beer: stone ruination IPA

hey, look, a post. amazing, you're saying to yourself. i thought he'd lost interest. but no, i just got myself off to much-too-fast of a start. pace myself, that's the key.

anyhow, stone ruination. this is a perennial favorite of high-alpha american beer snobs - i definitely don't count myself a member of that group. like everything else about american microbrew, more is "better" and pushing the limits often supercedes technical skill. that being said, this is a really well-made beer. it shows a lot of control and balance, which is vital when you're at 8%abv and over 100IBU. the malt hit is almost instantaneous, but it's followed by a really vibrant herbaceous hop middle and finish. it manages the feat of being neither cloying nor (too) bitter after the finish, both of which tend to be the failing of this style. thankfully, too, campus was selling it in 12oz format instead of bombers. 22 ounces would just be too much. $17 is steep for a six, but it's worth it once in awhile.