Post #109758 by Tiki Bird on Mon, Aug 23, 2004 9:49 AM

Well the Stone Anniversary was great. Alot more people there than last year. It was held at the grounds of the new brewery to be constructed. So here's some info. on the 8th Anniverary...

IBUs: 55
Alc/Vol. 7.8%
Starting Gravity 18.5 plato
Available in:
22oz Bottles & Limited Draft
Bottle Release Date:
Aug. 16th, 2004
Draft Release Date:
Aug. 21st at the Stone 8th Anniversary Open House, distribution Aug. 23rd

For this beer they used some of the same malts that they had used in the Lee's Mild, added more hops, less water(to bring the alcohol content up), and found a tasty balance of toasty/roastiness from the malt and a subtle (by Stone standards!) hop presence. To add further complexity, Oak was employed to round out the character and give the beer a bit of vanilla/bourbon influence from the wood!

Color: Medium Brown, with a light brown head
Aroma: Roasted/toasted maltiness, dark chocolate, coffee, with ever-so-slight "cola-like" aroma.

Flavor: Up-front Roasted malts give coffee, toasted, and bitter chocolate flavor, followed by hop bitterness, and, in the long finish, the oak makes its appearance. The late aftertaste is delicious to savor with the roast/bitterness/oak all lingering around for a while….

I'd rate this a 8 out of 10. I tasted both the Regular & Cask versions of the 8th Anniverary, and while they added more hops to this years batch, I found it milder in the hoppiness/bitter taste. Especially the cask version definitely had a porter feel to it because of the oak & coffee aroma & taste.

Give it a try!

p.s. Thanks to Monkeyman for meeting me & UtopianDreem at the fest, had a great time with ya. FFL, did you go?

Tbird.