Stone Enjoy By 04-20-13 IPA

Stone Enjoy By 04-20-12 IPA, 9.4% ALC./Vol. We're supposed to Tweet, Instagram and talk on Facebook to help bring Stone Enjoy By IPA to our city. They're listening!, they say. This is the second time I've enjoyed this IPA, both times brought from elsewhere by Joe. This time he brought me eight bottles, ain't I lucky? So, I have 13 days to drink them up! (or trade for something else, which I might try.)

The look: clear, crisp, golden-hued, active carbonation, enormous head, pillowy white, lace-leaving and lovely. Very nice looking brew.

The aroma: oily hop resins, prickly pine, lemon zest, orange peel, plenty of bitterness, but not too much so.

The taste of it: Intense bitterness grips the palate, buzzes the tongue, leaves little bombs of sweetness at variable intervals. With each new sip and swallow, a repeat of the pass, gripping bitterness, attacking the tongue, swabbed by sweet, ending dryly, reading for the next round. Medium bodied, long hoppiness…and the high alcohol doesn't get you until you're, wait, where are we  now? About 3/4 into the bottle. Yep, it's creeping up…

This lands somewhere between the regular Stone IPA, which I love, and Ruination. Not quite as ruining. I would appreciate it more dialed down a notch or two, though. Maybe 7.5% would make it more enjoyable by.

Here's some gobbledygook from the label: "You have in your hands a devastatingly fresh double IPA. Freshness is a key component in many beers, especially big, hoppy IPAs--but we've taken it further, a lot further, with this one. We brewed this IPA specifically not to last. We've gone to extensive lengths to to ensure you get your hands on this beer within an extraordinarily short window, and we've sent a very clear message in the name of the beer itself that there is no better time than NOW to enjoy this IPA."

Terrific stuff. Here I come, Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook.