Societe/Stone West Coast Collaboration
Societe Brewing Co.

Type: 16-oz. can
Reviewed as: American IPA
Glass: Melvin 14-oz. Spiegelau IPA glass
Price: $3.25
From: Trader Joe’s in College Area (San Diego), Calif.
Purchased: Sept. 15, 2021
Consumed: Sept. 29, 2021
Misc.: Collaboration with Stone; Canned on Aug. 26, 2021

Grabbed a can of this along with eight other singles (and three Coronado Weekend Vibes) at the campus Trader Joe’s. Untappd description was “What happens when two IPA crushing San Diego breweries combine their efforts and immense love for hops to create a beer? The perfect West Coast IPA is born. This 7% collaborative IPA is exploding with copious amounts of hand selected PNW hops. Expect to be met with popping notes of lemon-lime, grapefruit, tropical fruits, and peach, backed by a distinct resinous bitterness. This beer is everything your WCIPA loving taste buds have been craving. The recipe development for this beer was such a fun experience for us. With both breweries being such huge hop lovers, we came up with an interesting process together to select the hops for this beer. We decided on aromas and flavors, and then blindly accessed hops and chose our favorites.” Could not find any mention of the hops.

Poured a medium yellow clear color with 2-to-3 fingers of white frothy head. Could see plenty of bubbles coming up along the sides and bottom of the glass. World-class uneven lacing. Outstanding retention. (Sight - 4.50)

Smelled pine, resin, herbal, lime, grapefruit, menthol, caramel malt, diesel, black pepper and hints of peach. No mention of the hops, but I’d lean toward Simcoe, Cascade and Centennial, among others. Pretty good from the can as well. (Smell - 3.75)

Taste followed the nose for the most part. Got pine, dank resin, smoke, semi-char wood, caramel malt, diesel, bitter aspirin, black pepper, grapefruit rind, dry grass, herbal and lime. Grew on me each sip. (Taste - 4.00)

Medium body. Oily texture. Lively carbonation. Abrupt, bitter finish. (Feel - 4.25)

I feel like I overrated this overall but it was pretty damn good as it went down for a West Coast IPA. (Overall - 4.00)

4.00 | 90 | A-

 

 

On tap at Brewhouse in San Juan Capistrano, CA.

This one is a standard West Coast like Pamala Anderson with her juggies out at a Lakers game. All kinds of tropical, yet with a dry bite like when Jaws is feeling kinky.

Peace.

Don't call it a comeback, they've been here for years. West Coast IPAs, that is and the team of Stone With Societe brewing companies join forces to bring this kind of bitter-fueled sexy back.

Pale chrome and cast in a medium hop haze, the reasonably shaded West Coast Collaboration floats a creamy, ivory froth before teasing the nose with a familiar perfume of citrus, pine and herb. A slightly sweeter tone of malt support coats the tongue with a slim suggestion of honey, caramel and wafer.

But the story quickly shifts toward the hops as the bulk of malt sweetness recedes and the green nature of lupulin builds in. Orange peel, grapefruit and a hint of pineapple rise to the forefront of taste before developing a clean, crisp and dry resin bitterness with impressions of pine, fresh grassiness, and a curious and herbal hemp bite to close out the session.

Medium bodied and trending dry, the beer is somewhat more subdued in its flavor impact than most of the more aggressive beers from Stone, but its softer edge might even keep the haze-heads attentive as well. It finishes decidedly on the bitter side of bittersweet with a long extension of pine and fruit peel.

 

A collab between 2 of the best breweries in San Diego. This pours a semi hazy, pulpy medium gold and I think it’s unpasteurized but I could be wrong. Smells of pine, hops, it’s strong. Tastes piney, fruity, a raw tropical fruit flavor and decent heft and malt. I taste signature notes from both brewers and not quite as crisp and dry as Enjoy By or The Pupil but it has an interesting flavor profile. It’s a one off, folks, and couldn’t resist picking up a pack while at the brewery and you shouldn’t either, cheers!