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Last bottle of Stone’s 11th Anniversary Black IPA in the fridge, so here it goes…

First, just looking at the beer, this is one dark IPA. Not Darth Vader dark, more of a Montel Williams meets Flavor Flav kind of dark. When I think of Stone– IPA, Ruination, and Arrogant Bastard immediately come to mind. 11th Anniversary is a major deviation from this tried-and-true formula for creating successful beers.

At a distance, this could be confused for a porter or stout. At 8.7% alcohol by volume, it is a fairly heavy beer, nicely carbonated , and pours with a tan, frothy head. If you have ever been fellaeshed by a drooler in Hawaii, you know what I’m talking about here.

When tasting, this beer delivers an initial hop burst up front, continuing with a full mouth feel slightly thicker than Avery Anniversary Ale–Fourteen. After the initial citrusy hop flavors, this beer throttles back and delivers some caramel/coffee notes…think sweet bitterness. It finished with a malty stickiness akin to molasses that lingered until the next quaff.

Note: This beer tended to become more balanced and flavorful the longer it sat out. Avoid drinking this beer too cold right out of the fridge. After it sat out for a six or seven minutes, a deeper coffe/roasted malt flavor emerged. I would recommend letting this sit out until it is slightly below room temperature before opening the bottle.

This is not your typical summertime chugger, but more of a wintertime tit-nurser. So what are you waiting for? Snow is in the air! The next time you head up Brokeback Mountain with one of your buddies, don’t forget your banjo and a bottle of 11th Anniversary from Stone!

Score:

80 for drinkability; throw in an extra 20 for uniqueness of flavor, 15 because the brewer’s last name is Steele, and add another 30 for the color scheme and layout of the bottle graphics.

Subtract 25 for slight molasses overkill, and 15 for having to stare at it while it warms before drinking. Also, take away 20 for the hole in the bottle not being big enough to have sex with when finished with the beer.

That leaves us with an official BoozeReviews score of 85/100.

L’Chaim!

(7 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

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