I make no bones about it: I prefer a British Pale Ale over an American one any day of the week. I like the more classic rendition of the style and the Demererra sugar tones, nuttiness, and overall taste of non-U.S. versions. For me, the American versions tend to be over-hopped for what is, historically speaking, normal. However, Stone makes no pretensions about what they are aiming to accomplish. In fact, they don’t call this an American Pale Ale. No, they go even further by calling it a Southern California Style Pale Ale (although basing it on British style). Okay, at least we know what we are going to be drinking from the start. Nothing to do now but pour.
The Pour (Stone Pale Ale Pour):
Manlandsite.com Stone Pale Ale Beer Pour in HD! from Manlandsite on Vimeo.
In terms of color, this looked like a Pale Ale should. It was clean with a copper body. Atop the body rested a stable white head. Stone’s Pale Ale appeared to be very drinkable, indeed.
The Nose: One thing I have to applaud Stone about is resisting to use the ubiquitous Cascade hop for this brew. When I took the first whiff, it was noticeable that Cascades were not the hop of choice. Don’t get me wrong, there was still a citrus tone to the beer–there is no mistaking that. However, the piney/grapefruity tones associated with Cascades were not there. In fact, the citrus aroma gave way to some very nice tropical fruit tones, which were produced by the two hop varieties in this brew. The caramel sweet malts were noticeable but mostly overpowered by the hops aroma. I did note a nice yeast tone to the beer, though.
The Taste: Of course the hops played a major role in this beer, especially up front. However, there was a fairly nice mouth-feel to Stone’s Pale Ale. As the sides of my tongue tingled and the hops receded, the beer starting becoming a nicely bitter and dry experience. Amidst the fading hops and impending bitter came the nice touches of caramel and darker roasted grain tones.
Overall, I really enjoyed Stone’s Pale Ale. Although not as good as a British version, it stands up pretty well against other American styled selections. If I had to choose between this and their IPA (the basic IPA, not Ruination), I’d pick this one almost every time. Pick a six pack or a bomber up and give this a whirl.
(Thanks to Manland for the pour video.)
Mike’s Rating:
Overall Satisfaction: 
Among other American Pale Ales: 
I have a Stone IPA in my fridge (which isn’t a rarity – it’s almost a given) but I still haven’t tried this one. Might be because I’m a high-ABV junkie!! Anyway, I’ll look for it next time I’m buying beer and give it a shot – you’ve made it sound very tasty, indeed.
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It’s good. Personally, I think it’s much better than their normal IPA. Mouth-feel and body are the two things that are an improvement over the IPA.
As to your high ABVism. I think I’ve done this a lot when I brewed. However, being an ABV guy, you can miss a lot of great beers. I myself have really broken away from the high ABV as a pre-requisite because I felt I was missing a ton of good beers. That’s just me personally…but that doesn’t mean that I won’t buy beers like Black Tuesday.
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I’ve noticed quite a difference between bottled and kegged beer from Stone. I’ve had both their IPA and Smoked Porter served both ways, however on draught, their beers erupt with hop aroma. I mean, BAM!, in your face aroma. And then bottled, the aroma is rather subdued. In fact, the smoked porter comes off more like a porter in a bottle than when on tap.
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