Stone Mojay IPA
Before we really get into the hazy details of this IPA, let’s first take a look at its official name — Corey Magers & Elizabeth Bakas / Burgeon Beer Company / Stone Mojay IPA. That’s quite the mouthful to be sure, but there’s a reason behind it. Each year, for the past decade, Stone Brewing has partnered with the American Homebrewers Association (AHA) for their annual competition. The winner(s) is awarded the opportunity to work with Stone in getting their recipe brewed and released within the company’s national market. Stone takes it a step further and brings in a smaller, regional brewery (in this case, Burgeon Beer Company) for greater exposure in the market, as well.
So after all that, is Mojay IPA any good?
Before we answer that, let’s learn a bit more about the beer itself. This IPA is touted as a blend of West Coast-style IPA and New England-style IPA. It’s got the visual haziness and amped fruit-forward traits from the east coast — thanks to flaked wheat and a glorious combination of Amarillo, Citra and Mosaic hops. The IPA has also got a more pronounced hop bitterness typical of its opposite coast brethren.
The culmination of those various beery aspects works wonderfully. As far as my personal tastes go, I like the mouthfeel and fruit flavors of the NE-style IPA, but often balk at them due to their lack of pungency and hop bite. Thankfully, at 70 IBU, Stone Mojay IPA doesn’t fall victim to low bitterness syndrome. It packs a pleasing, balanced presentation of tangerine, orange and light floral notes with a moderate hop dankness and welcome amount of bitterness.
A hazy IPA is nothing new. A fruit-forward IPA isn’t new. If you’ve been around long enough, you’ve experienced the bitter hop bombs of years past. And, finally, bringing them all together isn’t really all that new, either. But finding a good example of a beer that does it as well as Mojay IPA? Now, that’s something to get excited about. This is a happy and tasty marriage that I look forward to enjoying several times over before there aren’t any bottles of it left.
This is a review of a promotional sample.