Stone Stochasticity Project Master of Disguise
Things aren’t always what they seem, but not all deception is devious. Some illusions and misnomers lead to life’s most delightful surprises. Case in point-this beer, the yang to the yin that is the black India pale ale. Once revolutionary for its onyx appearance, it is now an accepted and beloved member of the India pale ale family tree. Thus we took the spirit of a dark brew-the time-honored stout-and applied a similar science of thought, brewing it to the golden-hued. That is what this experimental series and its latest creation are all about. Cocoa and coffee beans impart roastiness sans darkening to this brew, while flaked oats provide an enveloping mouthfeel. The result is a stout that looks more like a blonde, but is a raven beauty at heart. [Originally this was tap only at Liberty Station. Now bottled by Stone Escondido and distributed. -GT2]
3.6
327 reviews
Escondido, United States
Community reviews
Golden amber with a quickly retreating head with some odd looking white flakes in suspension. Big coffee aroma with a hint of dark chocolate. Full bodied with some alcohol taste followed by dark chocolate, caramel & coffee notes & a little vanilla. Creamy mouthfeel. A big beer with a light colour & a dark taste. Certainly a unique beer.
Rated by BrewTom
Sample January 2015
A steady pour into my globe glass yields a three finger thick, pale amber tinged, tan colored head. the beer is a bright amber hue that shows a brilliantly clear, pale amber tinged, rich golden hue when held up to the light. Even as I pour it the beer smells roasted with dark coffee notes. The coffee notes are bright, expressive, and omnipresent, but strangely seem to be lacking nearly as much roasted character as I might expect; it is as if the roasted character from the coffee has settled out during the process, and there is not the usual roasted grain character to pick up the slack. Still, this still has a roasted edge to it in the aroma, and the finish gets a bit acrid and harsh in its coffee character. Up front there seems to be a hint of cocoa before the coffee character completely drowns that out.
Up front the beer has a sweet, pale malt sweetness to it that is mostly devoid of roast character; it is not until the middle and finish where the ample coffee flavors provide a sharp, bitter, slightly acrid, roasted character. The body has a fullness to it that lingers on the palate and definitely seems chewy. In the middle the beer has a nicely balanced, rounded, roasted nutty quality to it, but the finish is a bit too bitter and astringent from the coffee character. Perhaps a touch of dark chocolate flavors up front seem more coffee derived than anything, but there is a sort of dusty, bitter, dark chocolate character to the finish.
Certainly an interesting experiment, but the coffee character is just a bit too strong here, it really makes the finish overly bitter and astringent and keeps this beer from achieving the balance that it needs. Still this is far from being bad, and I do like the chance to try tasting this beer; I had been playing around with making something like this for years, and now I am glad I never did, as it doesn’t work nearly as well as an actual Stout. I find that coffee really needs lots of dark malt complexity in order to really be well balanced if it is anything but very subtle.
Appearance: hazy medium gold with one finger of loose white head diminishing gradually to a thin skim, patchy lacing. (3/5) Aroma: coffee, chocolate nibs, light caramel. (7/10) Taste: moderate-high sweet, mild bitter. (7/10) Palate: light-medium body, moderate-low carbonation, mildly warming finish. (4/5)
Bit of a one-trick pony - it’s a stout that looks like a pale or lager. It’s a decent enough example of a chocolate stout, but nothing stellar, aside from the cute trick. Though, it’s also worth pointing out that the ABV is also extremely well-integrated, despite approaching double digit territory. So... yeah... an Imperial that tastes like a single and looks like a pale - what’s so confusing about that? (14/20)
Aromas of coffee, cocoa powder, nutty, some cotton candy. Mostly clear, orange-gold, mostly lasting white head. Mostly dry, nice roasty notes, pretty well balanced. Medium bodied.
Beautiful blonde color. Aromas of coffee, cocoa, roasty. The flavor is smooth and malty, definitely some coffee notes and malts.
Dry roasty coffee and cocoa aroma with some concord grape undertones. White foamy head and golden orange body. Roasty dark coffee flavor with a smooth cocoa and minor vanilla and a slight grape undertone. Smooth on the palate.
Bomber poured a clear golden amber with a small lasting off white head. Aromas of coffee, cocoa and light earthiness. Palate was medium bodied and smooth. Flavors of bread, cocoa, light coffee and light earthiness with a smooth lingering cocoa finish.
Very deceiving. 22oz bottle shared.
As far as the the name goes, it got it spot on. It had more of a stout taste than anything else.
Interesting beer - would have again.
Really good. Pours a dark cloudy Amber. Little head. Very malty, you get toffee and coffee and a touch of chocolate. Smooth. You get a hint of warmth from the nearly 10% alcohol, it's just right.
Nice woody, creamy aroma. Slightly murky medium tangerine color with a thin white head. Definitely has some of the roasted malt character of a stout which is surprising given the appearance. There’s a spiciness that hits right away, some of which is the alcohol which is hot up front, but also some black and cayenne pepper notes. There’s a nice honeyed sweetness that helps keep the heat under control Some dark roasted coffee at the end with a creamy finish. Another interesting and tasty beer in the Stochasticity series.
A blonde stout. Not as thick as a stout, but heavy for a light colored beer. It pours golden but watch for the heavy sediment at the bottom of the bottle. Tastes of chocolate and cocoa bean, chocolate cookies, coffee and a touch of cola. On the sweet side but not sugary. Bitterness is like that of dark chocolate. Belgian-like fruitiness. Slightly warming.
Even though they want to, it’s difficult to call this a stout. Aroma of coffee and chocolate, while the favors follow suit with a touch of sweetness and alcohol. Smooth and weighty palate. Golden color.
Aroma of coffee, taste is coffee, chocolate, alcohol is blended well, appearance is like an IPA or Double IPA minus the very small head. Well done Stone.
The poor is golden Belgian Strong ale in appearance. Aroma is strong chocolate and coffee with some vinous notes. Flavor is all rich imperial stout. An odd and tough to reconcile aroma and flavor given the appearance. Mouthfeel was full and rich. Amazing and interesting.
Pours a light orange colour with small head and some visible fizz when first poured. Smells of coffee and chocolate. Plays with your mind a bit as it has the appearance of a light, refreshing beer, but the heavy tastes of a stout. Strong taste of coffee, leaving slightly bitter, mouth-drying aftertaste. Tastes of malt in there too. Not too bad, but not one I would drink a lot. (K)
Bottle: Poured a clear bright yellow color ale with a nice foamy head with good retention and some light lacing. Aroma of dry coffee notes with some cacao notes is a bit surprising given the color of the beer. Taste is also dominated by what appears to be roasted malt notes with dry bitter coffee with light cacao notes also perceptible. Body is light with good carbonation and no apparent alcohol. Interesting experience but not sure I would feel the need to try this again.
Pours rustic orange w/ a thin white head & decent lacing. The aroma is of light roast & chocolate. The taste is of a medium coffee w/ a very drinkable body at 10%. Definitely a surprise in taste by its appearance & aptly named!
Tap at brews, this pours well.....golden, more on the orange side of things, decent egg shell colored head. Aroma is lots of coffee and light cocoa underneath, nice toasty aroma to it all. Taste is nice roast, smooth yet bold coffee and chocolate, slightly bitter finish, very nice mouth feel. I was curious as to how this would be, and its pretty fuckin fantastic, well done.
bottle. Deep golden with small head. This is certainly an interesting beer. If you close your eyes, it does seem like a stout. Very dark chocolate forward with some coffee bitterness. Medium sweetness. However, it’s kinda of a gimmick/stunt beer. Outside of the appearance, I’d say it’s a very average stout. Light booziness.
Clear gold pour. Aroma of coffee, honey. Tastes super coffeey high astringency from the nibs. puckering mouthfeel very light body for a “stout”
6th May 2015
Hazy amber beer, small white head. Palate is light and dry, mild fine carbonation. Smooth dry malts, a little cream. Loads of cocoa and fair bit of coffee, bitter earthy coffee. Little orange peel before the dry finish. Cute, but I’m done with these white stouts. Move on!
Bottle from Epsom Circle Market, on tap at the Tuckaway. Aroma is strong roasted chocolate and coffee. Appearance is hazy light brown/orange. One finger width bubbly head with little retention, very minimal lacing, and no sparkle. From the taste and the type, you’d expect it to be dark brown to black so the fact that it is neither of those runs so counter to type that it is hard to quibble about what it looks like instead of either of those two. Taste is moderately bitter over minimal sweetness and flavor is similar to smell. Palate is full bodied thick and creamy, which again seems odd given the color. Some carbonation is there to add some backbone to it, without calling much attention to itself until the very end. Finish is wet and long and coffee bitter. Overall, this is a good smelling, good tasting beer with a nice palate but the most standout thing is the appearance. Not that it is different than anything that has ever been seen before nor because it is necessarily all that attractive in and of itself, but it is so hard to reconcile what it looks like versus what we expect it should look like that it gets high marks.
Aroma initially is coffee, and body resembles a stout (except for color). Taste brings in some more flavors, overall very complex. ABV is in there, sneaks up on you.
Thanks Amy my co-worker for sharing this one. Dark orange, 2 finger head. dark tan head. Aroma is sweet, lots of chocolate, honey, graham cracker and coffee. Taste is coffee, very dense mouthfeel, lacks the roasted notes you’d expect. Pretty intense bitterness with almond and white chocolate finish.
Bottle. Amber beer with a cream head. Coffee aroma. Coffee and chocolate flavor with backing hops. Medium-plus bodied. Coffee and pine linger with grapefruit.
Bottle. Pours deep golden honey, finger of white head. Aromas of caramel, chocolate, light fruits, coffee, some herbs, earthen notes. Taste is medium-strong bitter, light-medium sweet, a touch of aromatics and spice. Medium-full body, quite a rounded chewy mouthfeel. This is really odd. I think I’ll have to have this again to really get my head around this. I don’t even know if I like it. It doesn’t really taste to me like a stout proper, though how much of that comes from the visual cues I don’t know. To me it’s more like a double IPA crossed with a chocolate porter.
Bomber from Hayduke that we had together via facebook chat. This pours almost clear honey gold with a golden tinted one finger head. I smell camomile, tea, and green coffee beans. And then more standard aromas of grains, malts, and fruit. Flavors are just as wacky complex. Those described above plus milk chocolate and citrus. This is all over the place. Stout, IPA, Double IPA, spice beer, etc. This was just crazy complex. How fun would it be to have this blindfolded?! Stone, GREAT JOB!
Aroma of coffee, coco, and some herbal notes. Pours a hazy golden hue with a lasting white ring and nominal laciing. The taste is strong bitter coffee, and coco. Medium body and medium carbonation. Overall, a surprising taste from a golden brew.
Bottled a few mo’s back. Goldeny pour with a thick malty feel, really like a german bock. PRetty nice.
Location/Date:Bottle on February 7th, 2015 split with Ben.
Appearance: Pours yellow orange.
Aroma: Aroma light coffee.
Taste: Coffee, light bitterness, some chocolate.
Palate:Medium body.
Summary: A pretty good beer, unfortuanately I tried Carton Regular Coffee earlier in the day and they are similar.