Stone. I wonder what this beer will taste like with some bottle aging, its still a little young. Very cool artwork on the etched bottle. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly bitter.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 9

Appearance: This beauty pours a clear dark amber color with a tan head.This is a nice looking beer. Aroma: The nose of this arrogant brew is fruity and hoppy. Palate: The tip of your tongue is hit by citric hops, but just as it seems like the flavors are headed toward grapefruit and over the top hops-land, the malts kick in and balance this baby out. Wow. I loved it. It goes down so smoothly