For some, arrogance is a sin. For Stone Brewing Company, it's a badge of honour and a business plan.

In 'The Craft Of Stone Brewing', Greg Koch and Steve Wagner serve up a book of three and a half halves. The ever-obligatory "what is beer" section is handled with typical Stone panache and offers some genuinely useful info on differing malts, hops and water salts. A potted history of how the brewery came to be is genuinely interesting, with the lowdown on the trials and tribulations of Arrogant Bastard's difficult birth and how their passion for 'signature' beers led them to similar heights at their World Bistro.

There's a rundown of Stone's regular, special and collaboration beers although it doesn't approach the detail given on their excellent website. And for the DIY enthusiasts, there are recipes for both homebrew versions for a range of Stone beers alongside some of the popular Bistro dishes, paired with and cooked with the beers themselves.

It has that indelible Greg Koch footprint all over it - arrogance and passion - yet allows a step back for others to fill in the shadows or offer a differing viewpoint. As a primer on all that is Stone Brewing, the book is educational. As an illustration of how forward-thinking the brewery is - particularly in comparison to the pale imitators we've seen mouthing off in the UK - it's invaluable.

The Craft Of Stone Brewing is published by Ten Speed Press. Many thanks to them for the review copy.

>

What I know about Amarillo; 14th largest city in Texas and one-time helium capital of the world, Neil Sedaka wrote about the way to it and Virgil Gamache Farms have the registered trademark for the hop variety.

So let's concentrate on the latter. Described as 'super Cascade', the hop has a high oil content and lends citric notes tending towards grapefruit / orange whilst having a high enough alpha acid content to allow a clean bittering touch. I've collected a few Amarillo-based beers from three different countries in the last few months, so a lazy Sunday seemed an ideal time for a side-by-side tasting.

Stone Levitation is a US amber ale dry-hopped with Amarillo. Most of the Stone brews I've sampled so far have had heavyweight ABVs; Levitation lands almost featherlight at 4.4%. The aroma's hard hitting, though, breakfast juice citrics riven with hop oil. Just a waft of spicy biscuits in there too. Steady carbonation leads to a soft mouthfeel and thick lacing. As the light chestnut body warms, those hops start to feel sticky in the mouth. I'd like to try a pint of it, just to see if I become inured to the hoppiness. And then try another pint. And then another....

Back over to Blighty for a CAMRA award-winner. Crouch Vale Amarillo is cold filtered in bottles to try and capture the fresh hop feel of the cask version. It certainly has a cleaner flavour than Levitation, almost perfumed in its complexity. There's subtle honey on a sweet edge frayed by fruit, some drying orange, preserved peach, perhaps even lychee? A thinner body with little carbonation, this still carries a reasonable biscuityness that segues into slight sweetness.

Ten days ago, I'd never tried a beer by Dutch brewers De Molen. Thanks to the RateBeer European Summer Gathering I've now tried several from the bottle and even one on cask (in Huddersfield. Yes, really). Their Amarillo is another one that's been dry-hopped but has none of the Levitation's harsh edges. Instead there was a pervading sweetness; beneath lay yeasty peaches with pine and grapefruits holding back a soft caramel maltwash. At 9.2% it was remarkable for the sheer pleasure with which it hid its ABV and concentrated on delivering solid flavours. I rarely come across a bottle of this weight that offers such easy drinking - I'm glad that such accessibility and sustained flavour has been a hallmark of all the De Molen beers that I've tried.

Three beers, one hop, no cheesy puns about the song lyrics. Amarillo is a great hop variety that allows brewers plenty of space for experimentation; I'll be looking out for more examples on my travels.

I bought all three bottles from Beers Of Europe; the Stone and De Molen are stocked in limited quantity, so I'd order quickly if you fancy trying them. >

Winter isn't the same without a massive stout to savour. The US microbrewing revolution seems to have been built on three styles: Belgian ales, hyper-hopped IPAs and super-strong stouts. So, before the decs comes down, let's try the impy that's at the top of the style tree on ratebeer - Stone Imperial Russian Stout.



This is a beer with a huge reputation. Loved by ratebeer raters, coveted by UK drinkers and now available in select outlets such as Beers Of Europe. But I've often wondered if there's more than a whiff of hype behind beers like this. A revered brewer, imposing beer style, bottles rarely imported, hard to obtain.... sometimes, these factors make average beers seem (in the eyes of some reviewers) slightly more special even when the aroma, flavour and palate don't really deliver.

And many of the American beers I've tried have been over-assertive. Even aggressive. More hops, more alcohol, more oak-barreling than is strictly necessary. So I was really hoping that Stone IRS would deliver the goods without feeling the need to turn everything up to eleven. My bottle was from Spring 2008 so there was every chance that it would pour feisty and have an alcohol-steaming feel.

Uncapped and let loose in the glass it poured pitch black, a rough laced dirty linen head eventually sheared into a spectral Rorschach blot. Certainly lots of liquorice spilling up to the nose, slashed with cracked leather and clodding earth. Coffeechoc is there and thank boggery for that - no uberhop, no sinus-streching alcohol.

And then.... smoooooothness. Part of me feels cheated- where's the blast? But the beer-sensible part of me is loving it; there's an elegance to the coffee & cigar feel, enough dryness to shave your alcohol-coated craw, berries tarry as bitterness cuts across the oleaginously enjoyable roastiness of it all.

This is impy stout restrained. And magnificent for being so.
>