We spoke with Stone Brewing Senior Manager of Brewing & Innovation Jeremy Moynier about Stone IPA.
Who was responsible for this beer’s recipe?
This one came from Steve Wagner, Stone’s co-founder and original brewmaster.
What sets this beer apart from other examples within the style?
At the time there were very few examples within this style. Stone IPA helped pave the way for the West Coast IPA Category. It was early to the scene and was among the first to be distributed to states outside of California, helping others to discover the style. That was 25 years ago! We have seen a lot of evolution in the IPA space since then, including different types of IPA being produced; i.e. double, triple, hazy, brut, cold, etc. Everything seems to come full circle as we see people, once again, discovering and/or gravitating towards West Coast IPAs once again. Stone IPA is still very much relevant (and tastes amazing) after all these years.
What makes this beer truly World Class?
It’s trailblazing history. There weren’t that many hoppy beers with this kind of bitterness out there 25 years ago. We fell in love with Centennial hops, which play an important role in this beer. It’s a great balance of malt and hops and that bitter back end that makes you want to drink more. We’ve always loved this beer just the way it was, but we continued to experiment with different hops in trials and in other beers and at one point decided to take on the challenge to see if we could make Stone IPA even better. At Stone we have never been satisfied sitting still and are always trying to improve and get better. We’ve done that over the years just in the way we brew and process beer. We did finally make a change to Stone IPA a few years back. Centennial is still the star hop, but we added a few other varieties to bring out the tropical component more. We liked it better, so we went with it. It’s not a huge change but enough to really round out the beer and make it pop even more.
What is your favorite aspect of this beer (flavor, aroma, mouthfeel, etc.)?
It’s still the beer a lot of us go back to because it’s so damn good. For me it’s the balance of citrus and resin/dank and that subtle tropical component that makes it so much fun to drink. Did I mention that I love the bitterness?
How popular is this beer among your faithful fans?
Stone IPA is still our #1-selling beer, 25 years later.
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