Stone 10th Anniversary IPA

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

Poured out of a 2 liter growler that was filled back in October, ’06 consumed 05/12/07. The beer poured out slightly hazy with an orange-ish color to it and off white head. The level of carbonation has suffered over the intervening months. The aroma is thick – sweet – chewy pine hops with a rigid spine of sweet caramelized malts. The sharp pine hop aroma has really softened over the months. Behind that is a light dark fruitiness and some sense of the ABV. As it warms it smells more and more like a barleywine as the dark fruit notes grow with intensity. The flavor starts out smooth and seemingly flavorless, oddly enough. Then sweet pine hop flavor breaks the smoothness apart along with caramel maltiness and dark fruitiness. The taste stays kind of even to about midway. As the finish approaches the prune, date and plum fruitiness grows. At the finish the remaining pine hop bittering notes struggle to assert themselves. They have been render only a shadow of what once was.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 5 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 6

This is a beer I tried years ago and didn't like, and had the chance to try it again, and it was even worse. Going back to the original rating from August 2006.........this was lighter in color than most IIPAs with a foul smell. I had it with the brewmaster and he assured me it smelled correctly. I didn;t find the complexity or strength in the taste that is usually found in IIPAs. This was a huge miss.

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

Bottle from Hi-Time. Never got the chance to try this one fresh but one that I wished I did so an aged bottle was my last opportunity. Pours a reddish-copper color with a relatively thick off-white head that fades. Lots of caramel in the aroma with some toffee and some hops showing in the way of pine and resin. Lots of caramel malty and citrusy flavors, orange peel, maybe even some mango with some hops that are very resiny, a little oily, some grapefruit as well. Obviously the hops have faded but they were still sharper than I expected from a 2 1/2 year old bottle. This is no doubt totally different than it was fresh, drinking more like an American Barleywine now, but still very good and aged pretty well. I wish I could comment on how it was fresh.

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

to be fair, i think i had this 2006 beer past it's prime (1/09), but it's all i have to go on...still pretty good, although the hops have mellowed too much and it tasted and had the body of a hoppy barleywine as opposed to an imperial ipa. i bet it was awesome in 06 or 07!

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

much better than the two year old version of the 10th AV on it's own. the cask againg rounds out the body, while the dry hopping with simcoes and amarillos reinvigeate the flavor. Very good!

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

Pours out in a hazy reddish orange colour with a low, sticky white foam. Hoppy and citric aroma of grapefruit, bloodoranges with sweet resinous piney notes. Full, hoppy and bitter flavour pine-needles, grapefruit, lemon-zest and caramel. Long hoppy finish of grapefruit and wet grass with sweet undertones of caramel and bloodoranges. But the hops still dominates . Well-hiden alcohol. Great!

Aroma: 10 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Crystal clear deep amber body topped by a medium off-white head. Aroma is moderately sweet, pineapple, herbal, caramel, peach, light alcohol. Taste is moderately sweet, pineapple, grapefruit, caramel, peach syrup, light alcohol, cane sugar. Alcohol is held well by the resiny, sticky full body.

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

American hop aroma with a bit of graininess. Light golden color, nice arrangement of foam. Smooth and soft mouthfeel, leaves you thirsty for more. Some malty sweetness backs a very intensely American floral like hop flavor. Excellent DIPA hop centric flavor with enough malt to counter, great job, Stone.

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

22oz bottle version 4. Pours a dark copper color with a two finger off-white head that is very slow to fade away. The resulting lace is thick and very organized. Smell; very strong pine resin aromas, with a little citric grapefruit and orange peels thrown in as well. There's also a bit of a tropical fruit presence. The malts have a bigger role in the aroma than I was expecting, with caramel malts Taste; the caramel malts come out first, which is a bit of a surprise knowing how much hops are in this one. Lots of citric and tropical fruit flavors run rampant trough out the middle, with a little bit of piney hops in the finish. Very nice, but I thought the aroma was better than the flavor. Mouthfeel/Drinkability; the mouthfeel is full and very creamy, with a drinkability that gets better the warmer this gets. Doesn't get boring at all, as the subtulties change enough throughout the 22 ounces to keep me interested.

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

After waiting awhile to try this one out (there was a lot of good and bad reviews about it) I was able to try it at our December tasting. The aroma smelled like cat piss. Don't know how else to say it. Cat piss with a bit of pine thrown in. Appearance was a deep orange color, nice head. Mouthfeel was full and a bit sharp. Flavors were just a little too sweet for my liking. It was hoppy, yes but I didn't find a nice balance like I did with Ruination. Overall, a good beer but I think I'll stick with Ruination.