From the Beer Writer: The writer in me who loves the intricacies of our language, gets an almost unrivaled kick out of wordplay. Applying it in the brewing industry, where hop puns and such run rampant, is a lot of fun. Often, it’s marketing personnel who come up with these clever gems (or poxes on liquor-store shelves depending on one’s opinions on such things), but back during my days at Stone, former brewmaster Mitch Steele employed a beer-name that not only referenced the company, but yielded an inventive recipe as well. Steele suggested combining Citra hops and local avocado honey in a double India pale ale, then calling that beer “Citracado” IPA as a nod to the street that’s home to Stone’s Escondido brewery and packaging hall. We all loved the idea immediately and there were plans for it to serve as Stone’s anniversary ale at least once, but it took nearly three years to come to fruition. In the end, it’s rather fitting that this beer serve as liquid commemoration of two decades in the brewing business. Stone 20th Anniversary Citracado IPA embodies the brewery’s hop-forward, often high-alcohol (9% alcohol-by-volume, in this case) style while incorporating an authentically “Escondidian” ingredient. Citrus flavors come on strong but are balanced nicely by a sturdy malt backbone that tastes more and more of that sweet, earthy bee nectar the more the beer warms up.
From the Brewer: “The recipe for Stone 20th Anniversary Citracado IPA has been alive for about three years. I came up with the idea as we were brewing the Suede Imperial Porter with Tonya Cornett from 10 Barrel Brewing and Megan Parisi, who at the time was with Bluejacket in Washington, DC (she is now a research brewer for The Boston Beer Company). In that collaboration beer, we used jasmine and calendula flowers as well as avocado honey. I had bought some avocado honey a few months earlier at a farmer’s market, and found that it was so delicious, rich and fully flavored that I thought it would be perfect in a beer. Plus, I thought it would pair really well with jasmine flowers. During the brew day for Suede, we tasted the honey and I immediately realized it would be great to also use it for an IPA recipe. That’s when I had the ‘a-ha’ moment: If we used Citra as the primary hop, we could then call it Citracado IPA and really have something cool that provided a nice tie-in to the address of Stone’s Escondido brewery–1999 Citracado Parkway. Unfortunately, we never had enough Citra hops contracted to use it for a Stone Anniversary Ale, as the success of Stone Go To IPA and Stone Enjoy By IPA set us back a few years. This year, we finally had enough Citra hops to pull it off. It also turned out to be one of the last beers I formulated at Stone, and I am really excited about it!”–Mitch Steele, former Brewmaster, Stone Brewing
