The Enjoy By IPA series from Stone Brewing has basically become a year-round thing.  It seems there are at least one or two Enjoy By IPAs on the shelves at all times.  The latest iteration is the Stone Enjoy By 7.4.16 IPA with the 7.25.16 Tangerine IPA on it’s way.

Stone Brewing Enjoy By 7.25.16 Tangerine IPA
Photo: Stone Brewing Instagram

For those of you who aren’t familiar, the Stone Enjoy By series is basically a bunch of IPAs with short lifespans.  To be fair, all IPAs have an expiration date and many of them have it printed right on the bottle.  But the folks over at Stone Brewing decided to give the Enjoy By a super small window.

Can you drink the Enjoy By 7.4.16 IPA after the 4th of July?  Sure, but it’s not going to be as good.

The tricky thing with IPAs is the hop aroma and flavor dissipates pretty quickly.  These Enjoy By IPAs are brewed to be consumed within 37 days of when they were bottled.  When you make an IPA with that short of a shelf life you afford yourself the option to do a lot more with hops (as you can see by the hop menu listed below).  The short availability window ensures that the consumer will get the experience the fill range of flavor from the long list of hops used in each brew.  Most IPAs are brewed to have a longer shelf life, but the bottom line is the fresher the IPA, the better.

So no, you’re not going to explode if you drink one after the date on the bottle, but you won’t have the same experience.  So next time you reach for an IPA at your local bottle shop, take a look at the bottle date before buying.

Stone-Enjoy-By-7.4.16-IPA
I love the bottle art on these…

Stone Enjoy By 7.4.16 IPA

Style: American Double IPA

ABV: 9.4%

IBU: 90

Hops: Nugget, Super Galena, Simcoe, Delta, Target, Amarillo, Cascade ,Galaxy ,Citra, Nelson Sauvin, Motueka and Helga

Availability: Limited time May 30  – July 4, 2016 (37 days)

MSRP: $8.99 22 oz bottle

Brewer: Stone Brewing – Escondido, CA

Beers consumed for review: 1 – 22 oz bottle

Stone-Enjoy-By-7.4.16-IPA-cap
Hard to believe that Stone has been around for 20 years…

Nose:  Aroma is such a huge part of the beer experience and the Stone Enjoy By 7.4.16 IPA had a serious case of the “smell good.”  Big time hop notes were present along with some peach, tangerine and tropical fruit.  There was an underlying sweetness in there with the bitterness of the hops and tangy fruit notes.

Appearance:  The Stone Enjoy By 7.4.16 IPA poured with about two inches of thick and foamy white head which settled in at about 1/2 inch.  The lacing was strong and the beer was crystal clear after it warmed up a bit.  The color had a burnt orange look, but to be more precise, I’d call it a pale amber (SRM 10).

Stone-Enjoy-By-7.4.16-IPA-head
I love these B-Cups plastic IPA cups from Fermented Reality!

Flavor:  I’m probably going to run out of words here.  The Stone Enjoy By 7.4.16 IPA is one of the more flavorful Double IPAs I have ever had.  It started off with a creamy mouthfeel and this transitioned into a nuclear hop explosion!  The palate was bum-rushed with strong hop flavor along with notes of peach, tangerine and guava.  The finish was more on the pine and resin side of the hop flavor spectrum which was an absolutely perfect complement to the fruity start.

Overall Thoughts:  The Stone Enjoy By 7.4.16 IPA was basically perfect.  It was right up there with Pliny the Elder.  This is not something I say lightly.  I think Pliny IS perfect and the Stone Enjoy By 7.4.16 IPA is right there.  I STRONGLY urge you to track this one down before it’s gone.

Mixed and Mashed Rating: 

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