Not So Professional Homebrews Meet the Stone Brewing Tasting Panel

Randy Clemens (left) and Mitch Steele with my
Not So Professional Homebrews

Last year, I profiled the book The Craft of Stone Brewing: Liquid Lore, Epic Recipes, and Unabashed Arrogance. Around the same time, I made the switch from extract to all-grain brewing. Being a newbie, I had a few questions about the recipes, so I wrote to Randy Clemens, co-author and PR Manager at Stone Brewing Co.

Randy kindly answered my rookie questions and I brewed Stone Levitation Ale and Stone 12th Anniversary Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout. Both turned out well, so I contacted Randy to tell him about my brews. Randy mentioned if I send him a few bottles, he'd give them to Mitch Steele, Stone Brewmaster, to sample. What an offer! As a homebrewer, I have a lot to learn and I value feedback from experienced brewers. It doesn't get much better than getting feedback from the Brewmaster!

Anyway, a few weeks ago, my family took a impromptu week-long vacation to San Diego, so I made a visit to Stone Brewing in Escondido and hand delivered my homebrews to Mitch and Randy. Mitch served both of my brews to his tasting panel and here's his feedback:

"Sanjay: Your beers were excellent! We didn’t get any off-flavors at all.  The Levitation clone we thought was pretty close, perhaps a little fuller, and a little less bitter than ours, but a great tasting beer.

The 12th Anniversary BCOS was a fantastic brew. We’re not sure how ‘close' it was to ours, since it’s been 4 years since we’ve tasted a fresh one, but the cocoa and roast malt characters were definitely there."  — Mitch Steele

Wow!  That's great to hear. I enjoyed my brews, but it's really gratifying to get feedback like this!  Here are the detailed tasting notes from the Stone Tasting Panel:

Homebrew tasting notes: 6/4/12

	#9	#10
	Levitation Clone	Bitter Choc. Oatmeal Stout Clone
Bottle Inspection	-          Amber -          Hazy -          Tan/brown	-          Black
Aroma	-          Hoppy -          Grassy -          Tea – like -          Clean aroma -          No hop -          Floral -          Apple/ alcohol -          Light hops	-          Deep roast -          Cocoa, Kahlua -          Chocolate malt -          Esters: chocolate
Flavor and Mouthfeel	-          Hoppy -          Slightly grainy -          Slight tart -          Not as bitter -          Really close -          Not real hop bitterness -          yeasty	-          Cocoa -          Coffee -          Nice flavor -          A bit sweet -          Malty -          Boozy -          Malty chocolate -          Slick feel

Brewing and drinking these beers was a lot of fun. Having them sampled by Stone and getting feedback from the crew that makes the beer was an incredibly special treat!  A huge thanks to Randy, Mitch, and the Stone Tasting Panel for their time and feedback! This homebrewer can't wait to brew the 16 other recipes in the book!

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