Aged Stone Beers

I'd point out that this didn't have a ton of barrel/barrel fresh. I loved it, and have a bunch of the 2015 release that I'm drinking roughly one/month. It's gotten a tiny bit more rounded out from fresh.

 

I'll be the contrarian and say that I'm drinking my last bottle right now, and am liking it probably the most of any of the times I've had it (a few bottles fresh, one at ~6 months, and this one). The spice is blending with the rest of the beer better than any other time I've had it—it's softer and more well-integrated. I also get plenty of chocolate, though not much coffee. n.b., this has been at fridge temp the entire time, so it's presumably aged a bit slower. As it's drinking now, this is 4.38/5 for me (looking back, my fresh rating was 4.29; at 6 months, 4.37).

 

Yeah see, mine was definitely not even at cellar temp during the majority of its life since I got it on discount from a distributor. Haha.

 

cracked that bitter chocolate last night... zero carb but wasnt bad. smelled oxidized on the nose but drank ok. the bitter chocolate was still there. wasnt a drain pour.

 

That is my approach to their beers as well.

I'm not sure why anyone is aging their anniversary IPA's. Or any of the black IPA's. The whole point is the fresh hop flavor. Don't confuse the dark color with having the aging potential of an imperial stout. The color is coming from a tiny % of de-bittered Carafa malt. Not something that you want to strip the hops away from and highlight by aging.

 

Ah, didn't try it fresh. Wasn't impressed at all though. Might have to try the 2015 though. Cheers!

 

Based on the recipe described in Mitch Steele's IPA book - this beer was brewed with 100% Extra Pale Malt. And it gives the boil time as 90 minutes (so no extra long boil to facilitate Maillard reaction flavors).

So no offense, but I don't know why on earth you would want to drink this beer at 5 years. There isn't going to be any malt complexity.

 

I recently had the 2 year aged one, it was fantastic. I have at least one left, I'll check my cellar if I have a second, if so I would be open to a trade. I'd like to blend a bit of the chai version with some of the espresso version.

 

Rule #1 Never refer yourself as a "fanboy".