Stone RuinTen IPA

Brewed By: Stone Brewing Co. in Escondido, California

Purchased: 22oz bomber bought at Binny's in Naperville, IL; 2014 (bottled 06/??/14)

Style/ABV: Imperial IPA, 10.8% 
Reported IBUs: 110

DAE hate moving? 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. 

From my notes (and consumed while unpacking). The Stone RuinTen is a big-ass Imperial IPA. This beer was first brewed back in 2012 as the "Stone Ruination Tenth Anniversary IPA," to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Stone's Ruination IPA. The RuinTen IPA uses the same "hoppy recipe" as the 2012 release, just with a different name. This massively malty and hoppy beer punches in at 10.8% ABV, and packs 110 IBUs.  

Stone RuinTen IPA

The pour on this one is a murky/hazy copper-orange color, with a big caramel candy head. The caramel-colored head lingers for quite some time, and is big, sticky, and hop-fueled. There's good carbonation in the beer.

This is a heavy beer on the aroma, with resinous hops jumping out on the forefront. Notes here include guava, suggestive tropical fruits hiding behind a wall of dank and resinous hops, and a huge caramel malt backbone. There are huge caramel notes on the aroma, with cakey malts, sugars, and tons of sweetness. It smells similar to Dogfish Head's 90 Minute IPA.

The taste here is an incredible blend of malts and hops. This instantly reminds me of an American Barleywine Light, with cakey and caramel malt notes working against giant resin and dank hops. Hop notes include orange candies, hemp, guava, resin, tree sap, pine/pine sap, and dank as hell mango. 

Like an American Barleywine Light, this is medium-full to full-bodied, with tons of hops and malts. You don't get any of that 10.8%, which is a bit disconcerting. Palate depth is off the charts, with the beer riding that front to back wave for a very long time; complexity is good as well. Up front: big cakey/caramel malts, orange candies, resin; the mids dial up resin, pine sap, more cakey malts and caramel sugars; the back end has lingering malts and hop bitterness. This finishes like Peter North shooting caramel frosting onto a pine tree. 

Rating: Above-Average (4.0/5.0 Untappd)

This is a very Strong Above-Average. This is fantastic in every way, and I would definitely recommend checking this out. The RuinTen basically takes an Imperial IPA base and cranks up the malts to a delightful level that brings caramel sugars and cake notes to the party. It really does remind me of DFH's 90 Minute IPA, only with more umphh. It's a beer to pair with grilled foods, strongly seasoned/spiced dishes, hot peppers, and carrot cake dessert. 

Random Thought: So is this beer a Barleywine or what?