Stone Brewing Goes Next Level with Xocoveza by Introducing Tres Leches Variant

Posted on by mashingin

Stone Brewing (Escondido, California) has officially announced that it will begin the Special Release of Stone Xocoveza Tres Leches on October 18, 2021.

Inspired by Steve Gonzalez’s, Stone Brewer, “Grandmother’s Tres Leches family recipe,” Stone Xocoveza Tres Leches is an Imperial Stout that begins with all the goodness you expect from Xocoveza‘s “spices, chocolate, coffee, and vanilla; however, this year it’s taken to a new level (hard to believe you could take this beer to another level!) with more lactose and the addition of flaked rice and oats resulting in a very smooth, creamy, and decadent experience.” Coming in at 8.5% ABV, Stone Xocoveza Tres Leches is “incredible on its own but is also very food friendly and begs to be paired with an array of desserts and other flavorful sensations.”

“I fell in love with Stone Xocoveza the first time I tried it many years ago,” said Stone co-founder Greg Koch. “I, like so many, look forward to the release each year. As much as I was hesitant to mess with such a hallowed beer, I do believe that this new recipe is my very favorite version we’ve ever produced, and I will be squirreling away more than my fair share to enjoy throughout the next year plus. Fair? Perhaps not. Too bad!” laughed Koch with a mischievous Grinch like grin.

Stone Xocoveza Tres Leches is rolling out now and will hang around as long as supplies last during the 2021 Holiday Season. You can expect to find this Special Release available in 6-packs of 12 oz. cans, 22 oz. bottles and on draft at select craft beer-focused establishments located in Alabama, Florida, California, Virginia and throughout the rest of Stone Brewing’s nationwide distribution network. Prost!

Vital Information for Stone Xocoveza Tres Leches from Stone Brewing

Release – Special Release; October 18, 2021
Style – Imperial Stout
ABV – 8.5%
IBUs – 40
Added Ingredients – Chocolate, coffee, pasilla peppers, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, rice & oats
Suggested Pairings – “Prosciutto-Wrapped Figs, Black Bean Chili, Birria tacos and Chicken Mole all pair beautifully with Stone Xocoveza Tres Leches. Then for the ultimate indulgence, there’s Flourless Chocolate Cake, Salted Caramel Brownies or… Tres Leches Cake.”
Availability – 6-packs of 12 oz. cans, 22 oz. bottles & draft
Beer Finder – https://find.stonebrewing.com/#ready

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Stone Brewing’s New-Look Xocoveza Returns for Seasonal Release

Posted on by mashingin

Stone Brewing (Escondido, California) has officially announced that it will begin the Seasonal Release of its fan-favorite Stone Xocoveza, an Imperial Mocha Stout inspired by Oaxacan Hot Chocolate, in late September/early October 2020.

First introduced in 2014 as a special collaboration project and now annually released with the “same divine recipe” packed with only the highest quality ingredients, Stone Xocoveza is an Imperial Stout featuring coffee from Ritual Coffee, cocoa from Belyzium Craft Chocolate, peppers, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and lactose. Coming in at a comforting and sip-worthy 8.1% ABV, Stone Xocoveza is back to help you “embrace . . . shorter days and longer nights.”

“We trialed some new coffees from a few suppliers for this year’s Stone Xocoveza,” explained Steve Gonzalez, Stone Senior Manager of Brewing & Innovation – Small Batch. “The clear standout was Sítio Cafe Forte, a Brazilian coffee roasted by Ritual. The chocolate notes of the beans piqued our interest, and when we pilot brewed the beer with this coffee, the results really blew us away. Ritual is a company that has a well-deserved reputation not only for quality, but also sustainable sourcing and a commitment to diversity.”

Stone Xocoveza is available now in California and full distribution is scheduled to begin on October 5. You can expect to find this Seasonal Release available in 6-packs of 12 oz. cans, 22 oz. bottles – cans and bottles will both be adorned with newly redesigned label artwork – and on draft at select craft beer-focused establishments located in Alabama, Florida, California, Virginia and throughout the rest of Stone Brewing’s nationwide distribution network. Prost!

Vital Information for Stone Xocoveza from Stone Brewing

Release – Seasonal/Special Release; returning late September/early October 2020
Style – Imperial Stout
ABV – 8.1%
IBUs – 50
Added Ingredients – Coffee from Ritual Coffee, cocoa from Belyzium Craft Chocolate, peppers, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg & lactose
Fun Fact – On the coffee chosen for the 2020 batch of Stone Xocoveza: “High quality ingredients are the key to the nuanced flavors of Stone Xocoveza. This year, Stone proudly partnered with Ritual Coffee, a fully independent, woman-owned roasting company. Ritual is known for its seasonally fresh, single-origin coffees purchased directly from farmers and producers. In the same way that Stone defined the West Coast Style IPA, Ritual pioneered coffee’s West Coast Style of light roasting that pushes the boundaries of what coffee can be. Sound familiar? This relationship is intentional and nothing short of perfect.”
Availability – 6-packs of 12 oz. cans, 22 oz. bottles & draft
Beer Finder – https://find.stonebrewing.com/#ready

Stone Brewing Gets Festive with Return of Mexican Hot Chocolate Inspired Xocoveza

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2019_Xocoveza_12ozCanMockStone Brewing (Escondido, California) has announced that Stone Xocoveza, an Imperial Stout inspired by Mexican hot chocolate, has officially returned for the 2019 Holiday Season.

First introduced back in 2014 as “a limited special collaboration release with San Diego homebrewer Chris Banker (after his recipe won [Stone Brewing’s] annual homebrew competition) and Cerveceria Insurgente,” Stone Xocoveza is an Imperial Stout that creates a Mexican hot chocolate experience with the use of “coffee, pasilla peppers, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and a generous amount of chocolate.”  Coming in at a comforting 8.1% ABV, Stone Xocoveza “makes a perfect wintry gift from you to your friends, loved ones, or simply to yourself.”

Stone Xocoveza started rolling out at the end of September and is scheduled to hang around through the Holidays and the entire 2019 winter season. You can expect to find this Special Release available in 6-packs of 12 oz. cans, 22 oz. bottles and on draft at select craft beer-focused establishments located in Alabama, Florida, California, Virginia and throughout the rest of Stone Brewing’s nationwide distribution network.  Prost!

Vital Information for Stone Xocoveza from Stone Brewing 

Release – Limited/Special; late September through Winter 2019
Style – Imperial Stout
ABV – 8.1%
IBUs – 50
Featured Hops – English Challenger & East Kent Golding
Added Ingredients – Cocoa, coffee, peppers, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg & lactose
Availability – 6-packs of 12 oz. cans, 22 oz. bottles & draft
Beer Finder – https://find.stonebrewing.com/#ready

Stone Brewing Vows to Go Hop Heavy in 2018

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Stone2018Stone Brewing (Escondido, California) recently unveiled its 2018 Beer Release Calendar and it boasts a serious amount of hop goodness from its newly-established Trinity of Hoppiness, a new Seasonal IPA series, and a few robust Stouts thrown in for good measure.

Just as we always do when it comes to beer calendars around here, we have posted Stone Brewing’s full 2018 Beer Release Calendar below for you to take in at your own leisure.  That said, there is a diagram and a handful of new releases that we should probably provide some clarity on before turning you loose.  We do intend to be brief, so let’s knock it out:

  • Devoted to innovation and their well-known obsession with hops, the folks at Stone Brewing are rolling out the Trinity of Hoppiness in 2018 (diagram available below).  This handy-dandy piece of reference material breaks down the brewery’s full line of hop-laden Year-Round releases and its occasionally released Stone Enjoy By IPA into the following three categories: Tropical & Juicy, Dank & Piney, and Citrusy & Floral.  The Trinity of Hoppiness basically acts as your road map to whatever hop experience you may be seeking on any given day.
    StoneTrinity
  • Stone Scorpion Bowl IPA will debut in March as the brewery’s newest Year-Round release.  Perched at the peak of “Tropical & Juicy” on the Trinity of Hoppiness, Stone Scorpion Bowl IPA “masters the fruity appeal . . .  of fruit-dominated beers . . . with absolutely no fruit additions. This juicy delight is brewed with heroic hop know-how.”  Once released, this offering will be available in 22 oz. bottles & on draft.
  • 2018 will also see the introduction of the new Stone Hop Worship IPA Seasonal Series, “three distinctive beers extolling the divine qualities of hops [to] consecrate Stone’s devotion to freshness.”  The series will include Stone Exalted IPA (February – June), Stone Righteous IPA (June – October), and Stone Sanctimonious IPA (October – December).  These beers will be available in 6-packs of 12 oz. cans & on draft.
  • Need more hops? Well, Stone Brewing has you covered because they will also be releasing three Double IPA Special Releases in 2018: Stone Loral & Dr. Rudi’s Inevitable Adventure Double IPA (February – June), Stone I’m Peach Double IPA (May – August), and Stone 22nd Anniversary Double IPA (August – November).
  • Fear not, malt lovers . . . there will also be a smattering of Special Release Stouts alternating between those DIPAs. Stone Totalitarian Imperial Russian Stout, a new Special Release featuring an updated hop bill “built on the backbone of the classic Stone Imperial Russian Stout recipe”, will be available from March through July.  That offering will be followed by Stone w00tstout (July – October) and Stone Xocoveza Mocha Stout (October – December).

  “We have a Brewing Innovation Team that has labored the last year in pursuit of the exceptional…and delivered it, in sanguine, liquid form,” said Dominic Engels, Stone Brewing CEO. “These incredible new beers, alongside a series of fan favorites allow us to unveil uniquely Stone beers with every release in 2018. True to our roots, the IPAs we’re releasing this year are clearly the work of an evangelical hop worshiping crew. Amen.”

Alright . . . our job should be done here, but there is still plenty to discover on the calendar below.  Check it out and get ready for a ridiculously hoppy year with Stone Brewing in 2018.  Prost!

Stone2018calendar

Stone Brewing Welcomes Xocoveza Back for the Holidays

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70_stone_social_171003Stone Brewing (Escondido, California) recently announced that their fan-favorite Stone Xocoveza, a Mexican hot chocolate-inspired Imperial Stout, has officially returned for a limited run during the holiday season.

To ensure that only the finest, “expertly sourced, high-quality cacao” makes its way into Stone Xocoveza – a beer that is widely known as “one of the country’s best-selling holiday spiced stouts”, the brewers at Stone Brewing take a “bean to beer” approach.  This process begins by sourcing the cacao directly from Belize, and then those “raw cacao beans are sorted, roasted, de-hulled and ground into chocolate all by hand at Stone Brewing under the tutelage of Belyzium brand cacao grower and chocolate maker Andrei Shibkov.”  These efforts result in a gorgeous cocoa flavor that works beautifully alongside Xocoveza’s
“strong malt bill” and added notes of cinnamon, coffee, pasilla peppers, vanilla and nutmeg.  Stone Xocoveza (8.1% ABV) can either be enjoyed fresh or it can be cellared for “months or even years [to] allow the malt character to evolve, making the cocoa and coffee flavors more prevalent.”

“Stone Xocoveza continues to rally our fans into the holiday spirit, but it stands for even more than that here at Stone,” said Greg Koch, Stone Brewing executive chairman & co-founder. “This extraordinary beer dates back to our annual American Homebrewers Association competition of 2014 in which Chris Banker’s original recipe was selected as the winner and first brewed on a national scale. Its powerful flavor profile, innovative recipe and the way in which it lends itself to the use of such high-quality ingredients, make this a winner for us still today.”

Stone Xocoveza is out now and will be available through the 2017 holiday season.  You can find this Seasonal release available in 6-packs of 12 oz. bottles and on draft at craft beer establishments located in Alabama, Florida, California, Virginia and throughout the rest of Stone Brewing’s nationwide distribution footprint.  Prost!

Vital Information for Stone Xocoveza from Stone Brewing

Release – Seasonal, 2017 Holiday Season
Style – American Imperial Stout
ABV – 8.1%
IBUs – 50
Featured Hops – German Perle & English East Kent Golding 
Added Ingredients – Cocoa, coffee, pasilla peppers, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg & milk sugar
Availability – 6-packs of 12 oz. bottles & draft
Beer Finder – https://find.stonebrewing.com/#ready
Fun Fact – To tell the story of the intensive process required to craft Xocoveza each year, Stone Brewing recently released a short-form documentary called ‘Bean to Beer: A Cacao Story.’  Check it out below:

Stone Brewing Coffee Milk Stout and Xocoveza Make Seasonal Return

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coffeemilkstout_12ozwebStone Brewing Co. (Escondido, California) has clearly embraced the changes in temperature this month by releasing two seasonal Stouts, Stone Coffee Milk Stout and Stone Xocoveza Winter Spiced Mocha Stout.

Stone Coffee Milk Stout is an English-style Milk Stout that “is making coffee drinkers rethink their coffeehouse cold-brew ritual.”  To ensure only the freshest ingredients are used in the creation of this beer, batches of Stone Coffee Milk Stout produced on the West Coast use coffee beans sourced from San Diego’s Ryan Bros. Coffee while batches brewed at Stone Brewing’s new Virginia brewery rock beans from Richmond’s Lamplighter Coffee Roasters.  This mild, smooth and easy-drinking Stout has a “slight bitterness of the slow-roasted coffee . . . balanced out brilliantly by milk sugar for a touch of sweetness and creaminess.”

“This beer is very smooth and well balanced, and we love using coffee from our friends over at Ryan Bros. and Lamplighter,” explained Jeremy Moynier, senior innovation program manager. “The combination of bitter coffee and sweet flavors with the smoothness of this beers works well with a diverse selection of food.”

xoco12oz_bottle_webReturning for its third year, Stone Xocoveza quickly ascended to fan-favorite status the moment it first hit shelves and taps.  There is absolutely no mystery as to why when you consider that this Winter-spiced Mocha Stout is boasting aromatics and flavors of fine chocolate, Mostra coffee, pasilla peppers, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and milk sugar to create “a harmoniously balanced beer strikingly reminiscent of Mexican hot chocolate.”  To get those chocolate notes absolutely on point, the folks at Stone Brewing tracked down the perfect cocoa beans in Belize.  The beans were then roasted and processed into chocolate bars created exclusively for use during the brewing of Stone Xocoveza.  With each sip taken, you will find that a ridiculous amount of attention to detail was employed in the creation of this Stout.

“The quality of our house-made chocolate is out of this world, making this year’s Stone Xocoveza more rich and festive than ever,” said Moynier. “I love the warm aromas and flavors of cinnamon, nutmeg and pasilla peppers, and they’re complemented perfectly with the strong malt bill and German Perle and English East Kent Golding hops.”

Stone Coffee Milk Stout and Stone Xocoveza are both available now as seasonal releases.  Look for these offerings on draft and in 6-packs of 12 oz. bottles at craft beer friendly establishments in Alabama, Florida, and throughout Stone Brewing’s national distribution footprint.  The cold weather is coming . . . you might as well drink like it by picking up a sixer of each of these delicious Stouts.  Prost!

Vital Information on Stone Coffee Milk Stout from Stone Brewing Company

Release – Seasonal, beginning October 3
Style – English-style Milk Stout
ABV – 5%
IBUs – 40
Hops – Magnum
Availability – 6-packs of 12 oz. bottles and draft
Distribution – AL, FL, AK, AR, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, DE, GA, HI, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MT, NC, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, OR, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, UT, VA, VT, WA, WI and Puerto Rico

Vital Information for Stone Xocoveza from Stone Brewing Co.

Release – Seasonal, beginning October 3
Style – American Stout
ABV – 8.1%
IBUs – 50
Hops – German Perle & English East Kent Golding
Availability – 6-packs of 12 oz. bottles and draft
Distribution – AL, FL, AK, AR, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, DE, GA, HI, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MT, NC, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, OR, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, UT, VA, VT, WA, WI and Puerto Rico