Stone GoTo IPA

[Beer-lord]

Had a few Go To's today and have to say, they were good, but I and my twin didn't think they were up to the Stone label. Definitely a good session IPA but I didn't think the hop to malt balance was as good as it could have been.
We also tried the All Day IPA which wasn't much better in my opinion. These were all good beers, but I think they missed their callling.Believe me, I know it can't be easy trying to make a sessionable IPA and I think they succeeded but I think there's more work to be done.
I'm on it!

[John Sand]

I'll add that I tried Blue Point Mosaic Session and have the same criticism: not enough malt for the hops. I like Founders All Day better, but still pick up SA BL or SN instead. The Blue Point has a wonderful hop flavor, but nothing to balance it with. High IBU light beer.

[Kealia]

Interesting take....I have to say I love this beer.

I had another IPA last night that I will post about tomorrow. I didn't get a chance to take a pic, so I have to have another one tomorrow night to do a proper review.
It's just not a review with the pron.

[mashani]

Random blathering on perspective...

I'm drinking a Great Lakes Rye of the tiger IPA which is 7.5% and 90 IBUs. From a "nothing but the hops" perspective - perceived bitterness wise and flavor/aroma wise, it's very similar levels to the GoTo. Remember I say perceived. This beer has a lot more body and some malt and spicy/bready flavor/aroma/sweetness from crystal and some nice bready biscuit malt and the rye that the GoTo does not have obviously. The GoTo is straight up west coast, keep the malt out of the way. This beer has a much more solid malt presence along with the hops and is more complex. Which is good. But maybe not as good on warm summer day after mowing the lawn. I think I'd much rather drink the GoTo on that day.

So, which do I prefer? I think if I wanted to just drink one beer - this one. If I wanted to drink more then one beer - the stone. I like them both, for different reasons.

Now the other day I tried a great lakes Chillwave Double IPA which is a 9% big malty beer with mosaic hops and crystal and honey malt. I would rather drink this rye IPA or the stone GoTo over it any day. Don't get me wrong - the Chillwave was tasty - but perceived bitterness is much lower due to all the malt. And honestly I'd rather drink a quad it if I want a beer that big. Instead if I desired that kind of vibe, I'd pick up some Victory Hop Devil, which gives a similar malty IPA experience, but without all the booze.

My own homeberw session IPAs tend to have Munich in them to give them a bigger malt presence. But they do not come across as west coast style. I am not sure you can make a west coast style session IPA without it seeming "unmalty" like the GoTo... Maybe mashing a smaller simple malt bill at a higher temp. Maybe. But that might still seem not very west coast.

[John Sand]

For me, I don't think that the problem is the west coast style. I love Green Flash West Coast, Sierra Nevada Torpedo, Stone Ruination, and so on. I just think that they went too far too make this beer a "session" IPA, and lost all of the body.

[mashani]

I just think that they went too far too make this beer a "session" IPA, and lost all of the body.

But that's what I'm saying - to get a west coast IPA experience, you can't be adding "malty malts" like munich or a bunch of crystal to build back that body - I do that in my own, but they turn out more like East Coast style. So I don't know how you would make a "West Coast IPA" like session IPA without having it be very light bodied. Maybe there is a way, maybe using a ton of carapils or a bunch of maltodextrin. I dunno. Some of the best of these types of IPAs use sugar it the grain bill to intentionally lighten the body and dry the beer out and make it less malty to keep it out of the way of the hops - Pliny for example.

I guess it doesn't bug me because I make lots of light bodied beer with intense flavor profiles that do not come from the malt as such - IE simple 1.04-1.05 pilsner/wheat based beers like Belgian Patersbier or table Saisons. This to me is like an American hop bomb equivelant - lots of flavor, but very easy to drink.

[Kealia]

I think it all comes down to perception. What I was expecting from this beer was a light, crisp body with great hop aroma and flavor and that is what I got. Thus, I love it.
If you're expecting, or wanting something different like more body I think you have to stick with IPAs, not session IPAs.

[BlackDuck]

All this talk has made me thirsty. I can't wait to try one of these. I may just have to make a stop on the way home and see if the grocery store has them yet.

[BlackDuck]

I was lucky, the grocery store had some in stock. Drank one with dinner. I really liked it. It had a lot of IPA aroma to it. I was getting a lot of citrus, I'm pretty sure it was mostly grapefruit and pineapple. Like others have said, the body was light and crisp. And I would say the flavor was a nice citrus hop, with no heavy sweetness. You can tell it has little to no crystal in it when you pour it, as it pours a very light straw colored yellow.

In my opinion, this fits the description of a Session IPA. It's a crisp, light body beer with a ton of aroma and flavor. A Session IPA!!!

Hopefully, my Session IPA recipe waiting in the wings will be just as good as this. I would love to have a beer like this in the fridge all the time.

[Beer-lord]

It's hard to believe it's a session beer but my recipes I'm working on will have a bit more body (I'm hoping) but I doubt nothing I do can give it the aroma and dankness Stone can. But I'm going to try.

[Inkleg]

Yep, I'm in the "love it for what it is" camp too. A light crisp enjoyable session IPA for when I want the bitter without the weight. Looking forward to enjoying this after mowing the lawn in August, but I'm damn sure not looking forward to mowing the lawn in August.

[Beer-lord]

August, it was 81 yesterday (well 46 tonite) but we get misery here by early May with 85% humidity.
I'll need a number of those between the front and back lawns!

[jimjohson]

Yep, I'm in the "love it for what it is" camp too. A light crisp enjoyable session IPA for when I want the bitter without the weight. Looking forward to enjoying this after mowing the lawn in August, but I'm damn sure not looking forward to mowing the lawn in August.

I don't look forward to mowing the lawn anytime of the year!

[Beer-lord]

I see Firestone has a new session beer out called Easy Jack.
http://www.firestonebeer.com/beers/products/easy-jack
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxEhN-bKW4I
If anyone tries this, please post in a new thread. No way it'll be here but maybe I can grab some in June if it's still out.

[Kealia]

I saw that in the store over the weekend but didn't grab any. I'm still working my way through my kegs, etc. but I will likely give it a shot soon.