Stone Brewing Co. Ruination IPA
Stone Ruination IPA was the first beer that really grabbed my attention and wouldn’t let go. It was about three years ago and up until that time I had been mostly interested in Trappist beers. I think it was the concept of monks brewing beer that really caught my interest at that point. There’s just something that you can trust in that concept, as though monks wouldn’t produce a mediocre beer. So all Trappist beers must be good, right?
But when I first tasted Stone Ruination IPA I was just blown away. Never mind the complexity of the beer, I’d tasted other complex beers. Or the depth of the beer’s flavors, I’d had plenty flavorful beers before that.
No, it was the audacity. The brazenness. The sheer attitude of the beer that really wowed me. Here was a beer that leapt out of the glass, kicked you in the face, and strongly suggested that you go drink another beer.
I’m honestly not simply parroting Stone’s advertising surrounding their beers (the company uses the motto “Are you worthy?” for their Arrogant Bastard Ale). This is my honest-to-goodness perception of the beer. This isn’t an inviting beer that welcomes novice IPA drinkers. And heaven forbid you don’t like IPAs to begin with, you don’t stand a chance with this beer.
Since that first glass of Ruination IPA I’ve tasted a number of beers, many in their own way as intense or more so than Ruination. But this beer entirely changed my perception of beer and the heights that it could scale. Here was a beer that was intensely hoppy, that packed layers of flavor into the glass, and that truly woke your taste buds up when you took your first sip.
Today, I still think this beer is pretty amazing, even if it is now one of many beers that I think are really fabulous. It is brewed to 7.7% alcohol and 100+ IBUs. Centennial and Columbus hops are used during the brewing of the beer, and it is dry-hopped with Centennial. Stone, founded in 1996, uses hops aggressively throughout their lineup of beers, and is certainly one of the breweries that has continuously pushed the envelope for hoppy beers, and powerful beers in general. Their series of Vertical Epics and anniversary beers are notoriously outstanding, overwhelmingly hoppy and strong beers that quickly become sought after items. Ruination IPA, along with their Arrogant Bastard, is one of their real flagship beers at this point. One that you can find on draft with increasing frequency and which is consistently a great beer.
The Ruination pours a hazy orange-yellow with a creamy head that quickly dissipates leaving serious lacing on the sides of the glass. The nose has a mellow malt undertone and a slight note of baking bread but is otherwise dominated by hops: pine, resin, spices, and a hint of citrus. The palate first strikes with sweet, citrus hops that quickly give way to spicy and strongly bitter hop flavors. Hop resins kick in coating your palate. A distinct malt sweetness underlies all of the hop flavors and becomes more prominent at the back end of the palate, providing a strong backbone. The beer finishes with significant bitterness overlaid with malt sweetness and hop spiciness.
There are two particularly notable elements about this beer. The first is that it is distinctly unbalanced. Hops dominate throughout and really abuse your palate. There is malt sweetness that has more than just a token presence, but the hops dominate center stage. The second element is that the hop flavors skew towards the resin, pine, spicy variety. This can be very good, but there is only the slightest hint of citrus hop flavors. So your impression of this beer, if hops are your thing, will be mediated to some extent by your preferred hop flavors.
But take these two asides with a grain of salt. Ruination remains a great beer that unabashedly is what it is. And it is one of the flagship offerings (along with Arrogant Bastard) in Stone’s lineup of reliably impressive offerings. And if you like the Ruination, you may be ready to move on to some of their other, equally audacious beers.
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