Stone 13th Anniversary Ale
Stone 13th Anniversary Ale pours brilliant deep red with a light tan foam. Up front, the aroma is all piney, resinous and citrus hops. Upon tasting, the hops are still on the front, and they are balanced with the malty, toffee like flavors contributed from the blend of crystal and amber malts used in the brewhouse. The finish is deliciously bitter, with a touch of warmth provided by the 9.5% alcohol. Bitterness comes in at 90+ IBU.
3.9
747 reviews
Escondido, United States
Community reviews
Originally reviewed: 12/7/09. 22oz. bottle poured into my goblet. Pours a very dark amber-tinted maroon with an inch thick tan head on top. Great retention; leaves little lace. Scents of maple syrup, pine needles, floral hops, and honey-kissed breads make this one up.
Very full bodied, but it retains a creamy quality that aids in sipping for sure. Carbonation level is spot on. Flavors of dark figs, molasses, licorice, sweet malts, and a good representation of bittering hops. This is a very well-made strong ale. This isn’t for the faint in heart, nor is it an everyday drink. Highly recommend.
From notes: bottle pour into snifter. This beer is not pretty. Looks like a cross between a quad and an oud bruin. Dirty brown-red hue. Smells like a bag of malted barley that has soaked in ethyl alcohol. The flavor is just what I want. Strong, sweet caramel malt body with still present, yet somewhat thinning hops. Butterscotch and navel orange begin coming through as it warms. Tastes beautiful and has held up well.
Bottle, 9.5%. Hazy very dark amber with medium beige head. Aroma is malt, fruit, caramel and hops. Flavour is malt, caramel, fruit, hops, pine, little citrus, medium sweet and bitter.
2009 vintage. Hazy brown with a beige head. Aroma is sweet, malty, caramel and rather hoppy - old hops. Flavor is quite sweet and very bitter. Dry and very bitter finish. 100412
Bottle. Nice head with good duration. Color is brown. Aroma and taste are bitter hops, burnt caramel, fruits and malt.
Sweet hop-aromatic scent with a floral tone, a bit stale (the hops?). Taste is big with plenty of hops, very flowery with a distinct bitterness. Very nice beer... But! Unfortunately, the alcohol is too prominent, and the flavor also has a sweet, vaguely stale and slightly buttery flavor that I do not really like!
vintage 2009 bottle opened in march, 2012. Pours a very dark mahogany, with a one finger foamy head. Sourish aroma, likely from the Cellaring that the bottle says not to do. Taste is extremely malty. To the point where every malty beer I’ve had before is blown out of the water. Slight sour finish, but very slight.
Notes from 8/2009
on tap at la Cave du Vin, poured into a tulip glass
a: deep amber color, 1/2" off white head with good retention, lacing rings the glass on the way down
s: clean piney aroma, hint of carmalized malt
t: caramel malt quickly overtaken by sharp bitterness and piney hop flavor. slight alchohol as it warms. Very nice.
m&d: medium to full bodied with light carbonation. slightly slick mouth feel, finishs slightly dry. Very drinkable beer for such a monster. Awesome!!!
Bomber from WInooski.
Appearance : Deep dark amber with medium foamy brown head.
Aroma : Big sweet rich malt with big caramel. Resinous hops. Piny with some raisins. Very rich.
Taste : Big resinous and piny hops with sweet and rich caramel. Finish is a bit warm. Light oxidation but nothing to worry about.
Overall : Very big bold and rich yet fairly well balanced. An American Strong like Stones does them well. Big hops, big malts. Nice stuff.
[Rated 09/30/2009] Bottle. Pours dark red with a small head. Aroma is very pleasant, as if it is a just-opened bag of hops. I am giving it the highest rating here, just because I spent 5 minutes smelling it without even having the urge to take a sip -- I just can’t get enough of it. Very nice flavor, too. Surprisingly mild for the 9.5% ABV that it packs. I don’t quite like the hop balance, though. It is much bitter than I expected -- a sharp contrast to the sweet, pleasant aroma -- and leaves a long finish that is just a little too bitter for my taste. The overall impression is still very good.
Stored cold so even if it’s way past it’s best before date it hasn’t aged a lot. Still a big nose of pine and grapefruits and bitterness. Sweet and oily mouthfeel. Lots of pine and grapefruits and bitterness which makes the finish rather dry. A massiv beer that survived the long cellar existence very well.
Deep brown body - lightly brown head. Great complex aroma of wine, grapes. Heavily bitter, moderately sweet, lightly yeasty flavour.
22oz bottle. Label states not to cellar, enjoy now. Well, this bottle is over two years old. I am just not rating it. Muddy brown color. Aroma of oxidized malts, and old hops. A hint of resin over a mulch pile. Flavor has a ton of dark caramel. Very dry. A touch of toffee and toasted malts. Bitterness coats the palate, although as far as hop flavors, there are none. Still really bitter. Aged nicely.
Rating #3113
Bottle. Pours dark brown with a small tan head that left good lacing. Hoppy aroma of pine, caramel, citrus, and alcohol. Flavor was lightly sweet and hoppy with caramel malts, toffee, pine, light citrus, dark fruit and a hint of molasses with a bitter and dry finish.
Somehow they had this one sitting in a fridge at a store in Indiana....it was strong enough so I figured what the hell. Was pretty good! Pours dark brown lots of carmel and has a bitter dry finish. Not really any hops left, but I enjoyed it.
Bomber. Very hazy garnet with reddish highlights under a tall dusky tan head. Curtains of lacing all the way down the glass. Huge citrusy, piney aroma. Aggressively hopped and unbashful about it. Grapefruit, toffee, white pepper and caramel. Strong toasted malt rails. Surprisingly soft texture and a short, bitter astringent finish. Another really nice brew from Stone.
22 oz. bomber poured into a Duvel Tulip glass. Brown in color, if you hold it up to the light there are some slight reddish highlights to it. Has a light brown head with many different size bubbles that erupts like a volcano at first and takes several minutes to work its way back down, and provides excellent lacing. The smell is outstanding, a hope lovers dream. Pine and citrus hops jump out at you, with a slight warm feeling of alcohol blended in. The taste is also excellent. Once again stone has aggressive bold flavors and they do so with the hops here as several of their other brews in the past. Very hoppy but not as crazy as it is on tap and some time to fester in the bottle really helped, pine and citrus hops gives great flavor and blends well with the alcohol, a few earthy tones as well. Mouthfeel is very good, obviously full bodied. Very hoppy finishes bitter and warm, could be a little cleaner, good drinkability as well. Gonna miss this one.
Bought this almost a year ago and let it age. Age did it very well, I know it’s recommended to have enjoyed this one right away but I really think it mellowed out some of the flavors that were slightly too intense and mellowed them out quite nicely.
Appearance is a translucent amber. Hoppy and slight malt backbone. Minor cardboard in the finish. Pretty darn good.
On tap at the Blind Tiger Ale House, NYC. It pours dark reddish brown with a thin tan head. The nose is Christmas pudding, pine, dark fruits, currants, rum, date and cherry. The taste is cherry, date, fig, raisin, dark chocolate, caramel, charcoal, toffee and alcohol warmth, with a long dry-bitter finish. It has a sticky mouth-feel and is well balanced, making it an enjoyable American Strong.
Bottle from store in Chula Vista: Poured with a thick development of frothy foamed head while the color was a deep shade of mahogany. Hoppy is the aroma with a background of pine and sweet caramelized malts that seem so harmonized in balance with each other. The flavor is rich and sweet with thick molasses syrup like touch caramel malt and strong presence of bitter hops and light citrus. This anniversary is a pure example of the unknown style I would classify as imperial red ale meets American strong ale if that makes sense to anyone.
On tap at Big 10 pub in Madison. Nice dark brown beer with a small head.
Smells like hops. A little bit of sweetness too.
Taste like hops, hops, and more hops malt is slightly there but not much.
Decent mouthfeel though its pretty strong and not the most drinkable brew.
Another solid hoppy beer from Stone.
Bottle. Pours deep red with a medium tan head. Aroma is piney, floral, rather earthy hops with a touch of sweet malt. Flavor is cherries and other dark fruit, brown sugar, caramel, rich malt and plenty of earthy, resinous hops. Thick but not syrupy mouthfeel. Delicious.
Pours a dark brown with an offwhite head. Smells of hops and alcohol. Mellow sweetness. Quite hoppy with aromas of spruce and caramel malts. Also hints of grape fruit. Medium to full bodied. dry finish.
22 oz. bottle, sent from Glouglouburp, pours dark reddish brown with a beige head. Aroma of dark fruits, caramel malts and citrusy hops. Flavour of molasses, dark fruits, caramel malts, with a nice balance of hops. Delicious.
22oz bomber.
Dark ruby red with a khaki head. Hop aroma lets you know you’re in for something special while the flavor takes a strange but welcome malty turn. Reminds me of the hoppiest of red ales. Alcohol becomes evident as the beer warms. Another great anniversary brew by Stone.
POurs dark amber with beige head. Aroma is pine hops, caramel and alcohol. Taste is sweet with a bitter and long lingering dry finish. The alcohol povides warming as it comes through quickly.
Pours a nice reddish dark copper with some good lacing. The nose has a beautiful piney hoppiness and a bit of amber sweet malt. The taste is much the same--there is a nice malt backbone, but the dominant component is piney hops, with a bit of floral and citrus going as well. Mouthfeel is medium with nice carbonation. Overall, I liked this one quite a bit better than the 12th Anniversary, and was happy to get to try this year’s release.
Serving type: bottle
Reviewed on: 01-20-2010
22 oz. bomber poured into a snifter. Pours a deep, dark amber with a creamy off-white head that lasts throughout. Excellent lacing. Aroma is a strong malty sweetness, some caramel, toffee, and alcohol. The aroma has dropped most of the hop character after almost a year and a half in the bottle (not really a bad thing, at all). Flavor starts off with a grapefruit, piney hop bitterness that has hung in there over the months and carries long into the finish. The bitterness is nicely balanced by a big, sweet caramel and toffee maltiness. Slightly warming. Full bodied. Still a very tasty brew.
At Small bar on Fullerton. Very red color, quite bitter beer. More drinkable than the ABV% would lead you to believe. Pretty good. Serving: Tap
Draft. A chestnut colored beer with a thin beige head. The aroma has notes of malt and hops which lends it notes of grass, grapefruits, and lemons. The flavor is sweet with notes of malt, caramel, and spices, leading to a very bitter finish.