19th Anniversary Thunderstruck IPA
Stone Brewing

22oz bottle into a Duvel tulip.

Appearance: Semitranslucent orange, small white head with low retention, no lacing.

Smell: Oof, explosion of dank hops. Melon, weed, some Summit-like onion and garlic (from what? The Topaz? I don't know all these hops), mild tropical fruit. Gets boozy with time, which works great with the hops. *This* is why it sometimes makes sense to make a hoppy beer over 6~7%.

Taste: Familiar sweet, boozy Stone DIPA, bottomed out with a big, earthy hop pungency that bumps the 3.75 up to a 4.0. Stone knows how to make a big, boozy beer, explosive with hops. A little smoky. Hops are melon, tangerine, and mostly earthy, pungent, weedy.

If you were excited when you heard about this beer, you're not going to be disappointed.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied, creamy, good moderate carbonation, boozy finish. I like my DIPAs dryer than this, but the high heat makes up for it.

Overall: Another Stone 1-off DIPA homerun. What else is there to say? Do you like these huge, slightly sugary, hot, super-hopped Stone beers? Do you like earthy hops from down under? Well, you know what to expect here. You're going to like it.

 

 

Bottle from Brewers Haven. Body is an orange amber with soft fluffy head, rings of lacing is left in the glass. Aroma is equal parts funk and citrus, but welcoming. Taste is sweet malt, more citrus and just enough hop tang to open the taste buds. Finishes fast, more citrus here. Hope they go big for next year.

Looks good and smells typical but the taste is off bitter. The mouthfeel is okay and overall I wouldn’t get another. The Stone Delicious is on tap next.

Pours golden yellow with huge fluffy pillowy foamy cap that fades and sticks to the sides of tall tulip glass from can. Notes of signature stone brewery IPA and Australian hops that punch you in the face, and then back laced with subtle orange citrus and pineapple accents. Beautifully crafted strong DIPA at 9% ABV.

Bottled 7/23/15; drank 9/13/15 @ the Palace.

See-through dandelion appearance.

White head; nice lace.

Pineapple, honey & grapefruit notes in the nose.

Medium thick mouthfeel.

Grapefruit & honey flavors; a bitter bite on the finish.

Drinkable but too bitter to truly enjoy.

September 6th, 2015 - Thunderstruck returns Stone's glorious bottle art to the age of swole demons and triumphant poses. Thank goodness. As much as I like seeing caricatures of Will Wheaton I prefer the old school demons. This IPA is a bit cloudier than normal for Stone, with an herbal and lemony scent, and a touch of baseball glove leather to finish the smell. I live for this hop profile, and it works well here. The flavor is more of the old school and by now very familiar Stone happiness. Mellow, and a little sweet, this beer lacks the dankness I was expecting, as well as the strong, bitter grapefruit notes. There's a bit of broiled grapefruit in the aftertaste but that's a sweeter touch. Instead we get more lemon notes and a tasty grassy quality that has a bit of bitter "mizuna" leaf in it. Very Japanese, and very hoppy.

 

 

 

 

 

this was the best beer I've ever had.

22oz bottle with my Stone 13th Anny shaker pint
Noted on 08/13/15

A soft yellow peach color body with mild look of hop haze. A good 2 fingers of sudsy ecru foam develops over. Tracked lacing and splotches of stick noted.
Passionfruit and spiced guava tropics meld over dank lemony herbals, grapefruit, mango, and peach. Very pungent, fruity, and floral. Getting some malt cookie like sweetness.
An intense charge of tropical hops hits up front then twists into more earthy herbals and dank greens. Peach, mango, passionfruit, guava, grapefruit, and pineapple. Quite impressive the diversity of flavors here. Malt is a secondary of sugary sweetness with some soft baked bread and honey like qualities to it. Stone delivers again with upper amounts of scrubbing bitter hops here and an ABV that is well and present while still kept moderately within check. Finishes dry and rushing full of resinous hop oils.
Bold and intense with some really unique flavors – what I would come to expect from a Stone Anniversary brew.

 

Loved this beer. Super dank and tropical hop aromas and flavors are the star of the show with just enough candy/cookie-like sweetness in the background to balance it all out.