The Stone Enjoy By 10.31.15 IPA is the latest installment of the Enjoy By series from Stone Brewing.  The idea is to drink the beer while it’s fresh.  A lot of beer drinkers, myself included, are also collectors.  We want to find and procure rare stuff.  We find it, buy it, and put it in our beer fridge, but we don’t dare drink it.  If we drink it how can we show it off?  Tracking down stouts and cellaring them is all fine and good, but you don’t want to do that with an IPA unless it happens to be part of the Stone Enjoy After series.  One thing at a time though.

Enjoy By 9.21.12 IPA was the first in the series and it was released on August 12, 2012.  This was the first IPA to be marketed this way on a grand scale and it must have been successful because (A) Stone is still making new editions three years later and (B) the first release was available in Chicago, New Jersey and Southern California while the current release is available in 40 states, Puerto Rico, Canada, Australia, Japan and Sweden.

Enjoybylabel
Label from the first Enjoy By IPA release. (Photo Credit: StoneBrewing.com)

The Stone Enjoy By 10.31.15 IPA is packed with “more than a dozen hops” according to the Stone Brewing website.   The main piece of info I picked up while researching Stone Enjoy By releases is this: as beer ages, the first thing to go is the flavor and character of the hops.  These beers are packed with hops and you want to drink them while they are as fresh as possible.  The bomber that I drank for this review was bottled 12 days before I picked it up at Safeway.  Fresh indeed.

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I like that they focus on dates like 4.20, 10.31 and 7.4

Stone Enjoy By 10.31.15 IPA

Style: American Double IPA

ABV: 9.4%

IBU: 84

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

Availability: Limited time 9.25 – 10.31.15

MSRP: $8.99 22 oz bottle

Brewer: Stone Brewing – Escondido, CA

Beers consumed for review: 1 – 22 oz bottle

Stone-Enjoy-By-10-31-15-IPA
Looks good in the late afternoon sun, doesn’t it?

Nose:  The dank aroma of millions and millions of hops was first and foremost.  Upon digging a little deeper I found notes of pineapple and other tropical fruit.

Appearance:  The Stone Enjoy By 10.31.15 IPA poured with a huge head – like an orange on a toothpick.  The beer itself was clear with a deep golden color.

Flavor:  This is the fun part.  There is some seriously dank hop funk goin’ on here.  There were some nice fruity notes of mango, guava and a little peach in there as well.  The finish was super long with that hoppy bitterness leading the way.  Once that died down, you’re left with fruity notes on the tongue.  The mouthfeel was surprisingly smooth and creamy.

Overall Thoughts:  This is a dangerous IPA.  “Why, Rob?  What makes it dangerous?”  Well devout reader, I’m glad you asked.  This is a dangerous IPA for two reasons:

  1. It is 9.4 % ABV.
  2. It is surprisingly easy to drink.

I throughly enjoyed this offering from Stone Brewing.  It has many of the traits I am looking for in an IPA.  I would have liked it to be a bit more crisp and maybe a little cheaper.  Other than that, it’s a winner.

Mixed and Mashed Rating: Chewbacca-Beer-4-0

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