Stone Enjoy By 7-4-19

By that pic it definitely looks West Coast.

 

I remember one of the Valentine’s Day Unfiltered versions (‘16 I wanna say?) was easily one of the best, most balanced and deeply faceted IPAs I’ve ever had.

A lot of them recently have been...a little overdone. To the point of off-flavors from over-hopping.

I miss the Enjoy By heydays.

 

My palate may have shifted, but I definitely do not like this beer.

 

Oh no it’s definitely changed. I’m not even tempted to try 7.04.19. Sometimes I wonder if the coolers at Stone are just floor to ceiling with pallets of hops and they just kinda...throw whatever they want in there now. QC probably turns a blind eye to the overhopped grassy, soapy, chalky flavors I’ve experienced in past versions (and in several other overhopped beers from other smaller breweries).

 

My liver and I much prefer good ol' Stone IPA. Freshness is a must, however.

 

This one was refreshing and worth the money! Will be drinking my fill of these again tonight

 

Ever since they started pumping these cans out of their RVA facility into my area this beer hasn’t tasted the same to me. I used to love this beer and would get bummed when they skipped over NJ for a release. I haven’t bought a single can since the second batch from RVA and by the negative reactions some of my buddies have had to this beer I’ll stick with my RVA Stone boycott. I would however be interested to try a fresh CA Enjoy By and a fresh RVA Enjoy by side by side and see if there are any differences.

 

A blind taste test of these two beers would indeed be a great exercise. I suppose you would need to trade for the CA brewed version. Maybe some person on the West Coast would be willing to trade for RVA brewed versions and conduct their own blind taste test?

Cheers!

P.S. This would be a worthy exercise for other Stone brands as well (e.g., Stone IPA).

 

Getting back to the topic, what are your thoughts on this beer?
See my review on its page.
It's actually very clear for being unfiltered. Drinks appropriate for the ABV. Flavor is attenuated. Not sweet. Strong bitterness. West coast all the way. I think my palate is used to the haze craze, but seems like it has weak flavor. For the bitterness I think I've had much lighter ABV IPAs with similar bitterness. Not sure what I'm getting here from the 9.4%. Any thoughts?

 

I can’t remember the last time I enjoyed one of these high abv DIPA’s. They just miss the mark for me, and while I don’t think it’s sweet per say it imo it leans toward the malty side. To get the abv up I guess that’s the trade off. When ipas lose balance they really cease to be enjoyable and the result is a beer that’s just not very good. Now that balance point is a bit tricky, individual palates will definitely vary and everyone is going to be a bit different. I’ve had this 6 for almost a week now and I still have two left and it’s very much a fight to open one up and drink it, it’s not bad enough to pour it out, but I’m not in a hurry to drink the last ones.

 

They're definitely different beers batch to batch. This one is much lighter than the last few examples I had (probably 4.20 last year, and the 6.21 last year) and seems to feature fruitier hop flavors over the pinier stuff. Definitely west coast family of ipas and to me way too drinkable for the ABV

 

Haven't had one in a couple of years but (and as hard as comparing things from a while back is) it seems to be the big but bright WCIPA that was the rage when it hit the scene years ago.

I loved it....again.

Thanks for reminding @TongoRad.

 

It has good bitterness, but really I just get a lot of booze. There's definitely a sweet spot for an IPA and it's somewher between 6-9%. This is too much.

 

I assume you tasted the California brewed version? Would you be willing to trade with @gardenstatepkwy to blind taste your CA version with the version brewed in Virginia?

Cheers!

 

I would probably be into something like that. I will be out of town starting in a few days though until just before the "enjoy by" date

 

Iconic for sure. Memories from another craft beer era.

 

PM’ed.

 

Just got 4 stovepipes for $15 at my local Costco...


Also- glad to hear so much about the flavor and quality of this beer in this thread, rather than a focus on how companies and retailers ensure freshness wink emoji

 

Yes