Up first - Stone Collab - More Brown Than Black IPA - a 7.4% ABV 80 IBU offering in conjunction with Ninkasi and the Alchemist. Brewed for charity for those in Vermont affected by Hurricane Irene last year, of which the Alchemist was greatly affected. A true melding of styles.. First off, don't comment on the picture, I know there's floaters. Stone put a note out about this last year, affecting their IPA. Guess the issue hasn't been completely solved and it hits this IPA as well. Totally normal and doesn't affect the beer apparently.. just as the name suggests, a brownish black pour with a full-on west coast IPA nose. Citrus and resiny pine hops are present with hints of roasted malts and a little nutty tone. A grapefruity, citrusy IPA in the true vein of Stone. The brown/black of this beer is a bit light, actually. Just hints of cocoa, deep nutty malts and some roasted malts. A very solid brew, but could have certainly benefited from a touch more malt and roasted notes to balance out the dominant citrus hops, but solid and for a great cause.
Next up, a "palate cleanser", which you don't often expect from Stone!
This is their collabo with Elysian and the Bruery - La Citrueille Celeste de Citracado - a 5.0% ABV 'Pumpkin' beer from Stone. Don't make me explain the name, go google it, it's cool. Apparently, they wanted to do a Pumpkin beer without the usual ingredients and taste profile, and this is what resulted. Brewed with pumpkin, yams, toasted fenugreek, lemon verbena and birch bark.. um, what?! Yep, that's how they made their Pumpkin.. A lovely rich ruby brown pour.. floral hops, herby from the verbena, hints of yam and squash and just a touch of honey sweetness/ginger. Again.. um, what?! This was super light bodied pour, very crisp Ultra-fresh pumpkins slap you upside your teeth from the get-go with a lemon-ginger kick. Honey sweetness, rye spiciness, touches of coffee, caramel, grassy hops. There is so much going on here it's hard to nail anything down.. unbelievable! Still cant wrap my head around the fact this is a Pumpkin.. DAMN! Let's hope for another go-round of this!
Finally, the sandwich end to the 'cleansing' Citrueille, Uinta - Dubhe Impreial Black IPA (with hemp seed). A monster at 9.2% ABV and 109 IBUs. A straight-up black pour, as would be expected. Citrus and floral hops (surprising, right? this is a black as hell pour, so why such light hops?!) Underlying deep roasted malts, almost burnt black coffee. Chewy, sticky sweet hops followed by the heavy-handed bitch slap of booze.. but for such a boozy big beer, this is wicked smooth and 'light' Rich roasted malts, chocolate, black coffee mix with the more prominent oily piney hops. Nothing extremely complex here, just a big, bold, boozy, incredibly hoppy Black IPA.
Happy Friday all and sweet dreamland voyages!
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