Stone Enjoy By 12.26.14 IPA

The Stone Brewing Company is in Escondido, San Diego County, California. This 9.4% ABV beer is, according to the bottle, "Devastatingly Fresh." The name incorporates the limited "best by" date of the beer, because they really want you to drink it as fresh as possible. Specifically brewed not to last, the bottle is filled with warning slogans, "Live for the now, the present," "There is no better time than right now to enjoy this beer," and simply "Enjoy Now!" 

The beer pours orange honey golden and copper in color. There is a tall, thick, white foamy head. The aroma is passion fruit, guava, cantaloupe, tropical fruit, and very musky. The taste follows the aromas, hitting all of the same notes of tropical fruits, melon, musk and pine. The bitterness is light to moderate. It drinks smooth with a tingle of carbonation. I have tried three versions of Enjoy By and this is the best batch yet. This one is more like a flavorful Toppling Goliath offering than the normal Stone lineup.  My biggest critcism of Stone is that they too often seem to mistake massively bitter for excellent flavor. Not so here, this has absolutely excellent flavors.