Stone 16th Anniversary Celebration Sample-A-Thon

3 Years ago, the Stone 13th AnniversaryCelebration was a big exclamation point at the end of the best two and half weeks of my life. Those two and half weeks started with me getting married, included a 10 day honeymoon to Tahiti, and finished at Cal State San Marcos rushing to use both my own and my wife’s drink tabs as fast as possible (She doesn’t drink beer, but she does enjoy a Lambic, Pear Cider, or a Lost Abbey Angel’s Share from time to time).  Back then I probably recognized 5 or 6 of the 50 plus brewers in attendance, and that’s if you include Stone.  Unfortunately I was unable to attend the 14^th and 15^th anniversary celebrations because of grad school classes on most weekends (yawn).  This year though, I realized how much I’ve grown, and that all that beer drinking since 2009 has really paid off. I recognized over half of the brewers there, including Green Flash, Pizza Port, Societe, Lagunitas, Monkey Paw, Mission Brewery, Ballast Point, Victory, Avery and so many more.  Back in 2009, I made the mistake of sticking to what I knew, this year I tried as many new beers as I could, some rare, some not so rare.  I recorded my reactions to each throughout the day -- they began fairly benign and uninteresting (my comments, not the beer), but as the day went on, and with some chiming in from my friends, the comments got more interesting. 

Black Market Brewing, 80’s Scottish Export. 5% alc, 24 ibu (not too bitter when compared to other West Coast favorites)

My Comment: “It’s Good.”

Victory Pale, yes, I’ve never had this one from Victory. 5.1% 

My Comment: “It’s Good.”

Haven, upRYEsing, one of the first ones, one of my favorites of the day, a rye IPA. It’s a gastropub in Orange and Pasadena.  I didn’t realize it while I was there, but my boss took me there in Orange a few months ago, good eats too.  It has hops and flavor close to a traditional IPA, but I thought it had less of a kick to it.

My Comment: “It’s Good, hey, look at that guy over there, he is so tan he’s maroon.”

Artisanal Imports out of Austin Texas– I don’t remember what I had, but I liked it so much I took a picture…try them all, if one of them is good, that’s the one I had. Let me know when you find out.

Stone, Oaked Russian stout. I like the original a lot and I like this one even more.  I really like oakiness and/or smokiness in my alcoholic beverage. I feel like it smoothes out the flavor and lowers acidic qualities.  I don’t think this is going to be a regular offering from Stone, sorry everyone.

My Comment: “You can taste the oak, you can taste the stout, and you can even taste the Russian a bit.  Yummy.”

Stone, Levitation Habanera -- good to try, not overpowering but definitely has a back of the palate habanera taste. I’ve had a Mission shipwrecked habanera that was really powerful with the habanera taste.  Levitation is one of my top 5 from stone, and I’ll probably stick to the non habanera one, but I’m glad I had a chance to taste this one.

Stone, Highway 78 stone scotch ale, a collaboration between Stone, Green Flash, and Pizza Port.  I really like Scotch Ales and this one was so good.  Not as carbonated as some Scotch Ales, but excellent flavor.

My friend Shaun says “SO GOOD!” I say it’s excellent. Plus, I got to skip the line on this one.

21^st Amendment, Back in Black triad ipa, 6.8% alc, 65 ibu’s (now we are talking), and in cans, this was a tastey beer.

My Comment:  “Drinking beer out of cans takes me back to elementary school, tastes good and nostalgic”.

 

Manzanitas, second anniversary, not to be confused with its first anniversary, good flavor.

My Comment: “Is that a double rainbow?  What does it mean?”  (At this point the heat and the alcohol started taking their effect.  I was very happy to have a sober driver with me, thanks sweetheart!).

Monkey Paw, Pale Ale, couldn’t taste at the end of the day, If you frequent downtown and like low dousche, bars with high beer quality, check this place out, it’s outside of the Gaslamp, in a sketchier part of town, but right across from the police station.  If you are a good guy that should make you feel good, if you are a bad guy, stick to Star Bar.  Just kidding, I love you Star Bar.

Yun’s Comments: “It’s hoppy, and it’s got flavor.”

I think we grabbed another beer at this point, and Shaun enlisted two young ladies to grab us a few more.  I neglected to take notice or notes regarding any of the beers, and by this point my palate was toast.

If you missed it this year, too bad, you have to wait another year. But the good news is there are a lot more beer festivals coming up including the 18^th San Diego Beer Festival coming up in September.  It’s not about getting drunk, it’s not about big stupid hats, it’s about the beer.  See you there!