Posted on 31 januari 2012. Tags: Great Brands, online ordering, Stone Brewing
Stone Brewing is without doubt one of the most iconic and sought after US craft breweries on the planet. In Sweden Great Brands has worked tirelessly for years shipping containers of Stone over to Sweden for us to enjoy.
It’s not been without its difficulties though. Whichever way you twist and turn it Stone Brewing is a long way away and the length of time it takes to get their beers over here has caused concern at the brewery (which is famously fanatical for its ‘drink fresh’ policy) and of course with the team at Great Brands.
But those mighty brains at GB have now come up with a nifty new way of ensuring you get your hands on a great selection of Stone beers before the recommended ‘Best Before Date’ with the launch this week of an online pre-ordering service.
The idea is this: Great Brands transports Stone beers every few months to Sweden. Now they’re giving you the opportunity to pre-book your own cases of beer to come along for the ride.
Just visit their site (Note: you have to opt for the Swedish language selection), choose the PrivatImport tab and click on the ‘Förboka Här’ link. Now you can choose from 5 classic Stone beers and order by the case. Your beer will be delivered on the next shipment (currently due some time in May) and you pick up and pay for the beer at the Systembolaget store you nominate. The deadline for orders for the next shipment is February 29th.
“By pre-ordering we can minimise the length of time it takes from delivery to Sweden and into your fridge where it belongs”, said Justin from Great Brands.
Posted in The Beervine
Posted on 17 november 2010. Tags: Emperial, Stone 14th Anniversary Emperial IPA, Stone Brewing
An American Double IPA (with a British spin)
From Stone Brewing Co, California USA.
8.9% ABV. Coming to Systembolaget December 1st. 99.00SEK (650ml bottle)
The first thing I noticed was the thick bed of yeasty sediment on the bottom of bottle which tells me this beer is bottle conditioned and still 'live'. I therefore poured the beer carefully to avoid disturbing as little 'trub' as possible. It settles in the glass a pale hazy, lemon colour with a sudsy white head. It looks raw and unfiltered and uncompromising just as a beer from Stone should be.
By the sheer level of hop intensity you know it's come from the US but the use of UK ingredients really makes this IPA smell....different. There's a peachy/pineapple fruitiness upfront and behind that lurks a layer of mineral 'wet stone' and a dry herbal spiciness. Pine needles manage to come through, with black pepper and a little suggestion of sweaty socks.
Let's try for a moment to put the outrageous hops to one side for a minute and talk malts. The Stone guys used an extra pale British malt that is quite sweet to start with but finishes dry, like sucking on dry straw. This, combined with the hop bitterness, makes this a 'classic 'Catch 22' beer. The more you drink, the thirstier you get! As for the hops - you can't ignore them for long - there's classic East Kent Goldings and Target hops plus the pretty unknown Boadicia hops. Not sure what they bring to the party but there's loads of dry spice, soap and herbal flavours here.
Basically any cuisine to the right of Iran on a map (but stop at Papua New Guinea). What about Cashew Pepper Chicken Curry?(http://www.spicytasty.com/meat-and-seafood-entrees/cashew-pepper-chicken-curry).
Nerd note
This unusual Double IPA was brewed to celebrate the 14th anniversary of Stone Brewing Co, one of the modern pioneers of craft brewing in the States. Rather than settle for yet another US variant the Stone crew travelled to the home of IPA - England - and created this tribute with a 'twist'. Best drunk fresh so as soon as it hits the shelves of the Systembolaget on December 1st get a bottle and treat yourself to an early Christmas present :)
Posted in Beer Reviews
Posted on 13 november 2010. Tags: beer, Review, Stone Brewing, Stone Vertical Epic 10.10.10, usa
A Belgium Strong Ale
From Stone Brewing Co, California USA.
9.5% ABV. 650ml bottle coming to the Systembolaget December 1st. Price 94.70 SEK (TBC)
For an epic beer it looks rather flat in the glass, pouring a cloudy, peachy colour with an egg white head that collapses quickly, never to return.
There’s no mistaking there’s three different types of wine grapes in this beer. There’s a potent floral white wine nose mixed up with some yeasty phenols (I swear I got banana but could definitely pick out coriander and ginger). It basically smells like a German hefeweizen has been crossed with a Belgium Duvel. Not particularly subtle, but then Stone doesn’t do subtle very well……
The sweet white wine core of this beer delivers lychee, kiwi, piggelin ice-cream and candied apple flavours. The use (overuse?) of chamomile adds a rather strange drying bitterness that valiantly fights against some of the sugary grape juice but ultimately loses. There’s a nice spike of lemon and lime acidity though and a herby hit of coriander and ginger. There’s a LOT going on in this beer. Except malt that is.
Because of this beer’s obvious white wine character I’d treat it like one when pairing it with food. Lobster, mussels, crayfish and salmon would work nicely. Perhaps less obvious (but equally delicious) would a meaty Pâté de campagne or a spicy beef and coconut curry!
Nerd note
This is the 9th in the ‘epic’ series of beers from US craft brewers Stone. Starting with the first beer brewed on 02.02.02 the idea is to collect all 11 beers (the final one being released on 12.12.12) and then to have a vertical tasting of all the beers in one go.
With the same playful arrogance that Stone treats its consumers with I’ve chosen to ignore this advice and drink my bottle on 12.11.10. See if I care!
There’s a bit too much going on right now in my opinion for this to be truly epic, but as this is a beer specifically designed to be aged at least two years it will be interesting to see how it evolves. That means you've either going to have to very patient (unlike me) or buy two bottles!
Posted in Beer Reviews
Posted on 12 april 2010. Tags: brewdog, Cambridge Brewing Co, Juxtaposition black pilsner, Review, Stone Brewing
A Black Pilsner (!)
A collaboration between BrewDog, Stone Brewing and Cambridge Brewing Co.
10% ABV - Systembolaget Article Number 11733. 66 SEK (330ml bottle). Hurry - almost sold out!
Is there really such a thing as a black pilsner? Well there is now, although this is more dark, dark brown than black, with a short-lived praline coloured head. It looks ominous in the glass, as though it's warning you about what's coming next...........
Smell it poured straight from the fridge and you'll get fairly tame tinned lychees and pineapple in syrup, with a medium roasted impression. Let it warm up a notch and suddenly things get REALLY interesting and intense, with wood, smoke and tar complementing the tropical fruit smells. It's boozy hot too.
There's more twists and turns in this beer than in a Dan Brown Novel. At first you get some sticky sweet malts and spicy liquorice and anise only to be brutally pushed aside by hot tarmac (like licking a road in the middle of summer) bitter chocolate and ash followed by a rasping salty bitterness that assaults your tongue and throat, giving your whole mouth a remorseless thumping. This is tough beer love.
Such an aggressive beer is probably best enjoyed alone as it will bully most foods into submission. Possibly game and wild meats would have the fortitude to mix it up with this beer - but I doubt it.
Nerd note
Juxtaposition
- noun - an act or instance of placing close together or side by side, esp. for comparison or contrast. This insane beer is all about contrasts. A pilsner that's black, a sweet aroma followed by a ferociously bitter finish and then there's the hops....Japanese Sorachi Ace hops and Motueka hops from New Zealand for their intensely hoppy and bitter notes and the European Saphir hop with its beautiful old world fruity flavours. There's so much going on in this experimental brew by this trilogy of bleeding edge brewers that I was left at the bottom of my glass with a rather dazed expression, wondering whether I'd just had a great beer experience or whether I'd just been had. I think it was the former.
Posted in Beer Reviews
Posted on 07 mars 2010. Tags: BASHAH, brewdog, movie, Stone Brewing
A few hours ago I posted a review of BASHAH – a beer with so many personality disorders if it were a person I’d insist it lay down on a couch.
BASHAH – which stands for Black As S@#t Hoppy As Hell – is the deviant offspring of two of the world’s most experimental mad brewing scientists; Stone Brewing in the US and BrewDog from Scotland.
Stone has put together a fantastic two-part video that records their journey across the Atlantic in which they meet the BrewDog boys, flirt with romance, eat haggis rolls and oh yes, brew some BASHAH.
Posted in Videos
Posted on 07 mars 2010. Tags: BASHAH, brewdog, Review, Stone Brewing
A Black Belgium-style Double IPA. Yes, you read that right.
Stone Brewing from the US and BrewDog from Scotland
8.6% ABV. Systembolget Article Number 11726. 38.40 SEK (330ml bottle)
For those of you that don't know BASHAH is an acronym that stands for Black As S@*t Hoppy As Hell. Couldn't really have put it better myself. Pitch black body under a frothy yeasty tan head.
Odd. There's the familiar waft of American hops with their pine and citrus smells. So far so good. But then comes chocolate, weak coffee and earth.
Schizophrenic tastes of chocolate, liquorice, tar, smoke and grapefruit. Nice sweetness in the middle that's quickly and brutally replaced with a whiplash bitter finish that leaves an unsettling salt and electrical sensation in the mouth. I get the black, I get the double IPA but I get very little of the Belgium element in this beer.
I don't know. Your guess is as good as mine.
Nerd note
This is a Burtonesque beer and I'm not talking Burton-on-Trent here, I mean Tim Burton. It's modern day gothic, an anti-hero, twisted, conflicted and dark. The result of a collaboration between the original bad boys of US brewing Stone and the UK poster boys for experimental beer BrewDog it was always going to be different. The problem is as a beer drinker somewhere among all the conflicting tastes and smells I lost my way, emerging at the end of the glass dazed and confused. BASHAH is a fun ride everyone should take at least once.
Posted in Beer Reviews
