Stone 20th Anniversary Encore Series: 10th Anniversary IPA

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 10 | 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.