22nd Anniversary Anni-Matter Double IPA
Stone Brewing

A good IIPA, but not great. Medium head with an aroma of alcohol and hops. Taste is a good malt and hop blend with a medium mouthfeel. Not a heavy IIPA but easy drinking. Rated 5-5-2020. 81 IBUs

Bomber from Hops & Bottles. Clear orange/golden , fine carbonation, foamy head shrinks to thin skin. A trip down memory lane, before NEIPA's became "the thing". Aroma is a blend of caramel malts and old school hops. The caramel malts hit the taste first, but are quickly obliterated by the bittering Hops. The hops grab the tongue and refuse to let go. Hint of sweetness and plenty of bitterness. Happy Birthday!

This whole quarantine/lockdown/fast cruise business has done wonders for me in terms of clearing out massive swaths of the backlog here at Chez Woody! This latest renewal of a long-standing love affair with Stone Brewing began with me simply pulling out a couple of CANs, but then it became like tugging on a pesky loose thread on a knit sweater. Soon, I was left facing a bundle of unraveled string in the form of a massive mess of Bottles (gasp!) & CANs! OMFG.

From the Bottle (!): "Limited"; "The No Haze Double IPA"; "Stone 22nd Anniversary Double IPA is a clean, crisp perfectly filtered IPA that reinforces giant, juicy, hop forward IPAs are a bailiwick of ours. Every year we have a special recipe creation challenge with two-person teams from our brewing department we've called the Stone Spotlight Competition. This year's winner 'Anni-Matter' was brewed (and named) by Stone brewers Jason Smith and Jose Flores. We felt it was a perfect candidate for our 22nd Anniversary IPA as it's not only an amazing IPA, but a perfect way to showcase the deep bench that is our talented and dedicated brewing team. This light amber colored IPA features an incredible mouthfeel from the malted oats. Citrus rides in the forefront, with plenty of fruit character to back it up. All in all, we felt this was the perfect IPA with which to say: Here's to me, to you and twenty-two too!"

I was anxious to Pop! the cap on this bomber & get started since I can always finish the transcription later. I gave it a slow, gentle C-Line pour into the awaiting glass & sat back in rapt fascination as it formed two-plus fingers of dense, foamy, rocky, tawny head with excellent retention. Color was solid-Amber (SRM = > 7, < 9) with NE-quality clarity. Nose had lost the bitter edge that some earlier reviewers mentioned, becoming quite palatable in the process. It was tending towards sweet with the tropical fruits from the hops as well as a caramel malt quality beginning to appear. Okay by me! Mouthfeel was medium-to-full, a little light for the style. The taste was plenty bitter, have no worries about that! It made me think of a tart guava beer that I drank recently, along with the pith & rind of grapefruit. Phew. If it were more bitter than this when first released, I have a tough time imagining it! Not to say that it was tough to drink - au contraire, mes amis. I was really digging it as a self-described, self-avowed hophead. I live for this sort of thing. The thing that I really noticed, or more precisely, didn't notice, was its ABV. 9.1%?!? Hard to believe. Finish was pleasantly dry & bitter, just the way that I like 'em. YMMV.

 

 

12 ounce bottle...with best before dating of 11/05/19

Pours with a light haze, besides that it typical almond amber, under a moderate light khaki cap, and leaving some fine gauzy lacing.

On the nose its grapefruit and some stonefruit, on top as well as a hint of malts.

Delicious creation, big and bold west coast DIPA all the way...waves of biting grapefruit, hoppy goodness, again with a smooth bready malt under girding. Quality all the way with the over 9% nowhere to be found.

 

Lovely clear golden amber with ample foam in the Troubadour tulip. Tangy, acidic, and fizzy on the tongue. Aroma is something mysterious flowery, like violets or sweet peas. This is a distinctive taste of tangerine peel, burnt cedar, and orange juice. And then it's bitter with grapefruit pith.

This is what we used to call "abusively hopped" and I have to say it's more than a little over the top. I am heading for Trader Joes for some cheap lager to mix it with. Bitter, unpleasant aftertaste-- the Stone signature touch. Back to the 12 oz bottles for this one. Purchased at Ibis Market in Mission Hills.

 

On tap at the Archives

 

 

twas the night after xmas, and I will not rewrite that poem, I will however, down this lovely capped with foam

eyes...
head as white as the clean driven snow, well constructed with micro bubbles and holding strong grasping for each last millimeter of glass space before sinking into the cerveza abyss, a good amount of carbonation traffic internally, a nice bright (glowing) orange hue, yep, we have ourselves an IPA here to be sure

nose...
I was expecting the usual Stone hop assault but yet I am hit with more malt than that, a bready honey tone pervades, some slight pine and faint tropical notes float around here (like an island on the horizon), a bit underwhelming but nothing off putting

taste...
definitely more on the tropical flavors hop wise, this is think, near oily, certainly not hazy but might make me so, the alcohol is a component for sure, not overly bitter (but a nice lingering bitter note), the malt is holding steady but is not adding much else except being the stalwart against the alcohol, this has the feel and power of a DIPA but is somewhat lacking in overall flavor

verdict?
solid but not great, something about this combination of flavors does not thrill me, this drinks bigger than the ABV suggests however, so take care in your steps on this

 

 

 

L: Clear amber color, two finger white head, nice lacing, good carbonation.

S: Hops, malts, mango, citrus, floral. Superb!

T: Hops, malts, mango, citrus, floral, bitter on the back end. Superb!

F: Medium bodied, nicely flavored.

O: A great West Coast DIPA.

 

Look: It pours golden and is clear with a slightly off white head. Head retention is good.

Smell: It has a combination of stone fruit and herbal qualities in the aroma. There is a slight melon quality in the background. It has some tea like qualities in the nose as well.

Taste: The flavor is stone fruit with a strong herbal quality. The alcohol is noticeable. There is a very low pine quality to it.

Feel: It has a moderately-full body with moderately-high bitterness to it. The bitterness is not harsh. It has smooth alcohol warming to it.

Overall, there are some good combination of flavors and nice aromas.