Stone announces its hoppiest brew

I learned from writer/actor Wil Wheaton (via Twitter, of course, its not like I've met him), that Stone Brewing Co., maker of such excellent beers as Arrogant Bastard and Ruination IPA, has announced its 13th Anniversary Ale on its blog.

They call this "the hoppiest beer we've ever brewed." For those who don't know, that's saying a lot. Stone makes some of the hoppiest beers around -- check out the above-mentioned Ruination.

For the beer geeks, Stone used more hops per barrel than they have ever used before: 4.5 pounds. They used Chinook hops in the boil and dry-hopped it with Simcoe and Centennial hops. Then they dry-hopped it a second time. Here's Stone's description:

Stone 13th Anniversary Ale pours brilliant deep red with a light tan foam. Up front, the aroma is all piney, resinous and citrus hops. Upon tasting, the hops are still on the front, and they are balanced with the malty, toffee like flavors contributed from the blend of crystal and amber malts used in the brewhouse. The finish is deliciously bitter, with a touch of warmth provided by the 9.5% alcohol. Bitterness comes in at 90+ IBU.

For the uninitiated, hops used during the boil make beer bitter and add flavor, depending on when you add them during the boil. Dry-hopping is adding hops to the fermenting beer long after the boil, this primarily adds hop flavor. Different strains of hops (Chinook, Simcoe, Centennial, etc.) have different qualities, some add mostly bitterness, others add mostly flavor.

IBUs stand for International Bittering Units. They are a measure of how bitter something is. Most experts believe humans can't taste beyond 100 IBUs. Budweiser, by comparison, is about 10 IBU. So you could say this is a bitter beer. Fantastic!

I really hope this limited-edition beer, which Stone's official page says will hit store shelves on June 29, comes to Florida. I'll contact them and post what I find out.