I’m in downtown St Louis, just beside the arch and I thought I’d give a few of the American IPAs a try. Had my first Bell’s Two Hearted Ale which was good but they also had Ruination on tap so I had a couple.
7.7 ABV, 100 IBU, slight copper colour and a touch cloudy but very attractive appearance. Incredible head retention and nice lacing. Strong presence of US hops with a tonne of hop flavour and aroma. This isn’t my preferred style of beer but it was pretty good and I will order it again. If you are a fan of the Two Hearted Ale I mentioned, you’ll probably really enjoy this too.
It’s been a while since I’ve had this beer but from my recollection, I thought the beer fit the mold for a DIPA. Lots of intense hop aroma and flavor, and very bitter. I also thought there was a fairly supportive malt presence. Overall a very good DIPA but not what I was expecting. I will be trying this beer again next week when I go to NHC in San Diego. Maybe my opinion will change when I taste a fresh one.
When fresh, it’s one of my all time favorite commercial beers. Enough malt presence to compliment the a$$ton of hops. I like 'em bitter and hoppy. Gonna give a clone recipe a run very soon. If and when I get it down, it will go into regular rotation.
+1 - I had recently given up on Ruination after a few lackluster bottles over the past 2 years, but a month back on friday happy hour, my favorite fish joint had it on tap and on special, so I gave it a whirl for old time’s sake - incredible - Pliny still holds the top slot for me, but this moved back up the rankings!
maxie - ryan6458 has a pretty good clone of ruination over on NB if you need it.
Cool! I’ll look it up. Thanks for the lookout.
As long as you are in St Louis, try Schlafley’s American IPA, recently came out, very good this year.
I will try to find it. Had a bunch of the pale ale last night and a “Big Bison Ale” but can’t recall the maker. It was good but had an interesting caramel or molasses flavor that I can’t quite place. They’ve got Schafly’s Hefeweizen and Summer Lager. May have to go out on the town to find the IPA.
Couldn’t find it. Had a Cathedral Square “Belgian Style” IPA. Pretty good. Bitter but less hop aroma.
Ruination fresh from the source (Stone Brewing in Diego) is hard to beat. Its a big one but oh sooooo good when you get it fresh from the brewery. Love me some Bells 2 Hearted as well. You got two awesome American treats on that visit, my friend.
That’s what I’m putting my money on next week. 
From the brewer at Stone:
Stone Ruination IPA
2-row pale malt
C-15 crystal malt
Magnum and Centennial hops
Finishing ABV=7.7%; IBU’s=105
He also suggests using WLP002…