ESCONDIDO, CA — At Stone Brewing Co., new beer ideas from way-out-there to downright obscure are debated daily. When it comes to brewing a beer in celebration of Stone’s anniversary, it’s no-holds-barred for the brewing team. Case in point: Stone 17th Anniversary G├Âtterd├ñmmerung IPA. Gott-er-dam-er, what?! (The phonetic spelling doesn’t help much on the pronunciation; check out Brewmaster Mitch Steele attempting to pronounce it by watching the video.) Starting today, the anniversary beer will be available in bottles and/or on draft at select retailers, restaurants and bars across the U.S.
Stone 17th Anniversary G├Âtterd├ñmmerung IPA is a double IPA, brewed with malts and hops traditionally used in German pilsners. Steele has always been a fan of German beers, and proposed a West Coast-style double/triple IPA with German hop and malt characteristics for this year’s Stone Anniversary Ale. A departure from the citrusy American and fruity New Zealand hops the team primarily brewed with of late, the German hop varieties bring intensely hoppy character and floral, stone fruit, herbal, spicy, peppery flavors to the beer. Stone 17th Anniversary G├Âtterd├ñmmerung IPA is 9.5 percent alcohol-by-volume (ABV) and comes in at 102 international bittering units (IBUs). The beer pours a deep gold, and has a uniquely strong flavor profile that is balanced, clean and intensely bitter. It should be consumed before the “Enjoy By” date on the bottle to maximize hop aromas and flavors, as it’s quite hard to say how this will cellar if laid down for future consumption.
So, what does G├Âtterd├ñmmerung mean? Occasionally referred to as a disastrous conclusion of events, the name was chosen because Stone wanted to take West Coast IPA sensibilities and combine them with German ingredients. By unceremoniously mashing together one of the most traditional beer styles with one of the newest, Stone created a beer that well, may be the end (or perhaps the extension) of everything we thought we knew when it came to the range of uses for German hop varieties.
Of course, no anniversary is complete without a stupendous display of celebration. On August 16 and 17, Stone will infiltrate the California State University San Marcos (CSUSM) campus in North County San Diego to bring fans an epic array of craft beers, all in the name of celebration and charity. One hundred percent of the profits from the Stone 17th Anniversary Celebration & Invitational Beer Festival will be donated to local charities, including Boys & Girls Club of San Marcos, Fight ALD, Palomar Family YMCA and Surfrider Foundation. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit stonebrewing.com/anniv.
Quick Facts:
- Name: Stone 17th Anniversary G├Âtterd├ñmmerung IPA
- Stats: 9.5% ABV, 102 IBUs
- Availability: Limited 22-ounce bottles and draft, beginning August 12
- Hops bill: Magnum, Herkules, Merkur, Opal, Emerald (aka Smaragd), Strisselspalt, German Hersbrucker, Sterling
- Distribution: AK, AL, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, IA, ID, IL, IN, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MT, NC, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, OR, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, VA, VT, and WA
Tasting Notes:
- Appearance: Pours deep gold and brilliantly crystal clear with an off-white colored head.
- Aroma: Focused on hoppy, with herbal and stone fruit hop aromatics.
- Taste: European hops—herbal, floral, spicy, peppery and resiny, balanced by very clean, intensely bitter, beautiful subtle malt flavors, and just a hint of alcohol.
- Palate: Crisp and bitter. A very refreshing beer; well suited for the summer!
- Overall: A very fun beer for us to brew. Through a series of intense dry-hopping trials that we have been running over the past couple of years, we found several newer German hop varieties that we thought were unique and different from the citrusy American hops and fruity New Zealand hops that we have been using so much of this year. An interesting twist on a Double IPA (a German IPA, perhaps?), brewed with malts and hops traditionally used to brew German lagers and European pilsners. Some of the hops we included in this recipe include Strisselspalt, which has long been one of my favorite noble hops, with a delicate floral character and hints of citrus; Sterling, a U.S.-bred hop with Saaz heritage, and a hop we haven’t used much before, but we just love the intense resiny and spicy pure hop flavor; Herkules, a newer high-alpha German hop variety with intense stone fruit and tropical fruit characteristics; and Hersbrucker, a classic German aroma hop with intense floral and stone fruit flavors.
About:
Known for its bold, flavorful and largely hop-centric beers, Stone Brewing Co. has been brewing in North County San Diego since 1996. Founded by Greg Koch and Steve Wagner, Stone is the 10th largest craft brewer in the United States—a position it achieved without paid advertising, discounting or compromising standards. In addition to brewing, Stone owns two eclectic farm-to-table restaurants—Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens — Escondido and Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens — Liberty Station—and Stone Farms, an organic farm located near the brewery which grows produce for the restaurants. Stone also operates an off-site events company, Stone Catering, as well as Stone Distributing Co., which distributes more than 30 craft beer brands throughout Southern California. For more information on Stone Brewing Co., please visit stonebrewing.com or the company’s social media sites: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram,Google+, YouTube and The Stone Blog.