Beer Review: Stone Enjoy By 9.21.12 IPA

This is a limited release, "small batch" beer by Stone, a company that normally is known for their high production volume and reach for a craft beer company. I was pleasantly surprised to find a bunch of bottles at my local liquor store after visiting the downtown Binny's franchise and learning that they had sold out in a couple hours. The name seems to be an effort to place emphasis on the freshness of the beer; it is indeed meant to be drunk before 9.21.12 as you may have guessed.

This beer pours a clean, golden color with a thick, modest-in-size head. A steady stream of carbonation is visible pouring from the bottom of my tulip glass. Pretty standard for a DIPA... nothing to hint at any distinctive qualities.

The smell is where this beer starts to get interesting: awesomely complex for an IPA. Usually, even in "sweeter" IPAs, the hops really dominate the smell but in Stone's Enjoy By, there is a wonderful mix of citrus flavors fused with the Hops. Scent is thick; I can tell that this is going to be an intense beer flavor-wise. Easily one of the best smelling beers I've ever had.

The taste is complex. Right off the bat I get fruity notes; first sweet... some lemon, mango mix then bitter fruits... BIG grapefruit taste accompanied by orange rind. It is on the back end of the sip that you get hit by the hop flavor. While this doesn't pack the hop punch of Ruination (also by Stone), the sheer amount of juiciness and flavor in this beer MORE than makes up for the decreased bitterness (which I happen to love).

This beer continues to stand out in the mouthfeel. The thickness; dare I say "chewiness" reminds me of something like Founder's Double Trouble (to be reviewed in the near future) and that is a very, very good thing. Great fullness in the body of this beer which compliments the fruitiness that is on showcase. Maybe not the most drinkable beer in the world but beers this flavorful rarely are. A good amount of carbonation rounds this beer out.

For $6.99, I thought this was a great deal but maybe that was in light of my [unfortunate] trend towards buying more expensive bottles of beer lately. Bottom line, was easily one of the best beers I've ever tried and possibly my favorite. I'll give it a slightly unrepresentative grade flavor wise due to the higher cost per ounce of the 22oz bottle format but make no mistake... if you see this beer on the shelves, get it!

Score: A-  4.25/5