Stone Enjoy By IPA
It is no secret that I am a huge fan of Stone Brewing. As I have mentioned before, I credit Arrogant Bastard as being influential in my 
discovery of craft beer, and am particularly impressed with what Greg Koch and company have done as a company to promote sustainability and responsible business practices. And their beer is simply awesome.
When I heard about the “Enjoy By” project, I was pretty sure we would never see it in Florida. The concept is pretty simple: fresh beer tastes better. Especially well-hopped beers like pale ales and IPAs. The way in which locations for the release was chosen was interesting, too. Using a combination of social media tools, Stone essentially got areas to nominate themselves. We were given the power to “express our enthusiasm” by using a specific hashtag (#EnjoyBy #FL). Users could watch in realtime on the Stone website to see which locales were getting the most hits. Finally, Florida made the cut. And the result was Stone Enjoy By 5.17.13 IPA.
This is a classic West Coast IPA, taken to a fantastic level by the added freshness of hops. Lively tropical fruits, delicious resin, and a thundering bitterness are elevated by being so newly born (so to speak). It is a kick-ass 9.8% ABV and a tongue ravaging 88 IBUs, and I feel like I could drink it all day. It is “Brewed to Not Last”. If you are in an upcoming state that is getting some (I am looking at you, Washington, Texas, and Missouri) get it right away and drink it down, then get some more. If you missed it when it was in your state, you can still vote to #BringItBack!
Personally, I hope this is something Stone continues to do all around the country and that it come back to Florida time and time again. I was fortunate enough to have a bottle, and now I wish I had picked up a case or more. It would also be interesting to compare to other dates from other cities and see how consistent it remains.
Great work, Mitch Steele and the gang in Escondido! Can’t wait for more!
Cheers!
Beer for the Daddy 