I was happily surprised to see a note on BeerAdvocate that Cali-Belgique from Stone was in stock. I heard from friends that this beer started out as a one-off, but was so popular that Stone is brewing it year-round. A 22-ounce bottle was $6 at Total Wine & More on Aug. 20, but I heard it was part of a special order, so don't be surprised if they are out of it.
Stone calls this a Belgian IPA, which, according to BeerAdvocate, is a style Belgian brewers started making after having hoppy American beers. The key to these beers is Belgian yeast, which adds its special spicy, earthy -- even funky -- notes to beer. So now Stone makes a Californian (Cali) version of a Belgian (Belgique*) beer that was inspired by hoppy American beers like Stone's regular lineup. You can call this the circle of life.
From my notes:
What a beautiful beer. It's bright gold in color with a large sticky white head. The aroma spicy and lightly hoppy. It has a similar taste of spice and general Belgian beer flavors. Mild levels of hops for a Stone beer, which takes little getting used to. But after wrapping my mind around it I like it. There is still a good hop presence, but it a non-Stone way.
Overall this is a very good beer and a neat departure for Stone from their normal hoppy brews. This is a beer to seek out.
*Note: You may see this beer labeled Cali-Belgique or Cali-Belgie. Why? As usual, Stone writes a lot of notes on the back of the bottle. They explain that they don't want to alienate Belgians, some of whom speak French, some of whom speak Flemish. So about 50 percent of the bottles are Cali-Belgique and 50 percent are Cali-Belgie.
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