Stone Brewing: Ripper

Stone Brewing brings its latest hoppy creation, Ripper, to Ohio beer shelves just in time to warm our taste buds for the bitter cold months ahead.

Founded over 20 years ago in San Diego by two beer aficionados, Stone Brewing has become a thing of legends thanks to brewery president, Steve Wagner, and Executive Chairman, Greg Koch.

Wagner and Koch first met in 1989 when both were working in the music business and shared a mutual love of great beer. Not the yellow fizzy stuff that the mega-breweries were making, but the liquid with a true love of the craft behind it. The friends would go on to tap their first beer as Stone Brewing in the Summer of 1996.

Now considered the tenth-largest craft brewer in the United States, Stone Brewing is also the first American craft brewer to independently build, own and operate a brewery in Europe, located in Berlin.

The ground-breaking brewery has also just opened its first east coast production facility in Richmond, Va., making it easier for craft beer lovers in Ohio to get the freshest brew possible.

This month brings their latest year-round release, a pale ale known simply as Ripper, which joins the likes of other hophead delights: Stone IPA, Delicious, Go To IPA, and Ruination 2.0. Coming in as an easy drinker at 5.7 percent alcohol by volume, yet with an impactful hop presence at 40 IBU, Ripper walks the balancing act between a pale ale and the more hop-forward IPA.

With the addition of Cascade and Galaxy hops, Ripper contributes effective floral notes on both the aroma and the taste with a delicate mix of citrus, grapefruit and passionfruit throughout. The result is an exceptional addition to an already impressive portfolio of beers from these craft beer icons.

Ripper Pale Ale is available in six-pack cans for $10.99 at select Acme, Fishers Foods and Giant Eagle locations, as well as your finer craft beer stops, such as Mustard Seed, West Point Market, Lizardville and 101 Bottles of Beer on the Wall. This latest Stone Brewing release can also be found on draft at your favorite neighborhood craft-friendly bars.