Blue Collar Beer Review: 15th Anniversary Escondidian Black Imperial IPA - Stone Brewing Co.

 Welcome to Blue Collar Beer Review #2!

 

 This beer touches on a topic that's relatively controversial in the craft beer world, Cascadian Dark Ale.  Being from the Republic of Cascadia myself, I'm a big fan of this 'style'.  The idea being to, if one closes their eyes, not be able to tell the difference between a Cascadian Dark Ale and an IPA but for subtle notes of the roasted malts, maybe a hint of chocolate and coffee.

Mmm, good stuff Maynard.

   Unfortunately, it also seems to invoke feelings of inadequacy and jealousy in others.  This includes powers that be (namely the Great American Beer Festival.  The BJCP has yet to make a decision), and legend Charlie Papazian, in regard to deciding on official beer style definitions. The concern is, to quote the Brew Your Own magazine article:

 "The name “Cascadian” was deleted as it was felt that non-Northwestern brewers may be turned off to the style if it hinted of regional exclusivity."

   You know, just like people were turned off of Steam beers when they changed the name to 'California Common', or Kölsch from Köln (Cologne), Germany which are named after the places in which they were created and intensely popular...

   So what do they do?  In an insulting blow, not only do they decide to call it American-Style India Black Ale, but they even modified the specifications of the style.  To make it less Cascadian.

   No one says "Man, I wish we could make a Berliner-Weisse.  If only we lived in Berlin!"  One can still brew the same style of beer, call it a Berliner-Weisse, and thus pay homage and respect to it's roots.  The CDA was created in the Pacific Northwest (Cascadia), the prime hop growing area of the United States, nay, the world. Though not 'officially' accepted as is, it is it's own distinct style.  Utilizing a hop selection exclusively from the region, Cascade, Centennial, Chinook, and other varieties developed in the area, it's a mascot, a representation of Beervana, Hoptopia, the Craft Brew Paradise which is my beloved Pacific Northwest Cascadia.

   I believe it's our hold on the hop world that inspires this jealous transgression, that causes the style guideline writers to insult us by taking away OUR beer.  California gets theirs, many regions in Europe and elsewhere have their own, official, distinctive styles, why are us Cascadians singled out?

   Obviously I'm proud of the style, that something so delicious was developed here, can only be made with ingredients from the Northwest.  This is a beer review though, so I'll climb down from my soap-box and get to it.

15th Anniversary Escondidian Imperial Black IPA - Stone Brewing

You are not worthy.

Stone Brewing Co. is based in Escondido, California and is known for their ridiculously hop heavy (with the exception of their surprisingly mild Smoked Porter), yet quality brews.  Greg Koch, CEO & Co-Founder is an interesting guy, but has quite the ego.  Though he's very self aware of it and takes pride in shoving that arrogance to the front.
   This is evidenced in every (worn out) diatribe on every one of their bottles, and in any interview I've ever seen him in.  As negative as this sounds, I'm a big fan of their beers, especially their IPA, and just about every other one I've had.  Their beers for the most part, range from awesome, to slightly less than awesome.
   This over-confidence is proven further in their own description of their 15th Anniversary Escondidian Imperial Black IPA (wait...a black India pale ale?) brew, stating that the name is a jab at the "Cascadians" and "Cascadian Dark Ales" laughing that if we can just decide to call a beer ours, so can they.  Here is my opinion of the brew:

Appearance: Dark, opaque chocolate color with a rich, dense nitrogen stout-like espresso head.  Pours                                                             thick.

Aroma: Black coffee, sweet cream, with green resiny hop intermingled.  Over all a mild, pleasing aroma.

Mouthfeel: Surprisingly light considering the pour, but a bit more body than other CDA's I've had.  It is very smooth and silky creamy.

Taste:  Roasted chocolate dominates followed by a sledgehammer of bittering hops that isn't accompanied by much needed flavor and aroma hops, but both flavors balance evenly in intensity.

Overall: It's what you would expect from Stone: Overly hopped, very bitter (maybe the bitterness comes from not being Cascadian?), but seems rushed, and not as well made as usually comes from Stone.  I love the rich yet light mouthfeel but I think it's far too chocolaty and bitter without aroma and flavor hops, hops that begin with 'C' which is what a CDA, and it's home region is all about.

   Sure, they call it something different, but it's intended as a representation of a CDA and just isn't a good one.  For a better example of a Cascadian Dark ale, Deschute's Hop in the Dark, or Widmer Bros. Pitch Black IPA (a favorite and prime example, though I don't care for how they wussed out on the name) are prime examples.  I wouldn't buy Stone's 15th Anniversary ale again, but if you've not had it, it's worth a go.

The best example of a CDA I've found, so far.

   Stone is known, and likes to make sure you know they are, for being over the top, revolutionary, etc. 10 or 15 years ago, being revolutionary meant pumping as much flavor and as many hops as you could in a beer since most was just watered down flavorless garbage. Thus, Stone's brews and philosophy were

   Times have changed, Stone hasn't, and the comparatively low-quality of this brew shows, to me at least, that they've run their shtick into the ground, but . Though I didn't find it very drinkable, the beer isn't all bad, and is by far not even close to one of the worst I've had.  However, I think this beer which woefully disengages from the CDA style and is really nothing more than an poorly over hopped, weak bodied chocolate stout, shows that maybe it's time for Stone to try something new, as their smash mouth tactics don't work for every style.  Like an old, punch-drunk boxer, though, they don't know when to move on or how to do anything else.

  Dear, Greg Koch and Stone Brewing,
Keep up the good work making good brews, but stop trying so hard to beat that dead horse.

   Sincerely,
      Stubborn Agnes