Disenchanted with Stone?

Agree and disagree. Definitely not over rated, are there better IPAs? Yea, but what they put out as special distributions are sincerely excellent. Enjoy By is not a run of the mill beer, plenty of character there, love Ruination too, and 2 is better than the original, that was a bit of a one trick pony.

 

Matt's Burning Rosids Imperial Cherrywood-Smoked Saison was horrid. Not every beer they come up with is a great one, and some are plain misses. But the good ones are VERY good.

 

I think it all boils down to, if you are new to craft beer you will love Stone. If you've been trading for awhile and hunting out the best stuff out there, there is no point in touching Stone other than the Enjoy By's. They make nice gimmick beers in these stocasticity series that people new to craft beer probably would enjoy. But those who've had better say Mexican style stouts, pick up the lack of refinement.

 

probably not JUST you, but yeah i think you either don't try enough stuff or have pretty bad taste. their one-off (D)IPAs have been awesome for the last few years, as good or better than the excellent anniversary beers of yore.

 

hoppy beer should be refrigerated. your post is basically an advertisement for the people you're criticizing.

 

hence why they dont sell it to everyone! HEAVEN FORBID someone should actually give a damn about their beer and put requirements out there. thankfully there are enough people who are interested in buying their beer so if someone has your viewpoint, they dont have to sell it!

 

You probably have palette fatigue. Take a break from IPA's for a week or more and try some Belgians and Stouts. Come back and be amazed how much more complexity you can taste in the hops. You can't keep drinking the same flavor over and over and still expect to be wowed.

 

I go to Three Floyds once a year when visiting the in-laws. I've found them nothing but totally nice.

 

So

Careful the original poster will call you an asshole.

 

I am a little sad that they are just reformulating everything with Citra.

 

Glad breweries protect customers from store owners who don't respect the product.

 

These stores are not being held at gunpoint. They don't like it, they can choose not to sell it. Regardless of their motivations, Russian River doing that is in the best interest of the end consumer. Do you just enjoy being angry at things?

 

EDIT: Forget about it

 

It seems to me that Stone is going through something of an identity crisis. The newest iteration of Ruination appears to be an attempt to jump onto the burgeoning East Coast IPA mentality, but it comes out jumbled. The new Pale Ale is also a muddled mess. Getting rid of Sublimely Self Righteous Ale was a mistake, and Delicious IPA is a hard branding decision to get behind. When I was first getting into craft beer Stone was probably my favorite brewery. Concerned about how they're adapting their brand to this new era.

 

Yes, you are crazy. Stone has a fantastic and relatively diverse line of hoppy beers.

Also, if you haven't had any of their offerings in a while, it's probably not the best time to critique them.

 

Ding ding ding, we have a winner.

 

Just going to throw this out there: if you think Stone does not make good beer, you are in a very small minority, as indicated by its high average beer rating and the sheer quantity of ratings. No one should get upset over someone becoming disenchanted though anyway. Except, maybe Stone, of course.

 

No, its not just you. They aren't my favorite. But, watch it, because dorks on here will act like you just supported murder, or something.

 

Disenchanted? No. Standards like Double Bastard, Old Guardian, and Ruinten keep slapping me across the head. Then, I try their Mutt Brown and Chai IRS just to be different. Still, I go in phases with them like many of my favorite companies. So much good beer out on the market...It's a good problem too have...