First Stone Enjoy By Experience (2.14.15)

Yes, Enjoy By on tap is superior than the bottle.

 

I just read all of the posts above (whew! I am buzzed already!) and I have had a few different ENJOY BY's, and they ARE different on my palate. And I am NOT questioning Greg and Stone Brewery about the recipe - I believe it is the same recipe - however, I think each and every time it does have a different taste. 4/20/14 had more fruity, grapefruit notes, and I didn't get that with 2/14/15. Interesting thread. Where's GREG KOCH lol?

 

I don't think the cake analogy is the best one for the reasons @LambicPentameter pointed out; my best shot would be if you were touring with a band and heard them do the same set night after night. Same singer, same musicians, same song, but there are subtle differences that you will notice over time.

Bill Manley of Sierra Nevada did address sort of thing this at one point when discussing Celebration Ale (in comparison to the Pale Ale). For the year-round beers (like Pale Ale) they take steps to reduce variability in the raw ingredients (hops in this case) by using a blend from different parts of the bales (the outside is more oxidized than the inside, for instance), as well as different bales themselves. That can't be done as well with Celebration, so it is subject to the more subtle type of variability that we hear about.

I have heard these kind of things in regards to other hoppy beers, too- including Dirt Wolf, Sculpin, Sucks and others. It probably stands out more here because there is a great big date to focus all of that energy .

 

Was watching from the sidelines. Just that alone made me exhausted. As the saying goes, Perception is 99% of Reality. I perceive I'm going out for a beer. For reals.

 

Perhaps the reason people seem to pick up on such differences more frequently in hoppy beers is because they more frequently drink hoppy beers.

 

I don't doubt that's true for a second. I've seen guys who only drink one kind of beer (let's say Coors Light) notice when they were given something different. Cheap scotch, too.

Going in a slightly different direction, I usually get multiples of beers and have them on different days just to minimize the part that's me from the part that's happening in the glass. It's better to pick up on the core aspects that way.

 

There is a core group of old timers at Schlenkerla who (according to M. Trum) polish off what's left in their glass as soon as they see a new wooden keg being tapped. Apparently they are convinced that the first few half liters of the keg are the best -- something about the carbonation. (Of course when Trum related this story to me and my buddy, I had to vicariously correct the old timers by pointing out that it is actually the final 1/3 of the keg draughts that taste the best. Srs. )

 

I've had several from this series. All great, but none that memorable vs. the rest. For the first time I've seen best by 12.26.14 sitting past the date. Still on several shelves several deep.

 

Oh, and I like the concept. Yesterday I had my first dated FFF beer. Alpha King 20 days old. Awesome. Only took FFF 10 years...

 

I have no idea if this is related but the 12.26.14 release was my least favorite of the 1/2 dozen releases that I consumed. I wonder if this lead to product being on shelves?

Cheers!

 

Funny that I tried 2.14.15 about 2-3 weeks ago and it
had a funky taste to it. I put it back in the fridge . I just
finished it last night as it tasted better than when I first
opened it. Go figure.

 

People buy more than one? Or word spreads? I just buy one of each release, if I see it. I don't hunt it down, therefore miss several releases.

 

I'm not a big fan of Enjoy By...the few I had tasted like onions. I love onions...but not in my beer. I would rather drink a regular Stone IPA than Enjoy By.

Sucks is a top 5 IPA IMHO...

Actually they are very different beasts. One being very dank and the other being very sweet and juicy...I prefer Sucks out of the four mentioned...all 4 are decent but I think it's better than the rest.

 

I hear ya...I actually think they are "to fresh"...and need aged a little to mellow out the dankness...otherwise it's to rough around the edges for my taste.

 

Um...what? You may be trolling(or more likely, wishing), but is this a real thing? If so, it's the clubhouse leader for best news of the year...

 

You must have missed the thread last week here. Yes it is true.
http://www.beeradvocate.com/communi...-enjoy-by-04-20-2015-ipa-12oz-bottles.254678/

 

OH.MY.GOD.

 

. . . don't mind me I'll just kibbitz . ..because budwiser tastes the same every time? So variations between batches are a new idea to many.

 

“…because Budweiser tastes the same every time…”

I am not a fan/drinker of Budweiser but the one thing you have to give credit to Anheuser-Busch is their fastidious efforts to create a consistent product. Among their techniques is blending a ‘new’ batch with an ‘older’ brewed batch to maintain Budweiser consistency: “Anheuser-Busch has been blending Budweiser for years to insure consistency…”

Some folks might like to read Mitch Steele’s (head brewer of Stone and formerly a brewer at Anheuser-Busch) view on Budweiser:

“You know, I still have a lot of respect for Budweiser. The quality focus that went into brewing that beer was enormous, and it’s really underrated as a quality brewed beer.”

Cheers!