December 23 - Stone Brewing Enjoy By 12.25.16

Blog Misconduct!  That's a penalty!!!

So, as we've stated before in the 25 Beers of Christmas rules/guidelines, I won't review a beer again from any past blog post.  I'm up to 105 after tonight's post goes live, by the way.

Tonight I'm tip-toeing my own rules by reviewing a beer I've technically had before.  The absolute first beer I did, back in 2013 was a Stone Enjoy By beer.  Dear Lord, my blog posts have come a long way.  Don't believe me, click the link and see how awful they used to be...

Anytime that I find one of these, I don't even think twice about picking it up.  I always enjoy an IPA or a double, and beer from this series is usually as solid as they come.  I know what I'm going to get here with this overly hopped West Coast DIPA.  Interestingly enough, this comes from Virginia as a prototype. 

...I'm confused too...but it's OK.

Again, from Stone Brewing Company, we have another installment from their Enjoy By series.  As always, it's a 9.4% ABV Double/Imperial IPA, I'm assuming that they play with the hops in this beer to see what combinations will do to a final product.  This one, just 2 days away from possibly exploding in my kegerator fridge, is the 12.25.16 version, that needs consumed IMMEDIATELY!

Glad I didn't wait to enjoy this, otherwise the result could have been different...

Tonight, to switch things up from the norm, I'm going to give you their tasting notes on the beer (you can click the link to double check me or just read the bold and italicized notes below) and tell you whether or not I agree with them.  Why?  Because that's so much easier than being unique, and we're at a point in the month where I need all the help I can get!

Appearance - "Golden and hazy with a creamy white head"

Yep!

Aroma - "Intense peach, tropical fruit and citrus.  The hop dankness is a little muted in this version."

I don't get the peach specifically, but I do get a tropical/citrus hop aroma with a slight dankness.  Normally, these things are really dank in the aroma, but not this one.

Taste - "Hoppy, lots of stone fruit flavors and yeast-derived fruity esters, dissipating quickly into a finish loaded with hop flavors and bitterness."

Hops bite here throughout with the esters taking the forefront.  They dissipate for sure, but do come back to linger on the tongue along with a residual bitterness.  I do get more of the peach in the flavor than compared to the nose. 

Palate - "Dry, hints of alcohol warmth, and a nice bitterness on the back end.  A little more heft and mouthfeel because of the unfiltered aspect of this beer."

This beer always masks the hefty 9.4% ABV, so I don't really get much in the realm of alcohol warmth.  Also, compared to other Enjoy By beers, this one does have a heavier mouthfeel.  I'll take their word for why that's the case.  Bitter?  Definitely, but it's balanced well with the flavors, IMHO.

For being an unfiltered option, I expected there to be a cake of yeast on the bottom of the bottle, but that wasn't the case. 

Yet again, another solid option for an IPA/DIPA!  I'd tell you to pick it up, but in less than 2 days this thing will be a shelf turd since you need to enjoy it by Christmas day.  If you do find it on a shelf come 12.26, ask for a discount because it will be absolutely awful a day after it's expired.  Then, when you get home, and have purchased a quality beer at a discount because it's expired, you'll thank me. 

In case you don't....haggle for price reduction, get quality beer, WIN!

Easy 4.25 out of 5 tonight!  Merry Christmas Eve Eve!