Stone Ripper - Stone Brewing Co. - 92 Rating

BC: What’s your favorite aspect of this beer (flavor, aroma, etc.)?
I love the interplay of the malt along with the tropical, citrus, and resin qualities from the hops. It’s a lighter style, hoppy Pale (“San Diego Pale Ale”). It’s EXTREMELY crushable.

BC: Where does this beer’s name come from?
Ripper is Australian surf slang for something that’s really great. Since we incorporated Australian and West Coast hops, we decided to make this beer a tribute to the prominent surf cultures of both coasts.

BC: Can you describe this beer in 10 words or less?
Upfront hops with a nice malt base and it’s crushable.

BC: Do you know a story – or have a personal story – that revolves around this beer?
We had been looking for an excuse to feature Cascade in a beer (we traditionally didn’t use this hop a lot but in the last few years started playing with it more and more). At the same time, we love Galaxy and wanted to incorporate it into another beer as well. We were calling Galaxy the “Cascade” of Australia, meaning it’s a go-to hop found in a lot of great beers, so we loved the idea of using these two together. Kris Ketcham, senior manager of brewing & innovation - Liberty Station had done the prototype in his Buoy 1 pale ale series and we loved the combination.

BC: What's a good food pairing for this beer?
I recently did a beer dinner where Stone Ripper was paired with Thai beef jerky: the beer became even more refreshing and the fruit really came out. It was awesome.