A couple of weekends ago, to celebrate my birthday I went on a brewery tour with some friends. We chartered a bus through sdbeerbus.com and they drove us to three different local breweries of our choosing. We chose Stone, Port/ Lost Abby, and Alesmith. We loaded up the bus at my friends house and made the 45 minute drive to Stone. To help pass the time, we brought along a keg of Ballast Point Calico Amber Ale. Their amber ale makes for a good way to start the day. Not too bitter, but with a full flavor.

This is the second time I’ve been to Stone’s brewery. I wrote about the brewery in my review of Stone’s Old Guardian Barley Wine. I tried a lot of the same beers this time. Pale ale, IPA, Arrogant Bastard, Smokey Porter. This time though, I liked them all a lot more. The hoppiness didn’t seem as over-powering. Also, The bartender made me a beer float for my birthday using vanilla ice cream and smokey porter. It was delicious. I might have to make that a birthday tradition.

Next up was Port Brewing/ Lost Abby. We tried Gift of the Magi, among other beers. It’s a seasonal beer flavored with Frankincense and Myrrh. It was good. Spicy and interesting, but good. We tried a few other beers while we were there and then moved on to Alesmith. We tried a couple of beers there, but I don’t really remember what they were called or much about how they tasted. I think that they were all really good. After three breweries, and a total of 12 five ounce tasters, plus a couple of pints on the bus, I was in no state to be making intelligent remarks on the taste of different beers. That’s the one problem with touring several breweries in one day. There is only so much beer you can taste in one day. I guess I’ll just have to do it again.

Recently I toured the Stone brewery in Escondido, and boy is it pretty. Anyone who lives in the area should take a spin in that direction. But this isn’t about the building, this is about the beer they make in it. I’ll be the first to admit, hoppy beers aren’t my normal drink of choice. And Stone beers are nothing if not hoppy. But I’m learning to appreciate quality beer even if it takes bitter beer face to the extreme. All told, I tried their Pale Ale, IPA, Arrogant Bastard, Smoked Porter, Russian Imperial Stout, and Old Guardian barley wine. The first four were part of a sampler that they offer after the tour. The stout and the barley wine we took home and drank later. All of their beers were good, but suffered from a bit too much flavor, text book 3’s all around.

When I finally got to the barley wine, it didn’t take long to get to me. With the word “wine” in the name, it seems like it could be classy. But at 11% abv, the 1 pint, 6 oz. bottle that they sell it in is more than enough to get me feeling… loopy. I got to admit though, I think Old Guardian is my favorite of all the Stone brews. It has that signature hoppiness that all Stone brews have, but it doesn’t kick quite as much. Maybe the high alcohol content and the high hop content cancel each other out, I don’t know. All I know is that I liked it.

There has only been one other beer that has ever received “Never Again” status. That would be Blue Moon from Coors, and its really a Radiohead concert review post.

Now the normal Arrogant Bastard is around 8% of pure skull-crushing madness. Once you get past the intial tastebuds-into-oblivion stage, you can really enjoy the bitterness that is Stone Brewery. As long as you don’t eat the onion rings. The double bastard is around 10%, and seriously once you open the cap you can smell that a night of punishment is in order.

A friend of mine purchased the 3 litre (came with a freaking lock!) bottle of double bastard. He also purchased the patented “shoulda got 2 more” for after the 3 litre was gone. If you have read this far and care to do the math thats roughly 144 ounces of pain. Only youth could possibly come up with a stupider plan. By 11pm that night it was full on technicolor yawns with a permanent stain in my front lawn that refuses to grow. Not for the faint of heart or those who have to go to work for the next couple of weeks. Great for LAN parties, or for that special “no respect for my liver” moment. Check out Stone Brewery