15th Anniversary Escondidian Imperial Black IPA - Stone Brewing Co.

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BA SCORE
94
exceptional
-
1,328 Ratings

rAvg: 4.23
pDev: 12.77%
Reviews: 705
Hads: 623

Ratings Help

Brewed by:
Stone Brewing Co.

California, United States

Style | ABV
American Black Ale | 10.80% ABV

Availability: Limited (brewed once). bottle (620), on-tap (76), growler (8), cask (1).

Notes:
This beer is retired; no longer brewed.

No notes at this time.

View: Beers (85) | Reviews (242) | Events (2)

Reviews

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Reviews by bobhits:

bobhits

Kentucky

4.8/5 rDev +13.5%
look: 5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 5 | feel: 4 | overall: 5

Poured into a Stone Cali-Belqie glass.

Clearly a black ale with deep brown body, plenty of light goes through the pour so no fears of over doing the “black” part. A 2-3 inch head explodes to the top only to subside to the absurdly high abv. Lacing is left though perhaps a bit less impressive than it could be given the explosive head and the tendency for big double IPA’s to leave sticky lacing everywhere. This one is taking on some good wood notes that I think I’ve missed in other stone beers, but this reminds me a bit of life and limb in that respect only with hops upon hops!
Just while pouring the ripe fruity hops and subtle roasted malt characteristics blast from the glass exciting my every sense. I have things to do but this beer has just forced itself on me and my agenda.
Opens with an exciting ripe fruity hop glory to open but quickly shifting to a strong and powerful burnt chocolate malt. The second drink yields far more hop qualities as they refuse to be over powered by the malt. We have, pine, grape fruit, wood, chocolate, coffee, hop resin, and booze all mingling amazingly well together.
This is a boozy bastard and the booze is honestly perfectly bringing everything together! Thick, creamy, well carbonated, and just overly decadent.
We so often are disappointed by those things we hype up in our head. Those ultra-rare bottles (when not reviewed by obsessive snobs) so often simply disappoint because the expectations are just so absurdly high. This beer delivers 100x over for me. It is in many ways what I recall Stone 11 as being. I’m sorry but their recreation just hasn’t had that absurdly fresh hop attack and maybe that’s because it isn’t as fresh. I’m not sure, but I can state without a doubt this is amazing beer. Stone 12 and 13 for what they were are two of my favorite beers the brewer has ever done. 12 for the amazingly if not perfectly balanced chocolate stout and 13 for being the hoppiest beer I’ve ever had without turning into an undrinkable mess. This like the 13 is just amazingly bitter, over powering and sinfully delightful!

Serving type: bottle

09-13-2011 23:05:42 | More by bobhits

More User Reviews:

beernads

Florida

3.75/5 rDev -11.3%

05-18-2013 06:39:49 | More by beernads

OC_Beer_Fan

California

4/5 rDev -5.4%

05-17-2013 05:22:10 | More by OC_Beer_Fan

Zbeetleman

California

4.5/5 rDev +6.4%

05-15-2013 03:05:13 | More by Zbeetleman

mikeincharleston

South Carolina

4/5 rDev -5.4%

05-13-2013 22:24:50 | More by mikeincharleston

csfcmitchell

Texas

4.25/5 rDev +0.5%

05-13-2013 15:54:17 | More by csfcmitchell

Whiskeydeez

Kansas

4.25/5 rDev +0.5%

05-08-2013 17:19:02 | More by Whiskeydeez

cadaugherty

Illinois

4/5 rDev -5.4%

05-07-2013 23:01:09 | More by cadaugherty

Tom-Peters

California

4.5/5 rDev +6.4%

05-06-2013 19:43:12 | More by Tom-Peters

campfirebrew

New York

4/5 rDev -5.4%

04-04-2013 14:53:21 | More by campfirebrew

Obsidian

California

2.75/5 rDev -35%

04-03-2013 03:18:40 | More by Obsidian

Smurf2055

Washington

3.68/5 rDev -13%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

Reviewed Dec 2011

Poured from bottle into a pint glass.

Pours like a stout, with a nice tan head about a finger thick. Good lacing.

It’s got some coffee and licorice, but the pine and hops smell as well. Maybe a bit of caramel. An interesting mix.

Taste really confused me. It’s a light body, very smokey, almost ashy. Greets you with light coffee and finishes with a hop kick near the end. I couldn’t tell it was over 10%. Very powerful. Leaves a nice aftertaste.

Overall, it’s a very interesting beer to say the least. Very complex and very bold. Impressive.

Serving type: bottle

04-01-2013 20:11:28 | More by Smurf2055