ESCONDIDO, CA (July 6, 2015) – The 2015 vintage of the powerful yet sleek, potent yet nuanced, utterly delicious and highly coveted Drew Curtis/Wil Wheaton/Greg Koch Stone Farking Wheaton w00tstout is now arriving at select stores, bars and restaurants where Stone beers are sold. It’s the third annual release of this beer-geek fave from San Diego-based Stone Brewing Co., an imperial stout brewed with pecans, rye and malted wheat, then partially aged in bourbon barrels. For this year’s go-round, its intrepid collaborators have banded together to revive the original recipe…with a bit of a twist. Namely, a small addition of Stone w00tstout 2.0, originally brewed with stone-ground chocolate and later specially barrel-aged for a year. (Wow.)
The collaborative trio is composed of Stone CEO & Co-founder Greg Koch; craft beer lover and star of screens big and small (see Stand by Me, Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Big Bang Theory) Wil Wheaton; and craft beer-loving Fark.com creator Drew Curtis. Much like the original recipe from 2013, this year’s edition of Drew Curtis/Wil Wheaton/Greg Koch Stone Farking Wheaton w00tstout was inspired by their individual backgrounds and predilections.
For Koch, that equated to hops, not surprising considering that the brewing company’s reputation is based on those aromatic craft brewing staples. For Wheaton, that meant using wheat, and not just because it’s part of his surname. The actor and online mega-celeb regularly incorporates malted wheat into his homebrews for the silkiness it brings to the body of the beer. Curtis’ influence came courtesy of his home state of Kentucky, in the form of pecans, rye, and the bourbon barrels used to age a portion of the beer. The result is a massive imperial stout coming in at 13% alcohol by volume. Combining such an impressive array of flavorful ingredients made for a barrel-aged imperial stout that went on to win acclaim among enthusiasts for its rich, roasty character, and balanced flavors of chocolate and coffee accentuated by unmistakable caramel and vanilla undertones extracted from the aforementioned spirit barrels.
Each edition of the beer has been a little different, whether it’s adding an ingredient (stone-ground chocolate), featuring a new collaborator (Aisha Tyler) or bringing in a new famed comic book artist to design unique bottle art. This year’s commemorative artwork comes from comic-book cover artist Dave Johnson (see DC Comics and Vertigo series 100 Bullets) and features the beer’s collaborators standing triumphant in heroic, beer-making glory. As has been the case with previous collaborating artists, Johnson donated his talents in exchange for Stone Brewing’s contribution to The Hero Initiative, a charity fund set up to assist veteran, golden-age comic book artists.
A scrumptious beer that became the talk of the craft brewing glitterati, a noble charity organization given a much-needed boost, and myriad great memories made making and drinking beer with friends. There’s no doubt about it that Drew Curtis/Wil Wheaton/Greg Koch Stone Farking Wheaton w00tstout has a lot going for it, both in its flavor and its soulful conception. Enjoy it now or store it at proper cellaring temperatures for several months or years. Over time, it will develop deeper, rounder coffee, nut and bourbon flavors as the hop aroma and bitterness subside.
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