Fear.Movie.Lions.

As the story goes, "there is a 3m x 3m square in our Richmond, VA brewery with these three words painted on it.  What three words?  Exactly.  For the uninitiated, that's What3Words." I guess I am one of the uninitiated. The story continues, "It is a global addressing system to bring locations to the previously unlocatable.  Inspired by the positive impact of this system, we decided to name this IPA after a 3 meter square in the brewery where it was created.  Check it out."  I did, and learned that you have to be very exact.  ///Fear.Movie.Lions. puts you in Montrose, Virginia, where Stone Brewing has a production facility.  Switch the "s" to ///Fear.Movies.Lion and you find yourself outside of Scunthorpe, England. Switch that "s" again to ///Fears.Movie.Lion and you get transported to the middle of the Detroit River in the downtown of Motor City.  

Back to the beer, ///Fear.Movie.Lions is Stone Brewing's version of a New England-style IPA.  It is an unfiltered IPA that, according to the brewers, packs "a massive tropical and citrus notes."  That's quite a claim for an New England-style IPA, because I have found (in my humble opinion) that many of the IPAs of this style are usually more subdued when it comes to the traditional citrus notes of an India Pale Ale.  So, I was gladly willing to to verify the brewers' claims.

Before I do, however, just a few notes about the NE IPA style.  Apparently, just a few months ago, it was the style.  Some even went so far as to call it the "hottest style" that "conquered America." Yeah, right.  For me, NE IPAs always seemed like "Adult Alternative" music, as opposed to "Alternative music."  It is as if you are looking on a jukebox for Soundgarden songs and all you can find is Crowded House songs.  It is just not the same.  That is how I view NE IPAs ... it is not just the same as an IPA.  I expect an IPA to have a hop-forward profile, with that resinous, piney, citrus fruit punch in each sip.  The NE IPAs that I have had prior to this beer have been a hazy, mellower experience that just ordinarily does not appeal to me when I am looking for a hoppy beer.  (And, don't get me started about "session" IPAs, that is like the jukebox is filled with Air Supply songs.)

According to the Beer Certification Judge Program, a NE IPA is supposed to be a smoother, hazier, juicier version of an American IPA. Straw or yellow in color, hazy or opaque, with an intense hop aroma and an intense hop flavor.  The good people at the BCJP also note that there may be a bready, grainy, lightly sweet flavor in the beer as well.  Except, as I noted above, none of the NE IPAs that I have tried in the past ever had the hop intensity that the BCJP would expect.  

As the photos show, the Fear.Movie.Lions is a hazy unfiltered beer, with the golden, yellowish color one would expect from an India Pale Ale.  When the hazy beer is poured into the glass, there is a thick foam that clings to the sides of the glass, and, floats around like thin cirrus clouds occasionally overtaken by a cumulus cloud.  

The aroma is very well defined.  There is a definite citrus fruit note in the aroma, perhaps mango or melon, or a mellow orange.  The orange carries through into the taste, which carries a more modest form of the bitterness for which Stone is known.  That bitterness is, unlike other Stone offerings, expertly balanced with a malty, almost sweet character that makes this beer very drinkable. The brewers note that "lingering lime peel and tropical fruit derived from the hops stand out on the finish, begging one to seek out more." I think that is an adequate description of the beer.

Although I am a skeptic of the New England-style IPA, I have to say that Stone's ///Fear.Movie.Lions is the best one of the style that I have had to date. It makes me want to buy more of that style, which will probably be another six pack of ///Fear.Movie.Lions. 

As for What3Words, if you want to find me, you could check out ///waveguides.unsteady.treehouse. (Actually, you won't find me there, but you will be standing on a beach on the Mauritian isle of Vingt Cinq with a lovely view of the Indian Ocean.)

ENJOY!