DRAFT Magazine

To find inspiration for Stone’s 14th anniversary beer, brewers Mitch Steele and Steve Wagner traveled across the pond to England. The result? An imperial IPA that gives English ingredients a workout usually reserved for American hops.
The bold, unbridled hop aroma that floats out of this pale orange brew is everything English beers often aren’t: unapologetically pungent, with floral and candy orange scents worth contemplating. Similarly, this brew unleashes a wave of hop-forward attitude on the tongue. As soft caramel spreads out, a hop bomb explodes rustic, peppery flavors with a squirt of orange in the mouth. As the hop flavors take hold, a bitter wave sweeps across the tongue for a satisfyingly dry, earthy finish.
Emperial IPA’s a beer worth enjoying slowly, mainly because we haven’t seen these flavors intensified to this level before. While it hits all the marks imperial IPA fans have memorized by heart, its use of English hop varieties over West Coast standards turns a new page for this brash style. Just as nuanced and aggressive as American versions, yet wildly different in character, this beer is a legitimate reason to consider English IPAs fair game for imperializing.