Now brewed by Stone Coast, safe clear-toned medium body relies on winsome malt sweetness and gentle hop tingle. Dank sour yellow-fruited resilience blankets dry breaded wheat base as parched fig-prune nuance swells against acidic lemongrass sensation.
Monthly Archives: January 2009
STONE COAST KNUCKLEBALL BOCK
Coaxing amber-hazed medium body, mysteriously labeled a ‘bock,’ balances disparate sweet and sour tones with mixed results. Initially, mouth-puckering grape parch and bone dry gueuze tartness seem at odds with honey-dipped cracked wheat spine and subsequent tobacco-dried caramel chocolate finish. Soggy earthen wood tone and skimpy herbaceous scant waver.
STONE COAST 420 INDIA PALE ALE
Rightfully quaffed at High Times New York headquarters, this hemp-teased copper-toned IPA (celebrating international 4:20 time zone for getting high) brings sweet crystal malt succulence and bright red fruitiness (grape, quince, apricot) to demanding hop-fueled orange peel bitterness for heady elegance.
STONE CAT WINTER ALE
Originally brewed as a ‘black lager,’ this tends to be dryer, cleaner, and crisper than its antecedent while retaining damp tobacco leaf sweetness and hints of rye, rum, or caffeine. Increasing malt sweetness thickens medium-to-full-bodied finish.
STONE CAT WHEAT
Sunny pale body pushes wheat-soured barley biscuit frontage ahead of paltry peach-fuzzed banana fruiting to crisply clove-spiced lemony orange White Ale-like finish. Fizzy flowing autumnal soft enough for neophytes.
STONE CAT SCOTCH ALE
Aromatic fruit waft, frisky hop insurgence, and unspecific grain backup provide bittersweet template to malt-roasted barley-smoked moderation. Too transparent and tame, lacking distinction for its class.
STONE CAT PUMPKIN ALE
Acrid grape esters consume mild gourd frontage of darker-than-usual dry-bodied pumpkin-spiced wayfarer. In lieu of expected cinnamon-clove spicing, this robust mahogany autumn seasonal boasts charred hop depth, coarse walnut bounty, and abrupt vegetal earthiness. Emboldened toasted grain finish acquires tingly barleywine-burgundy nuance.
STONE CAT OCTOBERFEST
Munich-styled moderate-bodied festbier lacks expected autumnal spicing to timid wheat-grained backbone. Some acridity seeps into diacetyl finish, depleting muted fruitiness.
STONE CAT I.P.A.
Slight smoked barley whiff and stiff orange peel souring receive organic nut-induced bitterness. Beneath hop sharpness lies thick malt residue and distant dark maple sweetness sustaining rich full body. More robust than usual IPA fare.
STONE CAT E.S.B.
Fine puffy-headed amber-shined Bitter counters barley-toasted yeast sinew and caramel-chocolate inertia with animated hop-spiced orange-fruited zest. Lack of expected malt richness never negatively affects muted mocha aftertaste.
STONE CAT BLUEBERRY ALE
Impressive short-headed moderate-bodied golden-hazed ale (found in 64-ounce bottle under Eagle Brook Saloon name) with immediate bitter-hopped blueberry essence lingering to juniper-spiced barley-wheat finish. Lacks intimidating fruited tartness of competing Sea Dog Wild Blueberry but maintains better crisp watered gentleness and more compact blueberry resilience.
STONE CAT BLONDE ALE
Sessionable soft-watered cask-conditioned English Bitter-styled moderation offers spry pink grapefruit tang, fuzzy apricot brightness and floral wheat mist over grassy hay-leathered bottom.