Ruination

As an addendum to the IPA tasting, here's Stone's Ruination IPA. I'm never sure about the Stone beers as they tend to be out of whack... Or, to be more generous, maybe they need more bottle aging than I'm inclined to give them. At any rate Ruination IPA is nuts. At 7.7% abv it's not that strong--I've got a home-brew bottle conditioning right now that should check in at close to 7. So malt is not going to carry the day here. Strictly speaking, at over 100 IBU, it's not balanced. But I really like it anyway. Except that it's so hoppy it's giving me a headache. It has a screaming nose--there are some Cascades, but also at least a couple other hops I think (Willamette? Amarillo?). It's very earthy and floral and pretty much shoots out of the glass at you. It has a pretty full palate, with perceptable alcohol and more hops. In fact, the hops -are- the body. It's so bitter that the hop flavors just ride out into the sunset, in a finish lasting a good few minutes. So, as usual with the Stone people, subtlety is not a virtue, but, in this case, I like it anyway. But it's no Smuttynose.