(Escondido, CA) – Stone Brewing Co. is known for its nationally-distributed packaged beers though the company has a new draft-only release that may be of interest: Stone Delicious IPA.

Here is a little background from Brewmaster, Mitch Steele:

“We went through several iterations of this beer in our brewhouse at Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens – Liberty Station, using several hop recipes until we had that “A Ha!” moment tasting a beer that I had asked Liberty Station Brewing Manager Kris Ketcham to brew. It was a single-hop beer called the Lost City of Liquid Gold, using 100% of the new El Dorado hop from Yakima, Washington. This beer gave us the last piece to the puzzle on the formulation for Stone Delicious IPA – we changed the dry-hop to 100% El Dorado, and we achieved these magnificent lemon candy and spicy hop flavors that are fun and unique.”

Stats:

Commercial Description: An intense lemon character brought on by El Dorado and “Lemon Drop” hops ups this West Coast IPA’s already incredible powers of flavorful refreshment.

Bitter & whirlpool hops: Nugget, Calypso, Steiner 01210 “Lemon Drop”
Dry-hop: El Dorado
Malt bill: 2-Row Pale Malt, Light Munich Malt

Packaging: Draft only
Stats: 7.7% ABV / IBUs 75

Steele’s tasting notes:

Appearance: Pours deep gold, with a white colored head of foam

Aroma: Spicy, herbal and citrusy hop aromatics, balanced with a light toasted malt. The spiciness is reminiscent of lemongrass.

Taste: The hop flavors really explode in the beer, with a dominant flavor that reminds many on the brewing team of a Lemon Starburst® candy!

Palate: Medium body and bitter, dry finish