Stone Enjoy By - quality declining?

[cabbie92]

Does anyone else think that the quality of the Enjoy By series has gone down in recent iterations? The Enjoy By 4/20 was just ok, and the 5/29 is "meh" as well. Little hop aroma and flavor. I'm disappointed.

Has the late 2016 layoff hurt them? Are they tweaking recipes to make them cheaper? Is it just me?

 

[Pkrd]

Hmmm, discuss...
http://philcook.net/beerdiary/2017/04/28/fresh-hypocrisy/#more-19048

 

[sweed]

I thought the best by 5/29 was really good, a little malt sweetness from its 9+% abv, but very enjoyable.

 

[Oldskewl]

I thought the best by 5/29 was really good, a little malt sweetness from its 9+% abv, but very enjoyable.

Thought it was good. But I have not had an enjoy by in almost a year

 

[Clef051]

I wasn't into the last one i had, I believe it was the 4/20. It was too sweat and not much hop flavor. I think they are missing Mitch.

It might have been better to hold on to it and drink it as a barleywine.

 

[bobeer]

I've always thought they were overrated. At 9-10% abv drinking it fresh is too hot for my taste. All I ever really tasted was alcohol then a little bit of hops in the aftertaste. Not worth the money IMO. To my taste buds I think 8% is the highest you can go with an IPA to drink it fresh without the hot booze taste.
That's why homebrewing is the best! I can make a 10% IPA and load the keg full of hops so it can age a little and have dry hops on it for the life of the keg. Mmmmmmm...

 

[SilverZero]

To my taste buds I think 8% is the highest you can go with an IPA to drink it fresh without the hot booze taste.

I would have agreed until I started drinking Hop Valley's Alpha Centauri. 9.1% and it tastes like a single IPA. It was fantastic when I could get a bomber of it for under 3 bucks, but they wised up and raised their prices. Still under 5 and still one of my favorites.

 

[Tarpon87]

I just finished my last 2 enjoy by 4/20 and i thought they were better than the others i drank fresh

 

[bobeer]

I would have agreed until I started drinking Hop Valley's Alpha Centauri. 9.1% and it tastes like a single IPA. It was fantastic when I could get a bomber of it for under 3 bucks, but they wised up and raised their prices. Still under 5 and still one of my favorites.

That sounds great. And for 5 bucks and under? Nice.

 

[GJOCONNELL]

the quality has been declining but so has the price. Also the enjoy after bretts....AVOID

 

[kev211]

Are they tweaking recipes to make them cheaper? Is it just me?

Thats my theory. I found it all too coincidental that they started expanding worldwide and all of a sudden, beers that didnt fit into the "mold" were disappearing due to lack of sales. Sublimely, gone. Ruination 1.0 changed, tastes like a hoppy version of their pale ale 2.0 which also got changed from the original. They dumped the barleywine among others. Now, they only black ipa they make is enjoy by which, lets face it, is just their enjoy by with some black malt tossed it. Its my opinion/theory that they changed all of these beers up to streamline production and make them cheaper/easier to make and I think its really hurt their quality. In San Diego, Stone is all but a tourist attraction. I would much prefer go to a nano brewery that still has dedication to innovation and quality than stone. But thats just me.

/Rant

Also the enjoy after bretts....AVOID

Overpriced garbage.

 

[cswis86]

I wanted to try the Enjoy by 4/20 but my liquor store was trying to sell it for $20 a 6-pack.... No thanks. Nice to know I didn't miss out on anything.

 

[kev211]

I wanted to try the Enjoy by 4/20 but my liquor store was trying to sell it for $20 a 6-pack.... No thanks. Nice to know I didn't miss out on anything.

On the whole I thought it was meh. Definitely the best of the enjoy by series, but overall I was unimpressed