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(Good beer pics vs. Dark places to drink: Round 168)
The Brewery: Stone Brewing Co. (Escondido, CA)
The Brew: Enjoy By 09.13.13 (Double IPA)
Availability: Draft, 22 oz botttles
ABV: 9.4%
Rating: 9.5/10 (draft) // 8/10 (bottle)
Location: Ithaca Ale House / Home
The Story? Stone has always been one for intense taste and innovation and in this humble blogger's opinion, their "Enjoy By" follows in that tradition. From a lesser company, it could be a gimmick - "oh, you need to buy this now and drink it now." But, it's the truth. Once an IPA is ready, it's far better to drink now. Leave your Imperial Stouts and Barleywines in the basement, but put your IPAs in your gut now.
I was able to enjoy a glass of their 04.01.13 and was impressed. I heard some mixed reviews about the draft vs. bottle versions, so this time around, I bought both.
The Beer?
Draft: Incredibly fragrant with a pungent hop nose. Not that you'd expect anything less from Stone. It's a hop-dream bouquet of sweet flowers, orange, lemon, and tropical fruits. Golden color with a white, lacy head.
Draft: Incredibly fragrant with a pungent hop nose. Not that you'd expect anything less from Stone. It's a hop-dream bouquet of sweet flowers, orange, lemon, and tropical fruits. Golden color with a white, lacy head.
The taste - bold, grassy, hot hop flavor, though not as extreme as the nose might infer. Full, robust mouthfeel with tons of sticky, piney hops packed in, ending in a long, steady hop finish. I'm intrigued to know of any food parings recommendations for this. The finish was so hardy, I had to take water between beer and food in order to taste my meal!
The freshness is the king here - wildly aromatic nose, smooth mouthfeel with a bit of hop oil, and that bold, everlasting finish. A west-coast style, hop-head must have.
Bottle: Out of the bottle, the nose isn't quite as pungent compared to the draft version. There's a strong grapefruit presence on this less-dank nose.
Wow! The taste vastly differs on this one. Starkly crisp, with an immense amount of grapefruit and citrus rind. Sharp flavors and a lighter body and mouthfeel, which finishes far quicker and cleaner. Still bitter, but without the lingering dryness.
It's still a tasty brew, but a complexly different beast. The bottle version of 09.13.13 doesn't nearly have that DIPA dank, stickiness to it that the draft version held. Instead, we're met with a very pithy, crisp, sharp, but still unique IPA.
Give both a try for yourself, but this blogger would suggest jumping for the draft if you get the chance.
Bottle: Out of the bottle, the nose isn't quite as pungent compared to the draft version. There's a strong grapefruit presence on this less-dank nose.
Wow! The taste vastly differs on this one. Starkly crisp, with an immense amount of grapefruit and citrus rind. Sharp flavors and a lighter body and mouthfeel, which finishes far quicker and cleaner. Still bitter, but without the lingering dryness.
It's still a tasty brew, but a complexly different beast. The bottle version of 09.13.13 doesn't nearly have that DIPA dank, stickiness to it that the draft version held. Instead, we're met with a very pithy, crisp, sharp, but still unique IPA.
Give both a try for yourself, but this blogger would suggest jumping for the draft if you get the chance.
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