ESCONDIDO, Calif. – Stone Brewing announces what admittedly adds up to not a whole helluva lot. Amidst endless collaborations and steadfast innovation, Stone shares not all that much news about the ever-popular 2017 release, Stone Tangerine Express Hazy IPA. The tropical IPA is available year-round (still), packed with whole tangerine and pineapple (still), and kinda lightly murky (still). It does, however, feature flashy new packaging and an updated name, prompting some somewhat-needed clarifications about this popular beer.
For those fans set a-kilter or confused by a certain four-letter word now seen on packaging, it is intended simply to make an honest point (as four-letter words often do). This beer has always been H-A-Z-Y, thanks in part to the whole fruit used in each batch. With its new name, “Stone Tangerine Express Hazy IPA” the company offers a better understanding of the beer inside. No actual changes have been made to accomplish this change, other than the addition of the word.
“We’ve been working really hard on Stone Tangerine Express Hazy IPA making it exactly the same as it was before,” explained Jeremy Moynier, Stone Brewing Senior Manager of Brewing & Innovation. “Our brewers have been painstakingly following the recipe with precision. Taste panel after taste panel, we continue our quest to change absolutely nothing about it. We’re confident that this not-new iteration is everything our fans have been looking for, mostly because they tell us they love it and look for it.”
To wit, Stone Tangerine Express Hazy IPA is one of Stone’s most highly demanded and widely available beers, with the third highest number of retail placements just behind Stone IPA and Stone Delicious IPA. It also ranked third highest in volume of all Stone’s core beers.
Rather than write up a new description for the beer, we’ll instead unabashedly quote ourselves from a prior press release:
Stone Tangerine Express Hazy IPA pours light golden in color with an aroma that’s bright, juicy and tropical. Stone’s brewers used whole tangerine puree to capture the essence of the bright flavors of the fruit with the addition of whole pineapple for a subtle, yet lingering tropical backnote. Neither the hops nor the fruit dominate, yet together they create several complex fruit layers, which can only be achieved by brewing with the entire fruit. Eight different hops give this beer its marked dankness overtones and refreshing bitterness.
Sounds as good as ever, doesn’t it?
QUICK FACTS
New Name: Stone Tangerine Express Hazy IPA
Stats: 6.7% ABV, 75 IBUs
Packaging: Now available nationwide in flashy new packaging including 22oz bottles, 12oz six-pack cans and draft
Web: Stonebrewing.com/tangerineexpress
Find Beer:Find.stonebrewing.com
TASTING NOTES
Appearance: Light golden with slight haze.
Aroma: Bright, fresh fruit aromas of pineapple, tangerine, and tangelo combine with citrus and tropical aromas from the hops.
Taste: An explosion of fresh fruit and bright hops join together to create several complex fruit layers. Taste is both fruity and hoppy leading to a long finish.
Palate: Crisp, clean, and refreshingly bitter. There is a pithy quality similar to biting into fresh fruit along with the back-end bitterness one would expect from a Stone Brewing IPA.
Overall: Working with fruit can be amazing and using good quality fruit is key to achieving that wonderful freshness and avoiding artificial flavorings. The high-end pureed fruit used here blends exceptionally well with the aroma and flavors from the hops creating a multi-layered IPA that also has the dankness and bitterness that superbly rounds out this beer. ABOUT STONE BREWING Founded by Greg Koch and Steve Wagner in 1996, the groundbreaking San Diego-based Stone Brewing is the 9th largest craft brewer in the United States. Recognized as an award-winning industry leader, Stone has been called the “All-time Top Brewery on Planet Earth” by BeerAdvocate magazine twice. The company operates breweries in Escondido, CA and Richmond, VA, plus nine tap room and bistro locations throughout the US and the nation’s largest craft-centric beer distributor, Stone Distributing Co. Stone’s bold, flavorful and largely hop-centric beers are available in all 50 states and more than 40 countries worldwide. For more information on Stone Brewing and its commitment to independence, sustainability, philanthropy and the art of brewing, visit stonebrewing.com or the company’s social media sites: Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
