As someone who’s been rounding the corner into the sad sort of beer geekery where I cringe at the sight of unrefrigerated IPAs and bemoan the lack of clear bottling dates on bottles and other such pedantry, I have to say that the marketing that surrounds Stone’s Enjoy By series of beers is superb. What’s more, it’s actually relevant! They’re not resurrecting some foul ancient recipe and passing it off as something other than pure gimmickry, they’re actually harping on something appropriate here. I joke about my growing pedantry on the subject, but freshness is actually important.
For the uninitiated, Stone’s Enjoy By is a beer that is brewed not to last (oh shit, I just used a line directly from their marketing, I feel so unclean). Rather than etch a tiny little date on the bottle (that only pedants like myself would seek out), they slap the expiration date in big numbers right on the front of the bottle. In addition, the time window is extremely short – I believe it’s only 35 days from bottling. The idea is that once the date passes, that beer won’t be sold anymore. To do this, Stone appears to limit the size of the batches as well as the distribution area. By all accounts, this stuff sells out pretty quickly wherever it appears. However, they send new batches to a different area each time, so if you can’t get it now (or you missed out the first time around), you will probably get a chance soon enough (there’s a whole social media jamboree about how they choose the next market, but whatevers). My bottle was “Enjoy By 04.01.13”, a gift from a friend (thanks Danur!) procured in the great state of Delaware (we missed out on the Philly batch due to general apathy and laziness).
So I love the concept of this beer, and groupthink indicates that everyone loves this stuff. Alas, I was not quite as taken with it. A fine beer, to be sure, but perhaps it wasn’t fresh enough!
Stone Enjoy By 04.01.13 IPA – Pours a strikingly clear golden color with a finger of white head and plenty of lacing as I drink. Smells of pure hops, pine, lots of citrus, almost plasticky white grapes, a New Zealand hoppy feel – Nelson Sauvin, Motueka, and the like (Update: I was correct! Kinda! Those two hops are there, but also a crapton of other varieties, including some usual suspects and some more exotic stuff). Taste follows the nose and is almost purely driven by the hops. I would be surprised if there were any actual specialty grains used in this. It’s very sweet, but otherwise the actual flavor comes from that piney, fruity citrus plastic from the hops, and the bitterness in the finish manages to counteract that high sweetness factor. I keep describing this as plasticky, which probably sounds worse than it really is, though I don’t think it entirely works either. Mouthfeel is on the upper end of medium bodied, well carbonated but smooth enough. Overall, this is working out, I guess, but it’s not really blowing me away. Not exactly the glowing experience I was hoping for. B
Beer Nerd Details: 9.4% ABV bottled (22 oz bomber). Drank out of a tulip glass on 3/14/13.
Would perhaps try this again sometime if the opportunity presents itself, just to make sure I’m not crazy about the plasticky character I was picking up. Still love the concept, and the way they exclusively distribute to other areas of the country on a rotating basis.
I actually sort of hate the idea behind this beer. I mean, I get it, but all IPAs are going to be better fresher. The fact that Stone uses its size to force distributors to get this out quickly and bars to sell it immediately rubs me the wrong way. Something like Flower Power is much better fresh but you don’t see Ithaca forcing their will on to anyone. Maybe it’s just me, I dunno.
Interesting. I know Stone is big by craft beer standards, but I didn’t know they were big enough (overall) to throw that much weight around. Has this caused major disruption to their businesses? Obviously Stone had to work with their distributors and accounts on the logistics of the stuff (and it looks like their “beer finder” thingy for Enjoy By is extremely accurate because of that), but I didn’t get the impression that they “forcing their will” on people or something. Is Stone threatening to remove their flagship beers from distributers/bars if they don’t support Enjoy By? “If you don’t carry Enjoy By, complete with our ridiculous standards, then we won’t send you any more Arrogant Bastard or IPA or Ruination, etc…” If that’s happening, I’m totally with you on this being sucky.
Oh no, not that seriously. And no they aren’t that big in comparison. I just feel like the whole idea is silly. It’s nothing as serious as what you are suggesting. =)
Well that’s good. Stone may still be a bit pushy about it, and I guess it is a little silly – it is a sorta marketing gimmick, after all. But as marketing gimmicks go, it’s much better than “ancient ales” or “rocky mountain oyster beer” or that thing with yeast from that dude’s beard (and that’s before we get to the insanity of macro marketing stuff). Freshness is at least an important element of beer.