Why no Love for Stone?

That's unfiltered too. Usually Enjoy By is a west coast hoppy IPA that is really good. I love Unfiltered so much that I wish every Enjoy By was.

 

I find their marketing strategy cringeworthy, which makes me dislike them a little bit.

I like their IPAs (although not my favorite IPA brewery by any stretch). Dislike their non IPA output.

 

Sadly I can think of 8-10 other ipas that I look towards every single beer store visit before I even think of stone. I do tend to buy a single of their enjoy by every other time. It feels too malty to me anymore.

I was lucky enough to be able to get about 4 cases worth of xococeza. So they get all of my love and support in that regard.
I mentioned in the other thread, they just aren't really around on tap anywhere. It's just one of those things. I guess overall we take them for granted.

 

When did you first try it? I can honestly say it was a stellar example of one of my favorite styles, hoppy reds, back when I tried it for the first time in 2002. The fact that its still selling should give you some insight into its appeal to others, even if you were left unimpressed. About the only hoppy red I've had from the Midwest that holds a candle to it is Founders Red's Rye. Perhaps your experience was with beers I haven't tried, but how many of those are still selling?

Agreed! AB is something I still buy occasionally, especially the cans for backcountry travel (even more so now that OB put G'Knight into 12 oz cans).

Stuff that I grab whenever fresh include Wussie, Xocovexa, EJB, and ocassionally Go-To. I also enjoyed their recent IPL collab with Maine, and they have two of the best representations of the CDA, SSR and 15th Anniversary EscondidIan BIPA. That said, I do wish they'd bring back Ruination 1.0, but I understand that's not what the majority of palates seek these days.

EDIT: forgot to add IRS to my usual grabs (even though it's not offeted this year, which kinda Fs up my vertical from 2010...).

Lastly I love that their distribution arm helps get more exposure to other craft offerings. In a nutshell, Stone and their beers are always top shelf in my book. YMMV

 

jake: that Escondidian is hands-down the best black IPA I've ever had and I try every one I can find. I got about 10 of those 4 bomber anniversary IPA packs.

 

I still love Stone, and they helped get me into craft beer and IPAs. Arrogant Bastard was also one of my early favorites, and I like their other styles as well. I usually buy the new products when I see them, but there is just so much new beer out there from every brewery that it has indeed become hard for me to keep buying the same beers over again. When I have them I like them, but I usually don't buy many packs these days since I have so much to try already. I guess every brewery is taking a little something away from every other brewery. First world problem, too much good beer, not enough people to consume it all fresh.

 

Since Stone made their bones, roughly eleventy-thousand new breweries have opened. I don't think they've lost their savor at all but with so many options (and the increased interest in the freshness that can come from buying local) they definitely don't appear in my fridge as often as they once did.

Still, once in a while I'll be somewhere that has Stone IPA as the best option so I'll pick some up and it never disappoints. Same with Arrogant Bastard, and if I ever come across bottles of Lukcy Basartd again I may plotz because that brew really blew my hair back.

 

Must be nice. I suppose Richmond is too far from Virginia Beach to be bestowed such treasures.

 

So, when I'm shopping hard for beer and trying to expand my horizons, I do now tend to look right past Stone brews. On the other hand, today while grocery shopping I swung through the beer aisle on autopilot to pick up a couple of sixes. It wasn't until I saw this thread that I realized they're both Stone beers!

Ripper, which I've never tried before, and Enjoy By 7/4/17, which practically jumped in my hand--it seemed somehow patriotic (especially since a foreign-owned brewery is marketing beer under the name of our country) and damn if it doesn't now comes in cans!

I'm completely stoked to have a couple of each tonight, so perhaps Stone is still pretty relevant!

 

Love Stone.

One of my top 10 all-time favorite brewers. I've had more beers from them than any other brewer. Only reason you don't see more posts from me featuring Stone is because I've got some top-tier beer being brewed in my own backyard, courtesy of breweries like Other Half, Grimm, Barrier, and Sand City - plus a friend of mine does Vermont and Boston runs, bringing back Alchemist and Trillium shit, too... There's just so much I can drink, y'know?

Cheers...

 

I feel like weighing in on this one.

Stone will always have a special place in my heart. I still remember my first Arrogant Bastard in the late 1990's, and how distinct it was. Even today, I still almost always have a bottle or two of something from Stone on hand. I have great respect for what they have done to not only make great beer, but to expand people's definition of what beer is. I will always remember Stone as an innovvator in the 1990's and an evangelist in the 2000's with their distribution of many craft brands. Even today, I still think they produce a number of good to very good beers at a great price point, again making good beer available to the masses. There are even some I would still go out of my way for, Yes Southern Charred I'm talking about you.

But in today's world, we no longer live in a era of a hand full of small brewers in a few beer hot spots like San Diego. Instead, many markets that use to be beer deserts have become thriving local beer markets. This has created a new form of competition for national / international brands like Stone. Many people are spreading their "love" and dollars around on their local breweries that are standing out.

In all honesty, I find myself buying more beer these days directly from local brewers then I do from bottle shops. Stone doesn't have a local tasting room near me. I would buy more from Stone if they did.

Don't get me wrong, I still love Stone. I'll be in the rare beer section in August, as usual. But times have changed.

 

Totally forgot about that and Bastard in the Rye...so tasty!

 

Never had a Stone that I liked. Something about it -- dunno.

 

Enjoy By (Unfiltered or not) is one of my favorite beers.

Stone IPA has always treated me right
Pataskala I honestly LOVE
Delicious IPA is a good mix-it-up buy
Ruination is good and if I see it fresh I'll grab it

I agree they do a ton of IPAs and IPA-variation beers. some are good and some are not so good. i wish they still had their Russian Imperial Stout. I have a bottle of that in my cellar still

 

Stone brews some solid beers, too much for me to keep up with as they seem to release something new often. I really enjoy a good amount of their beers but there is a lot more out there than just Stone.

 

I like that Stone is now in our local stores. As for their lineup I'l buy what's interesting and disregard the rest.

 

Stone was one of the first breweries I took a liking too, I tried everything I could get my hands on. I remember my first Subliminally Self Righteous...that was amazing to me at the time. I still drink Stone but I don't buy them like I used to. Still make some of my first favorite beers. Have a few bottles of IRS tucked away. Gets forgotten about but it's still an all time fav.

 

"Unfiltered" Enjoy By is just unfiltered Enjoy By. So if one is "west coast" then they both are.

 

When I was last in San Diego, it was pretty ubiquitous. I remember going to an Italian place that had two beers on tap: Peroni and Stone IPA. The thing, though, is that San Diego County has about 100 breweries. There's perhaps no market with more options competing for that locavore dollar.

 

Love Stone beers for the most part. Occasional misses but meh.... My wallet....? My wallet hates them... $18-20 a sixer for Enjoy By? Like the beer but I've started passing it by at that price... I still buy the RIS or Old Guardian when I see it...