We Tried Stone Brewing's Enjoy By 10/31/22 Hazy IPA - Here's How It Went

You know that moving moment from the classic Charles Dickens story "A Christmas Carol" when, after the long, strange night Ebenezer Scrooge passes with the spirits, he throws open a window and spies a young man on the street (via Project Gutenberg)? Scrooge calls out, "What's to-day? What's to-day, my fine fellow?" The young man replies "To-day! Why, Christmas Day." Enraptured, Scrooge says, "It's Christmas Day! I haven't missed it." If you're reading this review in the month of October 2022, then like old Scrooge himself, you haven't missed it, either. Though in your case "it" is a chance to try a wild new beer from Stone Brewing, not the chance to reform your entire outlook on life and make amends for decades of being a miserly grinch. Truth be told, if you are living your life like a miserly grinch, you may want to consider changing anyway. But we digress.

If you're seeing this article later than 10/31/22, don't have a heavy heart about it. Sure, you may have missed your chance to try this hops-heavy beer at its peak freshness, but at least going forward you'll be clued in to the fact that Stone Brewing often releases these time-sensitive brews and you can keep your eyes peeled for their next drop. And not to spoil our full review of Stone's Enjoy By 10/31/22 Hazy IPA, but we'll say this: You really should keep those eyes peeled. These beers are worth waiting for and are not to be missed.

What's in this beer, you ask? Hops. And then more hops. And then, after that, even more hops. This beer has a huge hop presence thanks to being brewed with four different varieties of hops, namely Citra, Mosaic, Amarillo and Nelson Sauvin hops. That blend of hops and the copious amount of them used provide the bulk of the flavor here —  a subtle, malty backbone anchors the beer, but won't not say "balances" it, as you would get with, say, a classic German lager. There is no potent grain presence here from the barley used in the brewing in terms of taste, but you will get the benefit of some of the grain in the haze of this brew. As Stone explains, hazy beers aren't filtered, so they're filled with leftover particles from grain and hops.

But the biggest takeaway of all? It's that hops define this beer. The International Bitterness Unit (IBU) rating of this Frighteningly Fresh double IPA is 52, whereas for reference a standard Budweiser rates at 12 IBUs, while a Sam Adams Boston Lager clocks in at 30 IBUs. And the fact that this is a such a hoppy beer also explains why it has that huge best-by date stamped on the can, because hops break down over time and the beer loses its quality and taste — more on that soon.

As is quite often the case with foods and beverages and as is almost always the case with alcohol, prices for Stone Brewing's new (and ephemeral) Enjoy by 10/31/22 Hazy IPA vary widely. And that's true when you shop store by store in one area, even, not just when you look around at prices in various states. But we want you to at least have some reference points, so for starters, note that when you order a six-pack of this beer directly from Stone itself (and bear in mind that delivery is not available to all areas), it will cost you $20, plus more for shipping and tax and such, but that's a base price of $3.33 per can. We also found six-packs selling for $17.49 from Total Wine, so that would be $2.91 per can. Stone is selling the 22-ounce bottle for $10 (again, not available to ship to all places), and that price is close to what stores have sold other limited-edition 22-ounce Stone beers in the past.

And as for tap prices, those are all over the place, too, but on Tap Hunter we found Enjoy by 10/31/22 Hazy IPA selling for $4 for a smaller five-ounce pour and for $6.50 for a 10-ounce glass at several bars. Not a cheap beer, all told, but it's also the antithesis of cheap beer in taste and quality, so the prices come with the territory.

Stone states that to get maximum enjoyment out of hoppy beer, you should pay attention to the best-by date. Which in this case, is Halloween of 2022, of course. Stone is serious about ensuring that its customers drink beer when it's still fresh and at its best. That commitment helps explain why the brewery does not even want you to sip this beer after 10/31/22, a mere six weeks after it first went on sale on 9/20/22.

Currently for sale nationwide, in bottles, cans, and even on tap at some bars and restaurants, this beer will stop being stocked mid-month (meaning October 2022) so if you don't get a six-pack, 22-ounce bottle, or a draft serving in time, you will have missed your chance, and likely forever when it comes to this exact brew. And that's a scary thought when it comes to a taste of this Frighteningly Fresh double IPA (Also, note that if you spot this beer for sale after 10/31/22, Stone wants you to report it to the company — it even has a form you can fill out to do so).

Enjoy By 10/31/22 Hazy IPA is a delight of a beer and we'll tell you all about it in greater detail later — we compliment it here so as to be clear that it's not meant as any sort of denigration when we say it's not an entirely unique beer. Indeed, this Halloween-themed beer (or Halloween-adjacent, rather; this is pretty far from a pumpkin or spiced beer that you may associate with autumn and Halloween) is, rather than being starkly new, a great example of what can be done in the hazy IPA style. It's comparable to Stone Brewing's Hazy IPA, a beer that also has that naturally occurring cloudiness thanks to it being left unfiltered. Though the Hazy IPA is made with just three types of hops and has a lower ABV at 6.7% and a lower IBU rating at 35%, it's a similar brew, just not as punchy as the Enjoy By IPA.

If you have had your share of Stone beers in general, you have likely noticed that, with a few exceptions (looking at you, Dayfall Belgian White), this is a brewery that likes to jam its beers full of hops. Its flagship beers are arguably Stone IPA and Stone Ruination Double IPA, the former which has a hefty 71 IBUs, while the latter has a wild 100+ IBU rating. So let there be little surprise, then, that Enjoy By 10/31/22 is a very hoppy beer.

Alcoholic beverages are not required to have their nutrition information made readily available. Why? Because unlike foodstuffs and most nonalcoholic beverages, which are regulated by the FDA, booze is regulated by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (or TTB) per Vox. This is a remnant of arcane Prohibition and post-Prohibition laws. What we do know is that this beer clocks in at 9.4% ABV, and we can use that statistic to potentially run some numbers here. The good folks over at RateBeer have estimated that a previous Stone Enjoy By IPA that also had a 9.4% ABV had about 282 calories per bottle. That was for a 22-ounce bottle, so if we do a bit of math, we land on the number 153, thus we can assume a 12-ounce serving of Enjoy By 10/31/22 has about 153 calories.

Again, this is an informed assumption, but an assumption nonetheless. If you're super concerned about the calories and carbs and such in your beer, we recommend you try a Stone F+B (Features and Benefits) IPA instead — that beer rates at under 100 calories and just 2.9 grams of carbs per 12-ounce serving (On the other hand, it's OK to just enjoy this limited-edition beer without overthinking it).

With apologies to any who missed out on Stone Brewing's Enjoy By 10/31/22 Hazy IPA, well ... you missed out. This is a crazy good beer that will be remembered long after October 2022 has come and gone, and we'd argue that it sets the bar very high for future Enjoy By releases from the brewery. The beer is bursting with notes of citrus and other fruits thanks to the freshness of the hops, yet there is also a slightly resinous, piney flavor as well. Absent here (and we say that not in a pejorative sense) are the leathery or smokey notes you get in some other heavily-hopped beers that can afford to age a bit; the flavor profile here really is one of freshness.

To fully enjoy this beer, you simply have to sip it out of a glass (or cut the top off of your can with a wacky, purpose-built tool) to let its aroma greet you before each sip. It has a beautiful bouquet that will fill your nose and then wash over your palate, yet the finish is rather dry and quick. Unlike many highly hoppy beers, 10/31/22 Hazy IPA won't blow out your taste buds for the rest of the evening, which makes it a great beer to pair with foods that have plenty of flavor — Provided you get your hands on this beer while it's fresh, that is.