Disenchanted with Stone?

Maybe the Stone beer coming to the Chicago area is not real fresh, but the ones I have tried are about average. I'm always surprised by all the love for this brewery. I'll take a IPA from a brewery like Surly any day over a Stone IPA. Maybe there is some California hype going on because I have tried some of the other California top beers like Alpine Beer and Alesmith and have found them to be good beers but not as great as their ratings.

 

I love the Enjoy by series, w00tstout and Xocoveza. However, I was incredibly disappointed with RuinTen, and Pale Ale 2.0. The other offerings bore me. I loved Stone IPA, Levitation, and Arrogant Bastard when I first got into craft beer, but they don't really stand out anymore to me.

 

I disagree. With the beers that Russian River, La Cumbre, and Odell are putting out I have no need to bother with enjoy by, ruination, or any of their IPA's. On a yearly to yearly comparison I would take Deschutes offerings like fresh squeezed, Mirror pond, and pinedrops over stone IPA, APA, or ruination. If I pulled the local card I would put Comrade Brewings Hop Chops and Dry Dock Brewings DIPA over any offering from stone, period. I just don't see what the big deal is, the beer isn't that good...

 

We'll just have to disagree, I like Pliny, I like Fresh Squeezed, but I think some Stone offerings are just better, better being subjective of course. I don't like Stone IPA , but I do like their special releases, and they have wide distro, that can't be easy.

 

I don't care for IPA's anymore. That takes many of there beers off the table. I thought their RIS was below average and smoked Porter was bland. I'm not a fan at the moment, though I'd like to try the Mexican chocolate style stout they made and need to pick up their barleywine.

 

One bad bottle won't dissuade me from Stone. I wish it had been a different beer though.





It exploded while I was at work.

 

Stone might be overrated to some, but their hop bombs are great. And their cocky attitude is something you like or don't. I was born preemie, survived against all odds with every challenge thrown my way. I am my own Arrogant Bastard, I'm Not Worthy.

 

I just sent you a PM about this. Please email me. Thank you, Mitch

 

I'm more disenchanted with myself. I see them on the shelves and always seem to pass them by; not sure why. I know I'm probably missing out ...

 

I had my last bottle of Xocoveza explode. We were home and I had people over. Luckily, no one was hurt. Losing the beer sucked though as Xocoveza is one of my favorites, probably my favorite of 2014. Along those lines, I was disenchanted with Stone until Xocoveza came back. Had it on tap last night. Happiness in a glass.

 

Lump me into the "so over Stone" crowd. I used to love them, drink them all the time, go down to the World Bistro... but over the last 7 - 8 years I've both grown tired of the elitist attitude, the forgettable new beers and the removal of old standbys from the line-up.

Seriously, the last totally new beer from Stone I rated at or over a 4.0 was Quadrotriticale last year. Before that, there were Cimmerian Portal, a one-off at the Liberty Station location, and Dayman, both in 2013. Before that, it was El Camino (Un)Real Black Ale back in 2010.

And I have tried a depressingly large number of their collaborations and one-offs and find them sub-par.

The old standards are still great - Smoked Porter, RIS, IPA, but I find myself drinking them less and less often because of the wide variety of other beers now available and because I just get a bad taste throwing any money their way any more.

 

While it may not be easy, there are a lot of breweries that do it. Firestone walker, Deschutes, Avery, Odell, New Belgium, Booulevard, they all have a wide distro as well as special releases. For me, when I can find another beer that tastes better, I'll grab it every time. I appreciate that you enjoy their beers, but I feel what stone offers on every level is antiquated at best, and their attempts to stay relevant in the beer scene are starting to come across as gimmicky to me. Enjoy by? We all know hoppy beers have a shelf life. Enjoy after? Yeah, we all know brett develops in the bottle. Pretty sure Deschutes was doing "best after" way before stone. With the direction the market is going in craft brewing I wouldn't be surprised if I start seeing arrogant bastard BBQ sauce on sam's club shelves again.

 

I remember a few years ago, I overheard a couple of fat beardos complaining about the Emperial IPA, which I thought was an awesome interpretation of DIPA, but they were saying was just an American DIPA brewed with English ingredients, which it was, but so what. I told them to open a brewery and do better. So, @JackRWatkins, go do better.

 

The other night I went to a restaurant that happened to be having a Stone tap takeover. I had the Double dry hopped Ruination, the oak-aged Ruination and 2014 RIS. My brother-in-law had the smoked porter and Wootstout. Everything was excellent. I would not say they're overrated at all. In fact, I'm amazed how many of their beers fly under the radar.

 

That and clearly you've had a lot of amazing beers to try. After that Stone just falls into mediocrity with throwing down $8+ on a bomber. Save the money and go for something better instead of something you'll go "meh this should just be in a 6 pack".