Stone - 19th Anniversary Thunderstruck IPA

I got some onion and even more of what I can only describe as "raw rubber" in Enjoy By. While I cannot recall the "enjoy by" date, it would have been the freshest available this past December. I didn't' find the taste off putting at all as I enjoy IPAs on all ends of the flavor spectrum. Honestly, it was probably the most dank beer I had enjoyed to date, not even a hint of tropical.

On an unrelated subject, when is VA, and most importantly (because I am very selfish...) Central VA going to get Thunderstruck?

 

My wife and I split a bomber last night. Wow, I was impressed!! Super tropical and super dank. In my opinion, one of Stone's best offerings in a while.

 

i think my palette prefers the hop overload
this one did not work for me at all
much prefer the ruinten

 

Had this on draft this past weekend. I got tropical fruit and a strong bitter finish. Made me more excited for the east coast expansion brewery.

 

Very enjoyable and did not get the onion/garlic previously mentioned.

I'll be double fisting bombers outside of Wrigley Field in 2 weeks for the ACDC concert!

 

Loved this beer, perfectly balanced tropical flavors and dank backbone. I also have never experienced onion or garlic in Enjoy By so I am firmly in the Stone lovers genetics camp.

 

I thought this was terrible. Stone more and more seems to be going this oniony route. This tasted like the recent subpar enjoy by's. Stone 18th didn't seem as popular but I much preferred that to this. I thought this years Ruinten was bad too. I officially no longer trust Stone on the ipa front.

 

It's all about mass production my friend. It's becoming the Sam Adams of the west coast which is a very bad thing.

 

The classic BA trope: If its widely available, it can't be very good anymore

 

That's fine I suppose, but they won't be getting my money any more. The last great beer I had from them was EB 4/20/14. Additionally, these special release bombers tend to be on the pricier end in my town. Usually 10$

 

Did you even read my earlier post?

 

I did... And whether or not its a pallette thing makes no difference to my appreciation of the beer. Stone has been tasting like onion since EB 10/31/14. I don't like it, therefore I will stop buying it. Am I supposed to continue buying it, to hate it, because my palette is "perceiving" onion?

 

Yes and you also have this rated higher than Nelson so clearly you know what you're talking about.

 

I tried 2 bombers so far and did not experience the garlic/onion taste everyone is talking about.
It is very tropical to me. This is one of Stone's best.

 

I don't know very many people on here. I don't know if "stonegreg" means he works there or just likes stone... But is there any explanation of why so many have perceived onion/garlic in a lot of stone stuff over the past year? Whats changed? EB 4/20/14 was top 5 all time for me. 10/31/14 was one of the most crisp and juicy ipas I've ever had. But starting with the Xmas EB, everything since has given me onion. Is it a particular hop, malt etc?

 

I just "cracked" my bomber open! Wow ... citrusy (juice and rind), dank and deeeeelicious! No onion or garlic, just hop goodness. I'm gonna have to go back to my local and grab another one (or two.)

 

You disagree with my opinion, therefore I have no idea what I'm talking about. Solid logic there, champ.

 

StoneGreg is Greg Koch from Stone, not that who said it really matters. I believe he is correct when it comes to saying that different palates must perceive some of these "dank" hops differently.

There are hops that I personally don’t care for at all and others love, Calypso is an example that many people go crazy for, to me it tastes like stinky cantaloupe. I think it’s naïve to think that we all taste the same in the same way that we don’t all perceive colors the same way or have the same tolerance for spicy food. Though ironically I think Enjoy By at least at one time included Calypso.

 

It is too bad that you dislike the beers Stone is putting out - someone has already taken care of the "who is stonegreg?" comment.

Knowing your palate and pleasing your palate is reasonable enough. You should, however, recognize that the onion-garlic taste is person-specific. I avoid HopRanch for the same reason - all I get is garlic and onions. But others swear by the stuff as a super fruity hop joyfest. Hops, particularly the cutting edge stuff Stone and other craft brewers use, can shift like grapes in different vintages of wine. Unless consistency is the primary mission, you can expect some shift. For one-offs like the 19th Anniv., there's nothing to be consistent with - obviously you are responding to some of the varietals that are in their supply chain. If I were a betting man, given your timing, as well as the specifics of this year's anniversary ale, I'd put money down on an Aussie/southern hemisphere hop, but that'd be just that - a bet.

If it is unpleasant, I think you are right - don't drink the beer. But the vagaries of hops and palates seems not something too mysterious.

 

I suppose the reason I'm asking, is if they have been using hop abcxyz, I'll avoid their future releases with that hop. I don't think its uncommon to persue the hops we like and avoid the ones we don't.

Ive had a ton of good stuff with galaxy. So I doubt it was that I disliked in 19th. The other hops I'm not as familar with