(Updated) Local Roots Puts On Draft Stone’s (Stochasticity Project) Grapefruit Slam IPA

***Updated Monday 3/24. Well, that was fast! Over the weekend, Local Roots ran through the entire keg of this delicious beer. I decided to leave the post up for the time being because also over the weekend, I noticed bottles were still available at local stores in Roanoke. So if you weren’t able to come by Local Roots to try Grapefruit Slam on draft, I spotted bottles still available at Roanoke’s Wine Gourmet, and I believe they are still available for sale at Blue 5 Restaurant in downtown Roanoke.***

Any serious craft beer fan would be quick to point out that Stone Brewing does indeed make beers representative of other styles than just IPAs. And of course, that would be true, and they are excellent – Stone’s Imperial Russian Stout, Smoked Porter, Lukcy Basartd, Old Guardian Barleywine, and the iconoclastic Arrogant Bastard ale all come to mind. But you’d be hard pressed to find a fan that in the next breath didn’t at least somewhat agree that Stone is ground zero for some of the most highly regarded IPAs in the business. If you tick off only the most well known in the brewery’s repertoire – Stone IPA, Ruination, RuinTen, the Enjoy By series – it’s enough to make the point. Their association not only with the style but with producing some of the best examples of it out there is so agreed upon that when rumor of a new Stone IPA release begins to circulate among craft beer forums on the internet, the comments often begin somewhere along the lines of a slightly tired sounding “ok…it’s yet another IPA from Stone”, yet said always with an implied grin, as the very next comment goes something like “and…since it’s from Stone, of course I’ll be trying it!”.

One of the latest such releases is a side project IPA called (Stochasticity Project) Grapefruit Slam. The thought seemed simple (but delicious) enough – back up the much loved citrus like aromas and flavors which certain hops can bring to many an IPA by including “an immense dosing of fresh grapefruit peel” in the beer. The result was a pale amber colored, clean tasting, drying, mouth puckering experience unlike many of the brewery’s other IPA releases. Set apart by featuring a little less of a malty (sweet) body and balancing flavor than some of Stone’s other IPAs, Grapefruit Slam reminds you of its concept through every sip, which tastes like someone painstakingly wrung out whatever liquid could be rendered from a massive amount of grapefruit zest and peel right into your glass.

The release, like many other one off projects from Stone, was a limited one, and bottles weren’t necessarily easy to come by here in Roanoke. So in case you missed grabbing one, or perhaps didn’t, and would like to taste what this next installment of tasty IPA from Stone is like on draft, Local Roots Restaurant has put it on tap in the last 24 hours. As with all Stone limited brews, chances are it won’t last long, so make your way down to get a taste of this delicious IPA from Stone Brewing – yes, another Stone IPA (grin implied).

**Roanoke craft beer fans – check out last week’s post about the possibility of Stone Brewing coming to our fair city, and if you haven’t yet, take a moment to check out and join the Facebook group “Stone Brewing Co: YES Roanoke Is Worthy“!