Stone Brewing Enjoy By 04.20.18 IPA

Beer Name: Enjoy By 04.20.18
Brewery: Stone Brewing Co. (Escondido, CA)
ABV: 9.4%
How sold: 12 oz cans; 22 oz bottles; on draft
Where bought: Belmont Station (Portland, OR)
Price: $8.83 for 22 oz bottle

Bottled on Date: March 16, 2018
Date Purchased: March 31, 2018
Date Drank: April 8, 2018
IBUs: 90

Food Pairings: Stone Brewing suggests guacamole, kimchi, gumbo, Thai drunken noodles, carrot cake, and peach cobbler, among other dishes. It also goes well with Parmigiano-Reggiano, extra-aged cheddar, and Rogue Creamery Caveman Blue cheeses.

What's on the Website: "Consistently delivered faster than any bottled IPA on the planet, Stone Enjoy By IPA facilitated a paradigm shift in respect for and enjoyment of hoppy beers by ensuring craft beer fans the ultimate level of freshness. We brew this intense double IPA with more than 10 different hops, employing hop-bursting and dry-hopping techniques to amp up the peach and tropical fruit notes and overall hop factor. Brewed specifically NOT to last, this devastatingly fresh, golden beauty should be enjoyed within 37 days. We took the opportunity with this beer to use several interesting techniques we’ve learned during our many years of brewing great double IPAs. The result is an intense, dry beer with very little malt sweetness, but with plenty of malt flavor to provide a background to the enormous...or shall I say "ginormous" hop character. Hopping, as might be expected, was over the top. First, the brew was mash-hopped with Ahtanum, one of our favorite hop varieties, after which we kettle-hopped with a very small dose of Super Galena hop extract for bittering. Then, using a technique known in homebrew circles as “hop bursting,” we loaded up very heavily on the flavor hops at the end of the boil and in the whirlpool. Simcoe, Delta, Target and Amarillo were used in the late kettle hop. Simcoe, Amarillo, Calypso and Cascade were used for the whirlpool hop. As you can clearly tell, this beer was super hoppy even before we dry-hopped it, but then we went for it...dry-hopping with primarily Southern Hemisphere hops, including Galaxy, Nelson Sauvin, Motueka and Helga. Drink extra-super-tasty Stone Enjoy By IPA well before its shelf life to maximize the pungent glory that this beautiful, intense hop profile provides." Read more here!

When brewed? One-time batch. Stone Brewing makes fresh batches of a different "Enjoy By" beer for various special dates. Look for more information here!

Where distributed: Stone Brewing shipped this beer nationwide (within the United States). Check to see whether this beer could be found in your area!

REVIEW:

Appearance (5%): Poured slightly hazy golden into a pint glass. White head; some lacing. 4.25/5

Smell (25%): Predominantly dank/resinous, with some stone fruit otherwise. 4/5

Taste (40%): Very dank forward, which continues for most of the drinking experience. Some octane. Peach and stone fruit comes through a bit, more so at the end. 4/5

Mouthfeel (10%): Medium-full bodied; good carbonation. Slightly dry tongue. 4.25/5

Overall (20%): A decent Double IPA. This one I found to be more dank and hoppy than previous beers in the series; any tropical simply got upstaged. This one lived more up to the date to enjoy this beer by - and it was indeed very dank - but it needed more tropical in my book. 3.75/5

Final Weighted Rating: 3.988/5