Mocha IPA
Stone Brewing

Pours a beautiful clear copper, much like the original Stone IPA. Head production is epic, with a solid three fingers of cream-colored foam. Retention is good, leaving behind thick lacing.

Nose is aggressively bitter. Pine, citrus peel, green leafs and herbs, and coffee beans. Wonderful blend of old-school IPA bitterness and coffee.

Flavor is a similar blend, with one exception: this is clearly a double IPA, which took me completely by surprise. Huge malt backbone; tons and tons of juicy, piney hops, laced with herbal and dank notes; and waves of coffee. It blends surprisingly well. The coffee brings a bitterness of its own, along with chocolate and roast tones.

The body fits well for a Stone DIPA clocking in at 9%: a touch of alcohol heat, plenty of body, but a ton of balancing bitterness. Few in the business are willing to make modern IPAs as bitter as Stone (even Sierra Nevada has backed off). An absolutely incredible amount of flavor.

This beer was a complete shock, and in very pleasant ways. I've had several pale coffee brews now (but not Dayman), but this one retained the bold and brash DIPA character better than any of the others. A wonderful beer to try, although I wouldn't want to drink it regularly, most likely.

RB transfer

 

On tap at Stone Brewing in Escondido, CA.

This beer right here is straight up a mocha IPA. Like Ron Jeremy on an unsuspecting nymph, Stone “nailed it.” It tastes like an IPA and mocha. That’s it. Time to go.

 

Draft at Bittercreek Stone tap takeover. Last of the evening. Very subdued mocha in this, hints of chocolate, hints of coffee, but hops still front and center. As a Stone IPA, you know its good, so the mocha accents add a bit of extra dimension to this beer.

July 17th, 2016 - Mocha stouts I get, and Stone's IPAs I get, but the crossroads of the two styles here is a weird trip. It looks more like an IPA than a Stout, with an auburn, hazy hue and a robust head that surgically seals the beer from the air. Piney and herbal, the smell is rich with the smells of the mountainside, but with a visible vein of Stumptown coffee running through the limestone. The flavor, though odd and contradictory, is quite good, blending expresso notes seamlessly with an herbal, grassy hoppy character. Odd, but shockingly well blended.

 

revisiting in celebration of the new Stone coffee ipa release

my old notes have this thing pegged as an absolute anomaly; reaching towards two things at once and accomplishing something that transcends either of the original references. that is to say, perfect alchemy.
it pours an almost unassuming dark hazy amber body with a resilient foamy cream head that settles to a halo, leaving patchy but prominent lacing
the smell is *what* mixed with *whoooa* - a true "chocolate in my peanut butter, pb in my chocolate" moment; coffee bean, chocolate with dark stone fruit floating in the middle of grapefruit, resinous, herbal hop. "effffffff"
the taste blows the mind accordingly. perfectly harmonious, chocolate dipped perfect hops.
feels mid-carb and mid-bodied. slightly dry finish that lingered into oblivion and dreams.

overall:
such a beautiful mindmeldingblend of all things holy in the brew world. it's kinda funky and stretches expectation, but bless stone for the balls to pull this one off.

Damn if corpulent didn't warn me about this one. How they can make something as awesome as Dayman IPA and then turn this dud out. . .

Anyways, pours a dark caramel color, you know in the good coffee non stout/porter beers I've had, they were lighter than this. Interest piqued. 2/3" off white head. Ooof candied peach rings and espresso. If a band sponsored this beer, it would be The Clash.

Taste keeps up the divide, now there is a chocolate note to it, there is some hoppy bitterness, candied citrus and tropical fruit, oh man. The alcohol is all here, and it even manages to amp the bitterness up I suspect. I dunno, dayman was awesome and this isn't, even though from the outset it doesn't look like the recipes would be that different?

Sure would be nice if they offered both beers at the same time for a side by side. But I'm telling you, these two would appear to be practically the same beer, but the experience was quite different for me.

 

 

Bottled 5/14/16; drank 6/9/16 @ the Yarchives.

See-through red/orange appearance.

A rough pour yielded a nice eggshell head; a curtain of frothy lace.

Mango, medium roast coffee bean & dark chocolate notes in the nose.

Medium thick mouthfeel.

Mango, medium roast coffee bean & chocolate syrup flavors; no booze heat.

I came in with very low expectations, but this was delicious; coffee & chocolate forward with a nice mango balance. Excellent & dangerously drinkable.

An odd flavor combination that just doesn't seem to work for me.