840 Imperial IPA, Stone Coast Brewing, Portland, ME

This one is a bit of a mystery. At my local beer retailer, I noticed the Stone Coast Brewing Co. 840 Imperial IPA. I'd never heard of the brewery, even though they are relatively nearby in Portland, ME.

The beer is decent. Nice color, sort of brown-ish copper. There is a bit of sediment in the bottle, due to the secondary bottle conditioning that Stone Coast uses to raise the beer from an IPA to an IIPA. Tastes good too, with a heavy hop presence initially, followed by a slightly sour malt aftertaste.

Here's the strange part: Stone Coast apparently went out of business in 2008. Happens all the time, right? So why the heck did I find this beer in 2010? I guess that it is possible that another brewery bought the Stone Coast brand and recipes, but I can't find anything about it. I like to think that there is a beer distributor truck with Back to the Future capabilities, or something...

For a 2 year old beer, it was not bad. I have no idea if the apparent aging improved the beer or not, but at least it is a good story.

Rating = 3.0