Stone Brewing Debuts Stone Viking Space Probe Double IPA

Not really surprised to see another Stone IPA. The last interesting IPA I had from them was the Mocha IPA from a few years ago I don't know how well it sold but I really enjoyed it and ended up buying a case. I would love to see that one again ideally in cans.

 

$15/6 is definitely on the higher end of Stone IPA's in my neck of the woods although that is around what Xocoveza is priced at. The old school Stone IPA is $10/6 pack here and most of there other IPA's are $13 or less. A 4 pack of pints of Fear Movie Lions is $12 pretty much everyplace around me. It is really only their non IPA offerings I have ever seen at the $15 price point. If I was paying $15 I would almost certainly get 4 pack of pints from someplace local over any Stone IPA offering.

 

Xocoveza and all the other specialty beers 6 packs like Enjoy By that come out in Mass have been $17-19 so I'm anticipating that price point and it'll be a tough sell even though it sounds great. The price is just a lot for a 6 pack.

 

This... while I want to explore sours more, esp. the mass-produced ones, I'm not going to drop 18$+ (or more) for low ABV.

 

I just got a couple on draft at my new place at 'What's On Tap' and I was impressed.

 

Xcoveza is my Number One Rated Beer for the year so far. I had it on tap and it was amazing! I can't say what the bottle is like, yet.

 

That was a good beer. I drank a lot of it. It found it somewhat similar to Victory's Hop Wallop, which I also miss. I don't know why more breweries don't experiment more with floral, spicy and earthy hops. I think they work well in IPAs.

 

That beer was ridiculously good, but yeah... way too expensive for what it was.

 

I do not know when you last had Hop Wallop but the beer distributed last year was a re-formulation and the 2020 distributed version was tweaked once again.

I think the 2020 Hop Wallop is OUTSTANDING!

https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/new-beer-sunday-week-779.632517/#post-6779259

Cheers!

 

Do you know how many days/months out the best by date is?

 

Below is what I posted on the New Beer Sunday thread:

"What you want to look for is the enjoy by date on the label - small font, white ink.

The bottle in that photo has: ENJOY BY 09 MAY 2020".

This bottle is from my third 6-pack that I purchased. It is my understanding that Victory uses a 5 month best by date so this bottle is from December 9, 2019. I would encourage you to seek out a January bottle date. Even though this bottle is only 1.5 months old there is a noticeable drop-off of hop aroma/flavor in this beer. The others I drank earlier (3-4 weeks ago) were absolutely glorious!!"

Cheers!

 

Let me know what you think.

I had three bottles left from my third 6-pack but my wife drank them all in one drinking session. I am guessing she liked this year's Hop Wallop as much as I did.

Cheers!

 

Sounds interesting, but Stone has priced itself out of the market here. The reg IPA is now pushing $13 while these 'special releases' are $17+. It just makes no sense why anyone would buy that when there are plenty of good local IPAs in the $10 range. Perhaps Colombia isn't doing them any favors, similar to how Sierra Nevada is pricier here than a lot of the country, I know all their prices went up first of the year.

 

SN pricer than in PA? Shocking.

There are also very few $10 six packs of local IPA here, many more 4x16 in the $14 and up range.

I did buy a six of Hop wallop based on loving it years ago and this thread reads like it’s revived I a good way, $9.99. Oddly Jess than other Victory core.

Enjoy

 

What do you mean by local? My shop has quite a few IPAs from PA that are around $10 for a 6er. Even Head Hunter is $10 for a 6er.

 

Hmmm....HH is $48 a case plus tax , break it down and it’s even more.

Walking into the beer place I go to there is not much of anything under $10 and very little at $10. Grocery stores are even more.

I’m in the land of plenty but can’t afford to buy it. This is why when I can I travel 40 minutes each way to buy beer at a place I have been going since the 1980’s that does crazy pallet sales. Just bought fresh daisy cutter for $26 a case and OB one-y for $17 a case.

Enjoy

 

It appears your store's prices are higher than my store. Even then, fresh HH for $12 a 6 pack is still a good price IMO.

Ever Grain Joose Juicy, multiple Winding Path 4 packs, multiple Rusty Rail 4 packs, Tröegs 6 packs (Perpetual and Hop Cyles), and Victory Hop Devil are all around $10 (some are under) to name a few. I'm not even including breweries from NJ or MD that my store gets.

Even my Sheetz sells Rusty Rail Fog Monster for $9.89 a 6 pack.

 

Meant a 4 pack.