Stone 14th Anniversary Party

Two weekends ago I had the pleasure of attending Stone's 14th Anniversary Beer Festival at CSU San Marcos.  The event was really amazing: brewers from all over the world, rare and one off beers, and about 7,000 fellow beer lovers.  Megan and I were lucky enough to catch a ride with the Library Alehouse Express, a bus arranged by Library to shuttle us down and extend our day of shenanigans.

While the festival was amazing, I was a little disappointed that at $40 a ticket, food was additional once we got in.  We also got there about 45 minutes late, so for a three hour time period we had trouble getting through all 10 of our tickets.  Nonetheless, we had a ridiculous amount of great beers.  Here's the list of what we drank:

First
Dave: Baltic Thunder, Victory Brewing Co. (Downington, PA)
Megan: Undercover Investigation Shut-Down Ale, Lagunitas (Petaluma, CA)

Second
Dave: Ken Schmidt / Maui / Stone Kona Coffee Macadamia Coconut Porter (Collaboration)
Megan: I Beat You, Mikkeler (Kobenhavn, Denmark)

This porter was sweet heaven.  So rich, so well balanced.

Third
Dave: 16th Anniversary Wood Aged Double IPA, Great Divide Brewing Co. (Denver, CO)
Megan: BrewDog / Cambridge Brewing Co. / Stone Juxtaposition Black Pilsner

Fourth
Dave: Nøgne Ø / Jolly Pumpkin / Stone Special Holiday Ale - Brewed at Nøgne Ø, Norway
Megan: Dry Hopped Hog Heaven Barleywine-Style Ale, Avery Brewing Co. (Boulder, CO)

An Avery volunteer poses for the Dry Hopped Hog Heaven.

I was pretty excited about try the Special Holiday Ale, I was one of the first in line when it went on tap.

Much lighter bodied than I had expected, but still really delicious.

Fifth
Dave: Cho-Saiko, Pizza Port (San Diego-ish, CA )
Megan: Merlot Stout, SKA Brewing Co. (Durango, CO)

It was right around here that our effort to document our beer drinking for the day fell apart, at least pictorially.  Beer will do that.

Sixth
Dave: Hand Cask Stone 14th Anniversary Emperial IPA w/ Sovereign Hops
Megan: TEA (Traditional Experimental Ale), The Lost Abbey (San Marcos, CA)

 

Seventh
Dave: Modus Hoperandi, SKA Brewing Co. (Durango, CO)
Megan: Stone Smoked Porter w/ Chipotle Peppers

Eighth
Dave: Black Pearl, Coronado Brewing Co. (Coronado, CA)
Megan: Idiot IPA, Coronado Brewing Co. (Coronado, CA)

A fellow beer reveller offered to take our picture.

Then proceeded to spill beer on me.  He was a Lakers fan... typical.

Happy beer festival goers.

Back at the bus everyone was in good spirits.

Tom took us to a brand new gastropub called Urge.  The beer selection was incredible and pretty much everyone got one of their six burger options.  It was amazing.

We also had these fries, which I believe were covered with bacon.

Finally, we ended up at the Ballast Point Brewery for a tour.  Most of my pictures were pretty useless by this time.

That's it! An incredible beer filled day, great people and great food.  Can't wait for next year.

Maui Brewing Co. Big Swell IPA

Few folks are using cans these days, but Maui Brewing is a proponent. It would be interesting to try some of their brews in a bottle and see if there is a notable difference.

That being said, Big Swell is a tasty IPA with typical west coast hopping and perhaps a hint of the island flavor where it originates. The malts are a little sweeter than you'd usually find in an IPA of this nature, but it does not hinder the hopping, which is a light grapfruit pine. The hops are present without standing out significantly. They drop off into the sweet malts that for some reason make me think of pineapple. Not necessarily my favorite hop levels, but it pulls it off well and is an amazingly drinkable beer. I could also go for some stronger aroma and head. 6.2%

Big Swell IPA: ***1/2