Tasting Some Beers at Stone Company’s Oceanside Store’s 3rd Anniversary
Tap list for the Oceanside Stone Company Store on Friday
The Oceanside store of the Stone Company recently celebrated its third anniversary. With a special variety of beers available on-tap, it was worth visiting. On my way back up from San Diego on Friday afternoon, I stopped into the store to try out some great brews.
A flight of beers at the Oceanside Stone Company Store on Friday
I had one really tasty flight of five beers. Had I not been continuing to drive, I would have certainly enjoyed a second flight! I started off with the Stone Cali-Belgique IPA aged in Red Wine Barrels with extra yeast (9.4% ABV). Let me start off by saying that while I like IPAs and I like Belgian beers, I have been consistently disappointed by Stone’s Cali-Belgique IPA. However, this version was significantly better. I enjoyed its lovely yeasty nose, somewhat dry, along with somewhat dry taste. Not a noticeably hoppy beer, but the added yeast certainly was a lovely addition to the regular Cali-Belgique IPA.
Next up, I had the Ruination 2.0 Double Dry Hopped with Amarillo hops (8.5% ABV). Not that I am a particular fan of Amarillo hops, though I found it to be a delightfully dank beer, yet pleasantly light-bodied, as well. This imbalance between the very danky hoppiness and the light-bodiedness of the beer made it quite enjoyable for this beer drinker. I enjoyed it so much I took home a 2 liter growler of it!
w00tstouts
Next up, I had both of the w00tstouts on tap. I started with the Stone Farking Wheaton w00tstout (2015) (13% ABV), which I found to be smoothly malty, prominent coffee notes, and great mouthfeel, both smooth and nicely carbonated. A great beer! I then had the Stone w00tstout 2.0 (13.5% ABV), which I also found to be a great beer: big, boozy, and smooth. Coffee notes, but also maybe some oak – great! There were some slight differences between the two w00tstouts, but they were both incredibly enjoyable, although I kind of liked the 2015 w00tstout a little bit better (and took home a 1 liter growler of it).
The Oceanside Stone Company Store held a special event on Friday and Saturday to celebrate their 3rd anniversary
I then finished up with the Aqua Dog (12.3% ABV), a barleywine blend with cocoa nibs and pink peppercorns, aged in wine barrels, which I found to be malty, boozy, and big. This beer also gives off its barley character quite noticeably. If I had to do it over again, I would not have ended my drinking with this beer, since the w00tstouts were not only big beers, but also a more enjoyable and sweet taste to them than the Aqua Dog. As someone who enjoys barleywines – and the Old Guardian Barleywine is no exception – I should have opted to have had this beer before those.
I’m very glad I happened to be heading back up to Long Beach to stop in the Oceanside Stone Company Store to try out these special releases of Stone brews!
