2007 Stone IRS

Ive heard of Stone IRS holding up for as long as a decade. My oldest bottle is an 08 I think, im gonna see if I can hold out a couple more years on it.

 

Its weird, I used to love this beer with 2 or 3 years on it, but fairly recently opened a bottle of '10 and '11 and really didn't care for them. Actually gone as far as to put my few remaining bottles in the fridge, and take it off my list of bottles to grab for the cellar each year.

 

I've had good and bad experiences with these too. I had one with about a year on it. The dark fruit stood out nicely and the roast was mild and plesant. I had another with about 24 months on it and it was sharper, less rounded, and sort of boozy. Not what I was hoping for.

 

Drank a 2009 with some buddies about 2 months ago (?) and it was GREAT.

 

I've been keeping one a year for no other reason than they don't cost a whole lot and they are always obtainable. There was a guy at Dark Lord Day with a 2007 acting like he had the biggest whale there.

 

I've had a 2010 and 2011 in the last two months and they were both delicious!

 

I've had some good experiences with vintage Stone beers. I am one of those who prefer the IRS and OG improve over time, but I had my first vintage Double Bastard ('08) 2 weeks ago and it was surprisingly good. Almost a cinnemon-like flavor to it. They come out hot, but settle down nicely.

 

We did a vertical of '01 and '03-13 a few weeks ago. I think '05 and '09 were the favorites....

The glass was a blend of all of them

 

Stone had everything from 03-13 on tap during SD beer week this year. I found the years around 07-11 were the best. Older than that had lost a lot of flavor.

 

fresh its one of the best values, $6 for an imperial stout? yup