(Escondido, CA) – Stone Brewing Company turns sweet sixteen this year and, as in years past, the brewery is marking the occasion with a one-off beer.

Once again, Stone is going big on both alcohol and hops with the 16th Anniversary Ale, it being a Double IPA weighing in at close to 10% ABV. The beer will be released beginning on August 13th in 22 oz. bottles and on draft, just in time for the company’s anniversary party the following weekend.

More details on the beer below.

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We’ve been loving creating Collaboration beers with great creative brewers from all over the world these last several years — unique beers that would never have existed without the free-flowing imagination and idea generation of the collaborative process. However, when it comes to Stone Anniversary Ales, it’s all us. Yet, it is indeed still a collaboration with great creative brewers (if we do say so ourselves). We’re talking about our own brewing team, of course. And while some of our beers, anniversary and otherwise, have been designed by a single person, the Stone 16th Anniversary IPA was definitely a team effort.

This year, our brewing team was inspired by some exotic-ish additions of lemony persuasion. Yes, it’s a Double IPA (can you really say you’re surprised/), but as we strive to do with all our Stone Anniversary Ales of the let’s-take-this-IPA-in-a-new-direction variety, we’ve brewed up a Stone-worthy divergence from tradition. The amount of rye malt we used isn’t quite enough to warrant the apellation “Rye IPA,” but it still adds hints of spiciness that contrast deliciously with the tropical fruit flavors and aromas of the Amarillo and Calypso hops. Add a few European specialty malts, some lemon verbena, and three more hop varieties to the mix, and you have a highly complex brew melding both bitter and fruity hop notes with rich toasted malt character punctuated by nuances of spicy rye and subtle lemon.