Stone 9th Anniversary Ale
As has been a tradition, we have “Anniversary-ized” a recipe from our history by cranking it up, making it stronger and more assertive. With this year’s Anniversary we decided to look back at a wheat beer that we released a couple of Spring/Summers a few years ago: Stone Heat Seeking Wheat. While it was a plenty tasty beer, we ultimately decided that it wasn’t that reflective of what Stone was all about, and we unceremoniously dropped it from our lineup. For the Stone 9th Anniversary Ale, we carried some of the characteristics from the Stone Heat Seeking Wheat --- clear, not hazy; hoppy, not yeasty; combining a delicious hop bitterness and wheat tartness --- and made some…well…adjustments.
3.6
483 reviews
Escondido, United States
Community reviews
Tap RnH: Hazy golden with a white film. Papery aroma with a faded hop, quite spearmint like. Velvety body with a minty flavor. Cookiesh malts brace the body, but it’s quite oxidized at this point. Still solid.
Draft. Pours orange with a white head. Oldish hoppy aroma with some toffee sweet malts and herbal notes. the flavor has older herbal-ish hoppy notes and some lighty sweet toffee-like malts. Decent. I bet this was really good fresh.
On tap at Naja’s 10/7/2010
Appearance: Pours an amber gold with no head.
Aroma: Peach and light oxidation (tropical fruit covered in caramel).
Taste: Bitter hops and faintly sweet malt.
Mouthfeel: Full bodied, sticky and fully carbonated.
Overall: The mighty has fallen. I loved this fresh, I loved it with 2 years on it even. It’s time to really retire this one.
Draught at Churchkey. Bright pine aroma and taste, well balanced bitterness. Quite the nice brew.
Draft. Pours golden with an off-white head. Flavors of butterscotch, pine. Very nice.
on tap at alewife for the stone total tap takeover ’10. pours a clear, yellow-gold with a thick, bubbly, white head and light lacing. aroma is strong, soapy, slightly dank, sprucy hops with orange citrus peel, lemon pledge, and sugary malts. flavor is still quite hoppy after 5 years with notes of floral soap, multiple orange varieties, and pine resins with unique notes of juniper berries, coriander, and other spices with some candy sugar on the finish. palate is medium bodied, nicely carbonated, and slightly spicy with the trademark stone bitterness. overall, a this one has help up quite well in the keg but i would have loved to try it fresh.
Draft during the 40 tap Stone Event @ Rattle n Hum with Andrew, Big Tony, PJ, and Brendan. Pours slightly hazy orange body with no head and barely any lacing, Aroma is fresh, spruce hop. Mouthfeel is smooth with the citrus hop notes coming across very muted.
Had at rattle and hum with James and andrew for the stone event. Pour is Clear orange with little head. Aroma is citrus hop which follows over to the flavor.
On tap at rattle n hum during the stone event with James and big T. Pour is orange.. Mellow and spicy. Oranges and coriander, spruce bite. Well balanced.
@ Alewife for Stone Tap Takeover Tour 2010. Sweet and malty with well rounded hops. Flavors of bitter hops that have well rounded by the age. No noticeably yeasty notes like others. There are toasty notes and some cereal flavors. An interesting beer that has aged very well.
Tap at Alewife Baltimore. Poured a slight hazy gold/yellow with a rocky, thick, off-white head. Very good retention and webby lace. Aroma of candy corn, butterscotch. Taste is sweet, older hops, butterscotch candies, just a little past its prime. Wish I was 21 when this came out fresh in San Diego.
Bomber thanks to Kramer. Man, I wish I had a gallon of this, it is still so damn good. What was this like fresh! Pours a cloudy orange color with a large white foamy head. The aroma is strong fruity hops and dusty caramel. The flavor is well-balanced by age- like a barley wine-; sweet fruity hops, dry musty rich caramel hops. Sweet and very, very drinkable. Almost dry yet fruity and delicious. A full creamy mouthfeel. I dig this.
Not a great beer at all, not terrible, I wouldnt buy it again. I was expecting substantially more.
Had on tap at a stone day at The Neighborhood. didnt hold up to time very well.
Bottled September of 2005, Consumed September of 2009.
22oz bomber pours a slightly burnt orange with honey folds into a pint glass. A khaki 1 finger foam crown appears but shows little retention before receding back into a rocky ring around the top of the surface.
Smell: A very nice malt that is fruity, slightly perfumy, and a touch boozy still. Most of the residual sugars have been depleted and the hops have definitely faded so the fruity quality lacks the vibrant pineapple and the brew lacks the amarillo kick it had when fresh.
Taste: Oh wow this one has blended quite nicely! Subtle pineapple meets a hint of toffee sweet malt and finishes with a wee bit of amarillo hops! This is at peak cellar condition IMHO.
Mouthfeel: Beautiful! Crisp, well carbonated, medium bodied, yet a touch oily!
Drinkability: The slightly boozy flavor profile keeps this one at 4.0 but this is a fairly sessionable example of the style.
CRACK EM OPEN AND DRINK EM NOW IF U STILL HAVE THEM!
Serving type: bottle
Reviewed on: 09-26-2009
Thanks again to my cousin for cracking open a bottle of this - 5 years old, and it tasted just great, altho he said it has lost a bit of its hop character. Sweet, floral aroma. Nice, rusty glow and one of Stone’s better labels. A complex and delicious ale. I tasted bread, caramel, herbs, rye, and English hops. Another superb American ale from Stone.
A: The pour is a slightly hazed golden orange color with a thin white head.
S: The nose is sweet with caramel, mild grapefruit, and orange aromas along with some toffee and bready malt. The signature of a once hoppy beer...
T: The flavor has retained some of the signature Stone hop bitterness, but it is somewhat tame. The malt is now the primary flavor component, giving the beer a sweet caramel and brown sugar flavor.
M: The body is on the full side of medium with a light-to-moderate carbonation and a touch of lingering bitterness.
D: Obviously well past its prime, but still some good flavors going on here. I would have loved to try it fresh.
On tap at The Graduate
Appearance: Hazy grapefruit color with a small white head, no lacing
Aroma: Grapefruits, spices and malts
Taste: Grapefruits, sweet malts and some spiciness
A nice beer, on the sweet side
Draft @ Churchills. Bright orange with lacy white head. Nose is Citrus and grass with shades of wheat and sweet malts. Flavor is slick wheat flavors with a sweetbread malt presence, moderate citrus and grassy hop flavor, finishes sweet. Medium body, slick texture, moderate carbonation. This wheat ale is holding up nicely and there is strong balance here, the malts are coming out with age and the hops provide a subtle kick.
On tap at the Graduate, Davis. Pours golden amber with a decent off-white head and a sweet toffee aroma. Delicious caramel malt flavor with just the right amount of hop bitterness.
Tap at the Graduate in Davis, CA. Pours opaque honey amber with an off-white head. Smooth fruity aroma. Full bodied with near creamy carbonation. Flavor is lighter stone fruit and something like honey toffee. There is lurking bitter. A very different, exotic flavor. Finishes towards light toffee. Amazing brew. Too drinkable by far.
Bottle shared by bruce at SL... For being five years old this beer kicked ass.... Orange in color, good head. Nice aroma of some hops and malts. Taste is a nice well balalced, DIPA imo.... For being five years old....it still had a "bite" to it. Hoppy but not sugary or malty. Nice carbonation level. Overall: Impressed how well this held up over the years. Thanks bruce
On draft at Stone Winter Storm. Poured a clear yellow color with faint head. Taste was some hops, wheat, semi-sweet. Just ok.
(Sample Date: 7/18/2009 Source:Other) Malty with a quite fruity peach pear and floral aroma. Slightly cloudy honey golden with small white head. Rich sugary maltiness with a distinct woodiness in flavor. Finish is mostly dry with hefty residual bitterness.
10th June 2008. Cloudy amber gold beer. Plenty of hops but offset by a barleywine amount of malt. When it was straight from the fridge actually thought it was a barleywine. Very drinkable.
Good rare find, Shared with Frank. A full citrus aroma with hints of caramel. A nice touch of sweet malt at the end.
Very Good
I’M BACK!!!!
Growler from Stone. Slighty hazy light gold in color with a white head. Sweet aromas of lemon, honey. Rich and medium full bodied. Very smooth in your mouth. A bit yeasty and malty with a solid amount of hops which I am sure have faded by now. Tasty balanced finish a bit on the sweeter side. Wish there was more of this.
Bottle shared at Immy’s Backyard Gathering. Pours a hazy orange color with a medium head. Good head retention and lacing. Herbal, floral hop aroma with toffee and citrus notes. Taste of toffee, caramel and citrus. Full bodied.
@ City Beer Poured hazy golden yellow, grainy, hoppy, little caramel, little oxidized.
Tap. This keg made it to City Beer last week. I was surprised at how well this held up even though I never had it fresh. Still great aromas and flavors of hops. Flavor prfile has some wheat and graininess mixed it and some bread and dough. Then the hops take over again with a nice bitter finish.
Copper in color and a dense ivory head. The beer has undeniably oxidized over the years; but still picking up the intended pine resin notes from the hops and caramel malt back bone. A lot of orange zest bitterness and a big ABV. burn. Good beer no doubt, but I should have consumed this a few years back for optimal sensory satisfaction... –may bad!