It’s been a busy couple weeks and I haven’t gotten the chance to post on this experience as quickly as I had wanted to. That said, it was too good to let slide. One of our great local spots here in Hartford, the Wood n’ Tap, had a Stone Brewery Tap Takeover that I stopped by just by chance. I was thrilled. I had the chance to sample five awesome Stone beers and had the privilege of experiencing it with two of my friends who aren’t regular beer drinkers. That meant I got to hear some genuine opinions from them – and you’ll see a few in this post.

First I tried the Hibiscus beer. If you don’t like your beer too sweet, don’t have more than one of these, but certainly try it. It smells almost rosy, has a light fruit taste with a coarse texture, and has a wonderful orange after taste. Everyone at the table liked it.

If you like hoppy beer, and coffee, the Ruination is your dream come true. You’ll experience so much balanced flavor that it will make your pallet scream. The Ruination smells nice and roasty, and once you have your first drink all you taste are hops. The hop flavor quickly shifts to a roasted coffee taste once the beer hits the back of your tongue, a wonderful bitter flavor resonates in your mouth for as long as you can hold off on your next beer. I’ll say personally, this is one of the best beers I have had in awhile and I’ll absolutely drink it again.

Next was the Porter with Chocolate and Orange Peel. It tastes like it sounds like it tastes; there’s no mystery here. It smells like chocolate and has a good balance between chocolate and orange when you drink it. It has a light smooth texture and is easy drinking. Old and new beer drinkers all liked this one too. 

The Master of Disguise is the beer I recommended to my friends who don’t drink beer, and say they don’t like hops. The Master of Disguise is smooth, hoppy, and has a straight forward, clean flavor all the way through your experience. My friend Jen, who typically sticks to wine approved this one. A new beer drinker doesn’t usually notice quite how bitter this is because it’s so smooth.

When I was done tasting samples, I stayed awhile and had a glass of the Double Bastard because a person absolutely has to. This a strong, hoppy beer that goes well with both sweet and salty. A group of us agreed that beyond the hops – you can almost taste a salty maple syrup flavor. The Bastard series is an awesome line from Stone everyone should take some time to look into, especially if you’re with a group tasting beer.

This was a lot of drinking, but really a small sample of all the greatness that Stone has to offer. I want to extend a special thank you to Jen Putetti and Mollie Dananberg for teaming up with me on this one!

You can look through all of Stone’s brews here.