New beers: Stone 12th Anniversary Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout under wraps, Pliny here in August
By William Brand
Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008 at 11:32 am in 21st Amendment Brewery, Craft Beer, General, Stone Brewing.
On the new beer beat….talk about a beer that’s under wraps — A Stone Brewing rep told me this about how Stone’s 12th Anniversary Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout is beiing protected before it’s July 7 release: “:Right now it’s in sealed pallets on the top shelves of my distributors coolers with strict orders not to open them until next week, not even for me!
About the beer…tasting notes…
This beer pours deep black with a rich brown head of foam. The aroma is dominated by roast malt and cocoa. Upon tasting, the cocoa (we used unsweetened, unprocessed cacao sourced through our friends at Chuao Chocolatier) really comes through with a deep chocolate flavor and a long lasting bitter finish. The roasted grains used add coffee and licorice accents. It is a thick beer, but not sweet, with the addition of oatmeal in the mash providing a rich, silky mouthfeel that adds to the creamy texture.
Meanwhile, there’s news on another beer, Jon Weber who writes the Beer Obsessed blog says Ed Ledger, of Ledger’s Liquors in Berkeley told him that Russian River’s Pliny the Elder in bottles will be on his shelves in August He’s also hoping to have the two new 21st Amendment beers in cans soon, Live Free or Die IPA and Hell or High Water Watermelon Wheat. They’re being made at Cold Springs Brewing, Cold Springs, MN.
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July 2nd, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Oooooooh baby! Stone Anniversary ales are a reason to wake up in the morning. I have to make sure I get a fair amount of this one.
July 2nd, 2008 at 12:35 pm
Me too Mario. Trouble is, I buy ‘em, but I can never keep any back. This one will pro bably improve, become mellower over a year or so, even if it’s pasteurized.
July 2nd, 2008 at 2:03 pm
I’m the opposite, I can never pull the trigger on some of these beers I hope to save for later. In fact, there’s still a bottle of Abyss in my fridge that was destined for another.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:32 am
This beer is awesome fresh but Bill’s right, it should age quite gracefully.
It’s definitely not pasteurized though. Stone’s never pasteurized a beer before, it goes against our beliefs and makes beer taste bad (IOHO). It would also probably involve buying expensive equipment we don’t own.
Cheers
July 3rd, 2008 at 8:33 am
Dave, Stone Brewing and “humble opinion” have absolutely nothing to do with each other.
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Just an FYI…. I just ordered 4 bottles of Stone Brewery 12th Anniversary off Bevmo.com. You have to change your shipping status to Pickup and then your city. I don’t have them in hand… but I will be picking them up after work. They had 4 in stock; I bought 4 and one hour later Oceanside Bevmo online now says Out of Stock.
Long Beach Bevmo states it has 91 bottles as of this writing!
July 3rd, 2008 at 3:18 pm
Well, there’s something positive about living in Southern California. Stone 12th Anniversary on sale today. Just talked to Amy Gutierrez, the beer buyer at BevMo. She said it goes on sale at BevMo stores in Northern California on Monday. I think I’d better scoot over there and get me some.
July 3rd, 2008 at 3:18 pm
and furthermore, anyone who has tasted the beer, let us know what you think. post something here.
July 3rd, 2008 at 4:14 pm
Just got a call from the Oceanside Bevmo. No Stone 12th Anniversary. They blamed it on a problem with old skus or something. Like the 12th is using the same sku as the 11th???? Whatever. I’ll try and be patient.
July 5th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
I was extremely impressed with the beer, delicate mouthfeel with lots bitter cocoa almost reminiscent of a Belgian Bakers chocolate. Soft caramel and a very slight touch of anise make for a very nice finish.
July 6th, 2008 at 9:11 am
Liked the beer too, but I kept wondering, gee, what will it taste like in six months or a year, when those very separate flavor notes have time to consolidate.
July 7th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Just a note - I checked a couple of the SF BevMo locations and could not find the beer.
I thought it hit the shelves today?
July 7th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
Tjhat;s what they said Brian. Just checked with the BevMo beer buyer. She hasn’t called me back., Will post an update when she does. /What did the people at y our BevMo say?
Regarding BevMo, sometimes you have to be persistent. Sometimes, the beer is actually in the store, but not yet on the shelf and you have to find a clerk who looks intelligence and ask him or her to check in the back.
July 7th, 2008 at 6:40 pm
Good point, William. I got the store manager involved and he was kind enough to check through the inventory in the back. No luck.
He couldn’t give me an answer as to when they’d have it on the shelves.
Hopefully we’ll see it in the next few days.
July 7th, 2008 at 8:16 pm
About BevMo…The beer buyer hasn’t called me back yet. It’s 8:15 p.m. Monday. Will post something as soon as I hear.
July 8th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
Headed to BevMo in Santa Rosa after work. They say they have them in right now.
July 8th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
I picked up 4 bottles from the BevMo on Geary in SF. The beer had just arrived today and was not yet on the shelves. Jonathan, an employee, was very helpful, knew exactly the beer I was looking for, and even talked beer with me for a few minutes.
Cheers!
July 9th, 2008 at 1:41 am
OK, got some off the Tap in Glassel PArk this evening!!!
I am a bit dissapointed at first…because of the vast different taste, style as the 11th…I’ve got 5 more cases to GO!!:>
But after the “ok it is a different year!” and the “what will this taste like in 6 months!” thoughts I Smiled :> and thought…MMMMM! this is gonna be GOOD!!
enjoy all!
dr
July 9th, 2008 at 6:52 am
Yeah, they’re trying to be adventurous. That can be a shock. But this is a very interesting beer.
July 11th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
Get your Pliny while you can. It is flying off the shelves at Ledger’s Liquors in Berkeley. $3.99 for a 16 oz bottle.
July 11th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
I’ve got mine. Hope you have yours.
July 29th, 2008 at 10:09 pm
I gotta tell ya…I opened a bottle of Stone 12th tonight and based on things I had read I was not expecting to enjoy it as much as I did. This is a very smooth, very drinkable beer, RIGHT NOW. I have two bottles set aside, one for December and one for a year from now, but damn this is good drinkin’ right now. I’m getting some more next chance I get.
July 30th, 2008 at 7:47 am
Got four bottles myself, looking forward to Christmas.