Brewery: Stone Brewing Company
Beer: RuinTen IPA
Style: American Double/Imperial IPA
ABV: 10.8%
Character: 5 pounds of hops in each barrel
Metal Connection: SUFFOCATION – Funeral Inception
“A Stage Dive into a Mosh Pit of Hops” is the catch phrase for this beer. This definitely caught my eye, plus this beer already had a reputation as a beer that I need to get a hold of. I was very happy to get a hold of this beer for tasting and reviewing for the site.
What makes this beer so special, you ask? Well, this beer was first released in 2012 as Ruination Tenth Anniversary IPA to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Stone Ruination IPA. The guys over at Stone slapped a new name on the label, and plan to release this beer annually from now on, this being the first RuinTen to be released.
I love anniversary beers, cause they are usually over the top in some way or another, and Stone did not hold back for sure on this one. They use 5 pounds of hops in each barrel, and the ABV was cranked up a bit to match the intense hop levels.
Using a tulip style glass, RuinTen poured a clear gold/orange color with some visible carbonation bubbles rising. There was a good thick off white foamy head which held on very well, leaving a very large amount of glass lacing. Very impressive appearance.
The aroma hits you like a young Mike Tyson right hook to the nose. This is very hop heavy, west coast style of IPA with grapefruit, citrus, some pine, and a hint of a danky profile. Once the onslaught of hops clear away, there is a boozy malt aroma and mixes well with the hops.
Here we have a taste that is similar to placing hops in a cannon and aiming it straight for your throat! Stone always seems to want to be the most extreme brewer out there, and this one is definitely extreme with the hop flavors. A lot of citrus up front, and there is some pine and dank in the flavor as well. It’s just a huge mix of hops explode on the palate. Just like with the aroma, after the smoke screen of hops clears, there is a malty backbone, which balances out this beer, but for me it’s very faint, cause the hops were just so damned strong. There is also a lingering alcohol taste and burn showing off it’s 10.8% ABV.
The body is a good medium, near heavy thickness with good carbonation. The mouthfeel is a bit chewy with a nice bitterness at the end. The alcohol definitely makes it’s presence known as well at the end of the drink.
Overall, I was very blown away by this beer. This monstrosity of a hop heavy beast definitely wrecked my palate. It was hard to drink another beer after. I had to wait a good while to begin drinking again. This beer is made for people who know good craft beer, as this is not an introductory IPA. Fans of the normal beers will most likely cringe after a baby sip of this stuff. Drink this at your own risk. You have been warned!
Metal Connection: “A Stage Dive into a Mosh Pit of Hops” is their slogan on the bottle, so I wanted to pair this beer with one of the songs I know of that will entice a room full of coma patients to wake up and mosh. For those of you not into Death Metal, or for those living under a rock for the past 25 years, let me introduce you to SUFFOCATION!!!! Funeral Inception is the opening track from their 1998 EP release called Despise the Sun, and it’s the first recording to feature the mad man, Dave Culross behind the drum kit for Suffocation. He brought such a new life to their sound, especially on this song. Right at 42 seconds into the song, stand up, crank up the speakers, move all small children and animals that might be around you, and just jam the fuck out!!!! While this beer is moshing with your nose, palate, liver, and brain, your body will be moshing around your room like a maniac.
Beer Metal Media 