Stone Brewing opened in 1996, and to mark 30 years in business the brewery has released Stone 30th Anniversary Double IPA, built around the West Coast Double IPA style it says it helped popularize. Rather than lean on one or two signature hops, Stone built the beer around a sprawling, all-American hop bill spanning three decades of American hop breeding: Chinook, Centennial, and Simcoe represent the classic varieties that defined the West Coast IPA style, Citra carries the craft era's breakout hop, and Krush, Thora, Mosaic, Latitude 46-1631, Zumo, and Mosaic Cryo bring in the newer generation.

That range shows up in the beer itself. Stone's own tasting notes describe bright aromas of melon, orange, pineapple, and fresh lemon zest over a deep golden pour, a spread wide enough that it likely owes as much to the mix of older resin-forward hops against newer tropical and citrus varieties as to any single addition. It's an off-dry, medium-full-bodied Double IPA at 8.5 percent ABV with 65 IBUs, according to the brewery.

Stone is pairing the release with a 30th Anniversary Celebration at Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens - Liberty Station, featuring live music, rare beers, and what the brewery calls throwback experiences. Stone 30th Anniversary Double IPA is available now in 4-packs of 16-ounce cans and on draft, exclusively at Stone Brewing locations.

Editor’s Take

Ten hop varieties in one Double IPA is either a chaotic idea or a genuinely fun one, and having actually looked at the list, I am landing on fun. Chinook, Centennial, and Simcoe are the hops that built the West Coast IPA reputation Stone is celebrating; Citra shows up as the beer everyone's craft-era memory runs through; and then Krush, Thora, Mosaic, Latitude 46-1631, Zumo, and Mosaic Cryo crash the party as the newer arrivals. Most anniversary beers just make the flagship bigger. This one reads like Stone actually opened the hop room and decided thirty years deserved a guided tour instead of a louder version of the same beer.

That range also explains the tasting notes better than a single hop ever could. Melon, orange, pineapple, and lemon zest is a wide aroma spread for one beer to carry, but spacing classic resin-forward hops against newer tropical and citrus varieties is exactly how you get there without any one note flattening the rest. This would be a genuinely interesting beer to pour side by side with an original-era Stone IPA, less a competition than a hop family reunion.

Source & Editorial

JollyPint independently prepares release articles using information published by breweries through newsletters, websites, and other official public communications. Brewery-supplied descriptions and tasting notes are reported as provided, while editorial context is added by JollyPint.

30th Anniversary Double IPA Spans Ten Hops and Three Decades

Stone Brewing marks 30 years since opening with a West Coast Double IPA spanning ten hop varieties, from anniversary-era classics like Centennial and Chinook to modern additions like Krush and Thora.

Source & Editorial