Stone Ruination IPA-a bit of a let down

Don't get me wrong-this is a quality beer. But I was honestly expecting much more from these guys-given their (self-bestowed) reputation.

I'll spare you the blow by blow-but overall it seemed a bit imbalanced. It reminded me of a regular gravity pale I brewed where I added several ounces of Cascades very late. The result was a good nose, and some legit hop flavor-but predominantly bitter-without the backing warmness of the alcohol, or sweetness of any residual sugars.

The Stone had a tiny bit of sweetness, but I really had to hunt for it-and it was much more bitter than 'hoppy'. It did have the warmness, but no maltiness to speak of.

I may be a little prejudiced because I'm a bit tired of Cascades, but to me, the beauty of an IPA is the balance of flavors-not just as bitter as possible. It's great to be able to taste the hops as well. Just my $.02, I'm sure I'll 'suffer' :cross: through the rest of the sixer. But as far as IPAs go, I'd have to give the nod to 2 Hearted, Heavy Seas, or Harpoon.

Although Ruination is not my absolute favorites, let me offer my thoughts on your comments:

-It is more of an IIPA, although they do not say that. IMO, the malt in an IIPA should be barely noticeable and is borderline too noticeable in Ruination.
-Personally I think Ruination is too sweet, I think a IIPA should finish a bit drier.
-They brew the Ruination with all Centennial as the flavor and aroma, in my experience it does not punch in the nose quite as much as Cascade
-IPAs (and all hoppy beers) do not travel well. I have had it at the brewery and it was much nicer than the (arguably) relative fresh stuff we have gotten here recently.

I'll let you know in about 6 months. I just brewed an AHS clone of this and minus loosing about 3/4 of a gallon due to extreme fermentation, it has been a wonderful experience. AHS' recipe calls for 2.5 oz of bittering, 1.5oz of aroma (Centennial as previously mentioned) at 15min left on the boil, and then an additional 2 oz of Centennial dry hopped in the secondary. The price on the kit was expensive, but then when you open it (they never give recipe lists when checking out the products), you see the 7 bags of hops, 10lbs of malt, and ~2lbs of specialty grains, you begin to realize it really isn't cheap to make. The coolest thing about the kit was I guess they don't sell 0.5oz packets of hops and so I have an extra 1/2 oz of the bittering and the Centennial in my freezer for possible future use (I'll probably go for a hopback style continuous addition of small amounts of hops or something to make something a bit more complex).

But if I remember correctly they age this sucker for something like 9months before releasing for sale (could have been the arrogant bastard, but I think it was this particular one).

Old thread, but after brewing I've been scouring this board for any info on the Ruination. As someone in another thread mentioned this really is more of a sipping beer for use in small quantities. I may try to find some small pony bottles for a case's worth. I love hoppy brews, but sometimes 3/4 in, I'd prefer to not drink the last 1/4 at the same time. If I could make a 6/8/10oz size instead, I think it would not only last longer, but I'd appreciate it more.

I got spoiled living in San Diego and drinking all the Stone beers. Now that I'm in Indiana, I can still get them, thankfully. But, having sampled the Ruination recently in Vermont and subsequently back home in Indiana, I can say there can be a huge difference in this beer that I imagine is due to its age and treatment in shipping. I suspect there's a larger market for it in VT, and the beer we got there had much more distinctive flavors than the beer I had when I returned home to IN.

While I would have said the Stone IPA was my favorite beer four years ago, now that I've had good access to Bells' Two Hearted IPA, I'd have to go with that beer. Personally I wouldn't put the Harpoon in the same league with those other two, but to each his own.


At any rate, I still love the Stone brews. I'm happy to see there are some clones out there!

So firesloth brought this one back up from April and I'm happy to report on my batch!

I've drank about 1/2 of my 4.5 gallon batch and can say in my brewing time this is my best to date (think this is batch #7). I had the pleasure of taste testing this with my neighbor whom bought a bottle of Stone's and we were able to each have 1/2 a beer to compare side by side. I will say they do not taste the same exactly. The legit Stone was definitely more bitter. The aroma and color are dead on, but the flavor is definitely not an exact match.

Here's the kicker though, both my neighbor and I chose my batch as the tastier of the two. It seemed to have a better overall character. While the true Stone would as it's name implies Ruin the palate in a couple sips and then just taste bitter, the AHS clone was very drinkable and flavorful even after several sips. So I'd say for anyone looking to have an exact clone the AHS kit is probably not going to appease you. But if you haven't had a Ruination, or haven't had one in a while, or most importantly just want a GREAT beer, the kit is a fantastic deal.

I already plan on my next AHS order including another batch of this incredible brew. Hell, 2-3 more orders and I'll have enough left over hops from the 1/2 oz. not used to make another batch with the purchase of grains and malt!