Stone Enjoy By 2/15/13 - San Diego

I'm sure Stone will milk this one for a decade before putting out another great beer. And flood the market with crappy Anni's and Collabs or "Belgo"s in the meantime.

 

I think you'll be surprised at what the IRS variant is this year...

 

I'll file that somewhere between "Does not care" & "Couldn't give a shit"

Unless it's a Rebel Yell barrel aged version. Right out of the plastic bottle.

 

Not an IRS fan? I think it might be their best beer.

 

Uhhh, I don't wanna look like a nut-hugger, but I gotta defend Stone here, buddy. This beer is DELICIOUS. I'm not sure why that irritates you. And it IS megafresh. For an IPA ***** like myself, that's soooooo important. I applaud Stone for emphasizing this to the industry. (How many good brewers STILL don't bottle date? Too many.)
And I wanna make another point- I'm so tired of buying growlers from awesome (and not-so-awesome) brewers, only to be disappointed by the $20+ cost of a refill. (Isn't the whole idea of buying a growler supposed to be that it will save you money in the long run?) I filled my 66oz growler (2 more ozs than anyone else) for $13.89. With a world-class, SUPERfresh, mega-delish DOUBLE IPA. Thank you, Stone.

 

Oh yeah, and "crappy Anni's?" Ruination 10th "anni" is simply my fav beer ever.

 

Had a few "Drink Bys" in Pasadena yesterday and they were just as good as the previous release. IMO, there is no doubt that Stone is earning a place at the Big Boy Brewer's IPA table, matching up with beers like Zombie Dust, Citra, Heady and Nelson.

 

Enjoy By is by far the best "new" IPA/DIPA's from last year. The 8 oz pour at the comp store was super fresh. And for a growler fill for only around 14 is dirt cheap for a DIPA. Even if it's Stone. I think Stone, Alpine and a few others growler fill prices are decent. I can spend around $7-8 for gas round trip to Oceanside and buy 2 bottles and a growler fill (or more) it's worth it. But to run around OC from store to store looking to buy one bottle at a time and not really knowing how much your gonna pay for a bottle is insane to me. I used to run around looking for bottles here and there. Now I'll just drive to Alpine, Kern, etc to buy my beers in bulk and head back home and relax with a fridge of some awesome beers. You've got place like Port, the Bruery, Beachwood, etc. that will charge alot more for their growler fills. I'm not knocking them as they all have some awesome beers in their line-up. You pay $7 for a bomber of Enjoy By versus $14 for a growler fill of 64oz. That's like paying less than $5 for 22ozs. Deal. A great deal from Stone. IMO.

 

This one (10th Anny Ruin) should be another one that Stone should make available a couple times a year. A big delicious beer. I did not care for their 16th Anny. But the tenth and enjoy by is spot on.

 

How was the turn out at the Pasadena store? There was about 35+ in line at opening at the Oceanside store.

 

About 50. Line was down to a dozen by the time we left. Got there an hour early and there were about a half dozen of Pasadena's finest standing in the small plaza where Stone is located with a sniffy dog. They left without incident or explanation. I'm guessing it was all that extra Lupulin.

 

Give em 6 pints and a doggy bowl of Enjoyby, and I bet they'll stop "sniffin"...

 

Drinking my growler now, and VERY impressed. This is a wonderful, complex, strong, FRESH beer. And, at $13.89/66 oz growler, maybe the best value ever. I work damn hard for my money. So thank you, Stone.

 

It's one of their better beers, it's also a Lee Chase creation which is tits. What's this year's variant? I don't support Stone much so it's not on my 'must buy' annually. I'd rather have a Speedway.

 

I never said it was a bad beer. In fact it's the Best beer they've made in a very long time. Given their track record of winners to losers, it'll be another decade before they make something as equally awesome.

 

My experience at Stone Co. Store Pasadena: I called before we headed over to verify if they at least had bottles available. Arrived ~8:15PM and as we purchased our share of bombers, 8oz pours, and 2L growler fill, I was warned the keg is 1/5 full and the keg may be "kicked" during my fill. As we enjoyed our beer, the keg "kicked" at about 3/4ths of our growler fill and we had 2 options. Dump or keep the contents of the growler for free...They still had bottles left last night.

 

I think there was only one option all along, and I'm sure you chose wisely.

 

Funny that you should prefer Speedway. This years odd IRS will be similar.

 

Speedway is on the shelf here year-round. No special need to hunt it or whatever. I'm sure the comparisons will be had at some point.

 

You have me intrigued. Stone IRS has always been one of my go-to beers to stock up on, perhaps no longer a favorite, but at ~$6/bottle, nice to put a stash away in the cellar. The smoked Old Guardian sounds interesting and can't be any worse than the Belgo variant, so I'm cautiously optimistic about that as well.