Stone 17th Anniversary Götterdämmerung IPA

October 30th, 2013 by Scott in Other Beer Reviews

Stone tends to make bitter beers. Götterdämmerung IPA is no exception, and especially as an anniversary beer it should be expected.

Sometimes, however, Stone seems to brew the same beer and put it in a different bottle. I recently had their R&R Coconut IPA and there was absolutely no coconut taste in it. I even had it twice; once on draft and once in a bottle. No coconut to speak of either time. It was quite disappointing and a friend and I agreed that it tasted like regular Stone IPA. I was very disappointed.

This 17th Anniversary IPA, however, is a different sort. It uses German malts and experimental hops to create a 9.5% ABV double IPA. There are many words on the back of the bottle to serve as a year in review of sorts for Stone.

The term Götterdämmerung is the title of an opera by Richard Wagner; it means “twilight of the gods”. The opera is about a war between the earth and the gods based on Norse mythology. As far as I can tell, the opera is about four hours long; however, if you’d like a taste, here’s a video of the Immolation scene.

Götterdämmerung (the beer) is a hazy golden in color with a rapidly diminishing small white head. A little bit of pine and a bit of citrus scent. Lemon up front, mingling with some grapefruit and a good amount of pine. Bitterness lingers on the tongue for quite a bit, but it’s never ridiculously bitter.

Is this what Pine-Sol tastes like? I’ve never had Pine-Sol, but if it is, it tastes pretty good. (Please don’t go drink Pine-Sol) It’s also quite a bit better than last year’s 16th Anniversary IPA. Try some of this and stay away from the Coconut IPA.