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2009 News Archives
Stone 13th Anniversary Celebration In Review
We started the day with the Maui Brewing Company. They offered 5 beers including the Bikini Blonde, Big Swell IPA, Coconut Porter, Mana Wheat, and Black Pearl. The Blond and Coconut Porter are both outstanding beers, but having had them before we went with the Mana Wheat and the Black Pearl. The Mana Wheat was a group favorite with some great flavors, perfect for a warm sunny afternoon. The Black Pearl was a porter with somewhat of a unique flavor for a porter, but overall not bad at all.
Down the line further we stopped by BrewDog, The Bruery, and Dogfish Head. BrewDog had a Paradox Isle of Arran, which was an imperial stout. It was a great stout with a very smokey flavor to it. At the Bruery we tried Snicklefritz, Orchard White, and Saison Rue. I found the Orchard White to be a bit lacking in flavor, however to be fair, I went into this beer after some very strong flavors in other beers and not really a clean palette. The Saison Rue was my favorite. It was a very easy beer with some nice balance of flavors. Snicklefritz was a bit agressive in the flavors for my taste, but was enjoyed by a couple in the group. To round out this group we had to stop by Dogfish Head. This was against the goal of the day in trying new things but with so many outstanding beers there we could not pull ourselves past without stopping. We got a taste of the Festina Peche, a great summertime light and fun beer, and the Palo Santo Marron, one of my favorite beers ever. It is one of the few beers that changes from start to finish bringing out new flavors and tastes at each stage from start to finish leaving behind a lasting lingering flavor at the end. Moving on we headed to Nogne-O for the porter, Pizza Port for the Party Pants Pilsner, Lost Abbey for the Angels Share and a beer sangria, and AleSmith for the Lil Devil. From the group the porter stood out as a better than average as did the Lil Devil. The beer sangria was interesting and was a nice change just because it was something so unique. Reviews were split between the group on that one.
Lastly, we had to head over to the Stone Handpump Station. We tried the Stone 13th Anniversary Ale, Stone 13th Anniversary Ale with Amarillo Hops, and Smoked Porter with Vanilla Beans. The Anniversary Ale with the Amarillo hops stoodout above the normal version since it provided a much more balanced set of flavors from beginning to end. The group favorite was probably the Smoked Porter with Vanilla Beans. It adds the sweetness to the normal porter, which really blends in well with the existing flavors. There is one more tasting that needs to be mentioned. The food station and more importantly the selection of sauces available to top off your sandwich. I went with the tri-tip sandwich and then headed directly to the bbq sauce bar. I decided to try a couple different things, so I started with Stone Smoked Porter and Pasilla Pepper BBQ Sauce on one side of the sandwich and the Stone Levitation Sauce on the other side. They were both outstanding, but the Pasilla Pepper Sauce really stood out. Just incredible! So in the end we had a great day out at the celebration. With some careful planning I think we pretty much got to all the main breweries we wanted to and came across a few unexpected brews along the way. If you were out there, leave us a comment and let us know what you thought of the event and also what your favorite new beer was.
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Yesterday Chell, Mr. Winestein, and the whole SoCal Brewinery crew was out at the 13th Anniversary Stone Brewing Company Beerfest. It was an incredible event with so many great beers to choose from. We headed into the event, map in hand, with a plan already in mind. The goal was to focus on trying a few new beers that we have never had before. With so many breweries and beers available, it was somewhat difficult to narrow in on the top 10 that we wanted to try. Luckily, the girls were looking cute and may have gotten a couple extra ... wait ... you didn't hear that.
Next we headed over to the Papago Brewing Company. They offered 2 beers, the Orange Blossom Wheat and Coconut Joe. The wheat beer was a middle of the road wheat flavor but made interesting with the obvious citrus flavors included. Coconut Joe was a porter and turned out to be one of the best porters we sampled all day. The beer was very smooth with great hints of coffee and, of course, an added coconut flavor, which blended with the rest of the beer perfectly.
Next up was Rogue Brewing Company for the Double Dead Guy Ale. In my opinion, this might have been the standout beer of the day. It was a medium to heavy beer with great flavors throughout. Along the way was also the Craftsman 1903, that was ok but a bit light after many of the agressive flavors we had at that point in the day. To be honest it is hard to review and compare all of these unique beers when you are at a beerfest having them back to back. I would love to get many of these beers and be able to completely experience them by themselves to allow their flavors to stand on their own without influence from the beer before or after.| Site Map | Feedback | About Us | Privacy Policy |
Shit, I'm gonna see ya'll in less than a month. We'll have to head to a microbrewery that Friday night.
Cheers,
Jeff