Stone Total Tap Takeover Tour

40 taps of stone.

I caught word on twitter about this event at alewife (a new bar in baltimore) that Stone and its owner Greg Koch were coming into town with 40 of their beers to offer on tap.  I’ve never really had a lot of Stone since it’s not the most common thing to find on draft in this area, but Aaron and I headed out to take in the experience.  And what an experience it was…

I started the night with the beer I’d been hearing about on twitter from those fortunate enough to be able to sneak out of work at 3pm: #5, the Stone 07.07.07 Vertical Epic Ale aged in red wine.  It really kicked the night off right, the nose was amazing, full-bodied, complex and a perfect introduction to both Stone and Alewife.

My other samples from the night included:

2. DDH Stone 14th Anniversary Emperial IPA (this one smelled like BO, and I never really got over it.)
3. Stone Imperial Russian Stout Aged in Bourbon Barrels
4. Stone IRS 10th Anniversary GK’s MadMan Mix
5. 21st Amendment/Firestone Walker/Stone/El Camino [un]Real Black Ale
6. Double Bastard Ale Aged in Brandy Barrels [2006]
7. DDH Stone IPA (at the recommendation of the couple sitting next to us.)
8. Stone Old Guardian Barley Wine aged in wine barrels [2009]
9. Stone Smoked Porter w. Vanilla Beans
10.  Stone Old Guardian Barley Wine aged in Bourbon Barrels [2006]
11. Ballast Point/Kelsey McNair/Stone San Diego County Session Ale
12. Stone 12th Anniversary Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout

The whole event was set up extraordinarily effectively- you bought tokens at the door and exchanged them for 4 or 5 oz samples.  The beer list was numbered so getting what you wanted was as easy as holding up a few fingers or trying to shout a number over the roar of the crowd.  There were copious bar tenders and I never waited longer than a minute or two for a beer.

We’ll be back to alewife (especially if they’ll be showing Flyers games.) and I’m looking forward to seeing more of Stone in the future.