The Bar Towel

Envious of our friends out West. BC/AB sure does make it easier to get off the ground in a big way for out of country brewers.

http://www.stonebrewing.com/canada/

If I didn't have regular access to US brews and only had the LCBO as my source I may be jealous.
But Greg Koch is a total dink and I have zero intention of drinking anything from Stone again after the Indiegogo campaign and backpedaling by Koch as to the intent. Weasel.

That's fine. I'm impressed that they can launch with 6 (maybe more) at once. That kind of thing just can't happen (easily) around here.

Looking forward to trying as many of these as possible at the CRAFT launch in Edmonton:

Stone IPA
Stone Go To IPA
Arrogant Bastard Ale
Stone Ruination IPA
Stone Cali-Belgique IPA
Stone Smoked Porter
Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous Black IPA
Stochasticity Project Quadrotriticale
Matt’s Burning Rosids Imperial Cherrywood-Smoked Saison
2014 Stone Imperial Russian Stout
2014 Stone Old Guardian Barley Wine
Stone Coffee Milk Stout
Stochasticity Project Hibiscusicity
Stone Saison
Spröcketbier (Black Rye Kölsch)

And then a beer dinner a couple of days later at MKT, with the following:

Stone Ruination IPA,
Stone IPA,
Stone Go To IPA,
Stone Coffee Milk Stout and
Arrogant Bastard Ale.

The brewery and agency are really doing a good release. Be interesting to see how quick they can get the beers shipped, in & out the warehouse and onto/off shelves. I believe Stone have a strict timeline for this, and don't want to see old stock labouring on the shelves.

According to CBN, they're launching with: Stone IPA, Stone Go To IPA, Stone Ruination IPA, Stone Cali-Belgique IPA, Stone Smoked Porter and Arrogant Bastard Ale

Hopefully those do alright and we get some of their special releases, but we've already got a plethora of hop-accented brews in BC. Here's my thoughts on the regulars:

Stone IPA - Very drinkable, but I was never enticed by this one.

Stone Go To IPA - Thin, watery bong water... others have done this 'style' so much better... Sierra Nevada, Red Racer...

Stone Ruination IPA - This WAS one of my all-time favourite brews. It wasn't actually hopped that highly, and as the market has shifted, they decided to take it up a notch last year. The new recipe has more alcohol, more hops, and certainly packs more perceived bitterness (with the high cohumulone chinook), but I don't like it half as much.

Cali-Belgique IPA - I HATE this 'style'.

Smoked Porter - Certainly hope to buy some this winter!

Arrogant Bastard - I've always thought this was great, but haven't had it for a while. The malt sweetness balanced the brash chinook bitterness nicely. Now they list the hops as classified, so I'm hoping they haven't mucked with this one as well.

For the homebrewers in Ontario:
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/6-stone ... ost1014589

(If that ever comes down, I've got the issue).

Looks like Ontario expansion happening...as reported in another thread:

The Bent Elbow is getting Stone IPA and Arrogant Bastard the week of February 9th. On February 24th they're having a launch party with people from Stone.

They've signed a 1 yr contract to carry Stone, meaning that they'll have the Stone products on at all times, and they'll be getting 5-6 "seasonals" throughout the year.

http://www.bartowel.com/board/viewtopic ... start=1650