The buzz stops here

I bought today's Stone beers some time before the announcement of the brewery's takeover by Japanese multinational Sapporo, which should make them taste better than otherwise.

The first is perhaps a little poignant: the ardently west-coast Stone was sometimes accused of having fallen into irrelevance by continuing brewing the sort of beer that made it famous two decades ago. Now, in a vain attempt at catch-up, there's Stone Hazy IPA. At 6.7% ABV it's a bit of a beast, and it looks quite dark and citrussy rather than fresh, pale and juicy. Perhaps their heart wasn't in it. Still, it's a Stone beer and that means quality. Here it's a bright and lively mandarin zing with a touch of orange hard candy. I guess that's their nod towards IPA being predominantly sweet over bitter, but there's still a pinch in here; a jolt of citrus rind right at the finish, helping keep it cleanly-flavoured. As such, it's very enjoyable. It's not the sort of soup that Haze True Believers want, but if Stone are going to bend to the market's childish whims, then doing it in this grown-up and precise way wins for me.

The next IPA is in a bigger can and even stronger at 7.5% ABV. It features as collaborator another brewery in the still-good-but-no-longer-fashionable boat, Deschutes. Honey is the special ingredient that gives it its name: Let's Bee Homies. The appearance includes some nasty looking gobbets floating about in the dark orange murky body. There's an interesting sweetness to the aroma which I'm guessing is the honey meeting the hops: somewhat floral with a little tropical lychee in the background. That tropical side is the main flavour feature, though there's a dash of lime in here as well, representing the west coast. I think I can just about taste the honey, but it's mild: present, though not assertive. I drank it within its one-year best-before but I think I missed the best of this. It tasted a little stale and lacking a zing which I suspect the recipe intended. As is, it's mostly a fairly average American IPA of the old school: amber coloured with a sweet toffee base to which intense hops have been added. While I doubt it's intended to be retro, it is enjoyable as such.

Poor old Stone, though. I'd like to think the new ownership will both allow the reliably good beers to keep coming and inject some new life into it. But that never actually happens, does it?