Hello, steemit fellows! How are you?
I am a bit late for the beersaturday, because it’s already Sunday, but I have a bit more time to join this week’s competition. This week I headed towards the favorite beer shop to search for a very special Carolina Reaper IPA BY Rhombus craft brewery, but they didn’t have it yet. So... I found myself buying two IPAs. First - the Stone IPA, which is an iconic IPA, and the second one - the Pandora box IPA by Rhombus.
The first differences - the Stone comes in a can, while the Rhombus IPA is in a glass bottle. Both are 330 ml, and they were exactly the same price @ about $3.
I thought it would be a great opportunity to have them at the same time and compare them head2head. Excitement is the word, that described my feelings when opening the beers.
And here they are in the glasses:
The first big difference is already here - the color.
While the Stone is absolutely pale, the Rhombus has some amber nuances. This is sue to the some special malts, used by Rhombus brewery, while the Americans used only pale malts. Here is where they met my IPA standards. Only pale malts and a ton of hops. Well, hops were still going to be determined, but the first point was clearly on the Stone side.
So, let’s proceed to the aromas and tastes.
Stone! Definitely a lot of hops. American fruity and citrus varieties. A lot of pine aromas too. A beautiful bouquet of fruits and pine. Maybe the citruses are not very well pronounced. In the mouth, the aromas meet the taste. The bitterness is medium to high for an IPA. Generally, a very well balanced beer. That’s why I keep on buying this one.
And now... let’s check the Rhombus.
The aroma is absolutely citrussy, contrary to the Stone. But wow! A ton of citruses, a lot of fruitiness to accompany the initial fresh aroma. Very sweet and a bit caramel. The caramel definitely was not in my IPA aromas’ list, but it’s there. Well, another proof for the existence of special malts in the beer. In the mouth, the sweetness somehow completes the fruity and citrus flavors, but it really is not the classical IPA. At least in my thoughts. Anyway, the aroma and the taste were even stronger than the Stone’s, which I didn’t really expected. A great surprise from this Bulgarian brewery. Maybe the beer was a little bit fresher, which is crucial for the IPA, but... the facts are here. A lot more aroma. The bitterness, on the other side, was not very well pronounced, which again is a downside in the IPA’s point of view.
In conclusion, I may position them equal with similar score, but if we speak about the IPA as a real IPA, the Stone is the Iconic IPA. If it is at 9,5/10, the Rhombus would be about 9,0/10.
Cheers and happy #beersaturday.
All the photos are made with an iPhone XR, and almost no additional retouch.
See ya soon!