Stone Enjoy By Unfiltered

For me, it was less about the cloudiness, and more about the aroma, which was fantastic. The taste didn't quite match up to the wonderful fruity aroma, but it did seem drier than some other batches of Enjoy By that I've tasted so that was a plus. Definitely worth getting at the Trader Joe's price.

 

Picked up a bottle. Great stuff.

 

Just popped mine. Super juicy and got the dankiness of those East Coast hops. No cloudiness or haziness to speak of though and I'm fine with that.

 

Best batch of EB, hell yes. NE style, not even close. Aroma was dramatically impacted, but i feel the taste was minimally affected. The sediment had already settled in the bottles of the sixer I grabbed, so in theory I could've poured it fairly clear if desired. May try that with one of the other bottles for research purposes and all. Still packs that bitter West Coast finish that I love. I'm bitter and I like it.

Granted it didn't make as much of a difference in EB, but it's it possible the whole current trend in NE IPAs bares similarities to decanting/oxidizing a wine. Making tannins into larger molecules prevents their interaction with parts of the palette. Could something similar be happening where alpha acids are binding or sorbing to the greatly available suspended material, thus preventing their interaction with the palette and leading to the much softer less bitter finish off the current NE IPAs? This is purely a sporadic thought from someone that doesn't home brew, so don't crucify me if I'm way off base.

Cheers

 

Had a pour on tap at BT's earlier. Was more boozy and more on the filtered side than the bottle. Tasted the ABV's right away. Found a six pack at TJ's and will open a bottle tomorrow.

 

Well the yeast and hop matter do bind together...by not filtering and leaving them in suspension, it should actually lead to more perceived bitterness. The soft finish in NE IPAs has a lot to do with late addition hopping(although Stone does this as well), water chemistry, and the yeast strains they use.

 

Had it on tap. Quite good. Crushed a pint without even realizing it.

 

Can you expand upon why the perceived bitterness would be increased? I'm curious as I would expect once they are bound and the effective surface area increased that they would then interact with the palate less due to steric hindrance. TIA

 

Well there will probably be more isomerized alpha acids and polyphenols in suspension if its unfiltered, so it will be more bitter/astringent. Whether or not its going to make a big difference in a such a high IBU beer is debatable. That beer is already really bitter so a little bit of extra hop matter won't change things a ton. Stone could also have accounted for this and backed off the dry hop because it wouldn't be filtered. Absolutely no idea what steric hindrance is. I'm just a homebrewer...not a chemist so take it with a grain of salt.

This might be of interest: http://byo.com/mead/item/1762-hop-polyphenols-advanced-brewing

 

I thought it was wayyyyyy better than regular EB, which I actually still like a lot.

 

Many Thanks!

 

Grabbed a couple at Costco today. Problem is I now have to go back to Costco tomorrow to buy some more. I thought it was much better than the regular but I still can't wait for the tangerine version in April. When I had it on tap in November it was amazing.

 

I dunno if I just don't like this beer, my taste is off, or the six packs aren't showing as well as the bombers/draft, but this tasted just like any of the more disappointing batches of Enjoy By, to me.

 

Looking forward to grabbing one tomorrow.

 

I didn't think this was anything special. It didn't even look unfiltered.

 

While I agree on the former, I think it's really sad the number of people commenting how it doesn't look unfiltered. This is what unfiltered beer looks like. The fact that many brewers have beer that unintentionally looks like this, and/or have turbid, milky looking beers, says more about those than it does about this beer, I feel.

But yeah, just felt like a meh batch of Enjoy By, to me.

 

Maybe there's bottle variation in terms of how cloudy it looks but mine looked like any other filtered IPA. I'm well aware of the difference.

Edit: Or was your point that these other places are making OVERLY turbid and milky beers so that it's skewing what it looks like when an IPA is simply not filtered and otherwise not messed with? If that's the case, I agree with you.

 

same exact feelings!

 

Yet to see this in SF.

 

13.99 at TJ in HB.