Stone Enjoy By 5/16/14

Ingredients being the same is a given. Tweaks to the grain bill, mash, and the boil and dry hop utilization make the biggest difference. What may seem like slight process tweaks makes big difference in taste.

 

5/16/14 is awesome right now. In 2 weeks it'll be shit.

 

The fall off is not that steep.

 

It was better back in 2013!

 

fuk if i know. i couldnt find any 420. o well... i got some Ruin and IPA right now afwiw, Ruin is better

 

How is it? The same as every other Enjoy By.

People may perceive a difference in taste, but think about it this way: saying that 4.20 is different than 5.16 is akin to saying that Ruination you picked up with a bottling date of 5.2.14 tastes different that the Ruination you picked up that was bottled on 3.25.14.

I'd like to think that an operation as big as Stone is pretty competent at getting their beer to taste the same from batch to batch. They aren't "tweaking" the process every time they brew this beer any more than they are tweaking each run of IPA or Arrogant Bastard or Levitation, etc.

 

cept youre wrong. even Stones IPA can taste different. but whatever

 

2.14 was the best one this year by far !!!

 

Thanks I am really new to this series that stone does. I thought maybe each batch was a different IPA because the devastatingly (blank) tagline was different everytime.

 

Not saying that they can't taste different. Saying that the reason they taste different has a lot more to do with the taster than it does with actual changes in the way the beer was made.

Perception is a crazy thing. But here's some food for thought: if someone told you they'd had bottles of Bud Light that tasted different from one batch to another, I have a feeling most people on this site would say they were nuts. ABInBev isn't the only company that instills a lot of process controls to try and ensure that a specific beer tastes roughly the same from batch to batch.

Hey, it's an easy mistake to make. I did the same thing for several months when I was new to the series myself. The marketing that Stone does is actually really clever in that it takes advantage of the associations people have with beers that are produced as different vintages (usually reserved for barrel-aged beers or other styles that sort of take a life of their own on after they've been brewed) and applies them to a beer that is produced with the same rigorous process adherence as any of their standard everyday line of beers.

I'd never noticed the changing tagline before, so good call. But that tagline is really just part of the marketing. This beer is essentially the same beer from batch to batch. Any potential changes in taste are due, most likely, to subtle differences in the batch (not the type) of hops used, and the drinker's perception/mood/feeling at the time of consuming. Not due to changes in the way Stone produces the beer or in the grain bill or hop varieties.

 

And you really think they are tweaking the recipe for every batch?

 

I don't know anything for sure. I don't work there. Maybe they do. I'm referring to "tweak" as very small subtle changes that can be detected through taste, but that change also happens within the normal process anyhow. The workd "tweak" was probably the wrong word to use. I'm not talking whole sale changes otherwise it wouldn't be Enjoy By from batch to batch, but I'm guessing they take small liberties one way or another. Improving the beer and evolving it while maintaining that Enjoy By reference taste is what keeps it fresh to me. I haven't gotten tired of it yet. That 4.20 was something unlike the other Enjoy By's, to me! To me, it was clear something was done differently. What was done? I don't know for sure. I can only guess.

Man, there are some breweries out here in San Diego that keep serving the same 'ol crap. Never evolving there beer and making the "tweaks" to get it better. That separates a major player from a so-so brew house.

 

Great stuff all around. hope its not a monthly thing though going forward

 

Last day to "Enjoy By"

 

Tastes just as fresh as the day it was bottled.