Stochasticity Project Grapefruit Slam IPA

Brewed By: Stone Brewing Co. in Escondido, California

Purchased: 22oz bottle bought at Binny's in Chciago, IL; 2014

Style/ABV: Imperial IPA, 8.2% 
Reported IBUs: 95

Stone is a monumental force in beer. Everyone knows who Greg Koch is and who Stone is. Maybe that is why Stone is launching a secondary brand under the "Stochasticity Project" name? Who knows. About Stone:

Stone Brewing are one of the more prominent breweries in the American craft brewing scene. They were founded in 1996 in San Marcos, California, and moved to Escondido, California where they recently expanded their operations. Stone was founded by Steve Wagner and Greg Koch. Koch has a reputation among the craft beer community for voicing his opinion, not putting up with shit, and standing behind his beer. Also...farking woot and fizzy yellow beer is for bitches. 

The Stochasticity Project Grapefruit Slam IPA is an IPA brewed with grapefruit peel! Shocking, I know. This beer features North American Pale and Light Crystal malts; and Centennial, Chinook and Magnum hops. The beer is dry-hopped with Centennial hops. Yum. Let's glass this up and see how Stone's secondary brand is holding up.

Stochasticity Project Grapefruit Slam IPA

The beer pours into an amber/bronze body that looks transparent in lower light. At first there was quite a bit of carbonation rising upwards, but that settled down. The beer produces three or four fingers of off-white/golden head, and as the head drops off there is nice lacing. Bright light confirms the bronze/gold body, and there is still some nice carbonation popping upwards. Head retention is good. It looks like an IPA.

On the aroma: lots of citrus-forward hoppy aromas ala a stereotypical West Coast IPA. I'm getting big orange, pine, resinous lemon/pine, grapefruit, and lots of peppery/white pepper hop spice. There's a touch of peppery alcohol as well, with some hints of cracker and biscuit.

Wow, this is intensely bitter, with the 95 IBUs and intense grapefruit rind. This is much more spicy and citrus-forward than it is sweet. I'm getting huge grapefruit rind, grapefruit, bitter and dry orange, pine, and peppery hop spice. There's some dry cracker/biscuit malt character in the mix, and hints of sweeter citrus on the back.

This is a medium-bodied beer, with good palate depth, average duration, and average complexity. I'm not getting any alcohol, and I imagine it is blunted by the intense bitterness. You do get 95 IBUs worth of bitterness in this beer, as the beer imparts tons of super bitter, dry hops. Up front: citrus, orange, grapefruit, pine, grapefruit rind and super bitter citrus, woody rind, bitter resin, peppery spice; that rolls into spicy pine, grapefruit rind, white pepper; the back end dials up some more peppery hops, cracker/biscuit, a dry woody finish, and lingering citrus on the back palate as your tongue works to replenish your saliva supply. 

Rating: Above-Average (3.5/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Light Light Above-Average here. This is like...your typical super bitter West Coast IPA, with tons of hop kick and cracker/biscuit malts in the mix. It's a good beer, but it's not mind-blowing. I feel like the addition of the grapefruit peel goes largely unnoticed, but the use of the three main hops is well done. I'd like to revisit this, especially at $7 a bottle. I would pair this beer with spicy chicken wings, over-the-top Mexican food, and pizza. This West Coast IPA begs for stereotypical American bar food, especially with the super dry and super bitter citrus hops and the cracker/biscuit character. Good.

Random Thought: I'd spend more time talking about why Stone is trying to launch a new brand under a different name, but I don't really care.