For my money, this is the best iteration of Stone's Enjoy By series.
About seven years ago I had one of the greatest beers i have ever tasted. Unfortunately it was a one-time release.
I speak, of course, of Stone Brewing's 10th anniversary beer. It was an IPA to beat all IPAs.
Knowing that it was a one-time affair, I drank as much draft as I could and grabbed as many bottles as I could afford at the time. Even then, due to the fragile and transient nature of hops, I had to drink those in rather short order. Once the last drop was quaffed, my beer-soul was left bereft. How could Greg Koch and his fellows at Stone create something so great and never let us have it again?
Well guess what? They just may have allowed us have it again. OK, not really, but there is now something very, very similar.
The new edition of the "Enjoy By" series – Enjoy By 5-17–is certainly not the 10th anniversary brew in disguise, but it's really close, if my memory serves me well. Now, I'm sure some at Stone will deny this, and of course we are talking my palate's recall from seven years ago, so I'm not going to say this is absolutley sure by any means. But whatever. From what my memory tells me, this beer is close enough.
One reason it's not a replica of the 10th anniversary is that the Enjoy By is 8.4 percent alcohol by volume and the 10th Anniversary was 10 percent. That's fine. But for my money, this is the best iteration of Stone's Enjoy By series. It is a hop fest that is juicy, pungent, sticky, chewy and any other word one uses to describe a delicious, lipsmacking West Coast IPA.
Of course you're reading this with only around two weeks left to enjoy this Enjoy By brew. It has made the rounds in several local beer halls already (The Dirty Truth and McLadden's) but as of this writing, The Sierra Grille had yet to tap its keg. So maybe the timing will work out and you can have it there. You might also want to give The Amherst's Moan and Dove, or Springfield's Plan B or Smith's Billiards to see if they have it.
Remember, once May 17 hits, Stone pulls it for good. Don't be left out. This one is worth making an effort.
BEER NOTE
I was remiss last week for not telling you that the Northampton Brewery Beer Garden is now open. It opened on April 22, and the weather that week cooperated quite nicely. It may have been a bit chilly for some, but for me it was glorious to be quaffing fine local brews al fresco again. I'll try to alert you once other outdoor beer venues are ready for visitors.