Stone 04.04.04 Vertical Epic Ale

Formerly brewed at Stone Brewing Co.
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Escondido, California USA

Not as good as the 3-3-03. Yellowish color with yeasty aroma. Spicy tripel taste with some sweetness. Gets malty towards the end. Finishes with a fruity feel in the mouth.

07.08.04 Bomber. First off, I’m not awfully impressed with the appearance of this beer, sort of syrupy looking, dull, and flat in my trappist glass. The second glass poured a more glowing golden orange, still rather thick, but with a vigorous stream of bubbles rising from the etching in my tulip glass. Slight wisps of foam marble the surface. Aromas are mostly banana, malty, yeasty, some spice is hinted, but not much. Flavor is sweet and full of more banana. Only vaguely Belgian, to me, as this beer seems to lack the spicey bite I’ve come to expect as well as the alcoholic punch that really tends to define a Belgian strong. Lime leaf is indeed present in the background. The body is thin but smooth, rather lacking in effervescence. I seem to note an oakey herbal note lingering on the finish. Maybe the beer needs more time to integrate its parts; meantime, it’s a tasty diversion.

belgian strong? looks like a tripel to me.. but whatever- pours out a yellow color with a thin white head. smell is of bananas, fruit, and some spices. smells similar to a wheat beer. taste is rich and oily feeling in the mouth with a sweet / sour kind of thing going on. i can pick up the hints of lime that are said to be about in this beer on the back of my mouth. reminds me a lot of allagash tripel, but better. a nice hoppy and malty backbone accompany this brew. what i kind of expect from stone. a nice nice beer. im glad i have another to age until what, 2012? we’ll see if it makes it that long.

Draft @ Blind Tiger. A light Belgiun style with a smallish head. Taste was quite refreshing and easy drinking. You’d never guess it is 8.5%. I think this one might last till 2112.

Spicy and yeasty all the way, light sweetness, fruity, grapefruit, banana, orange. Lightly hazy orange in color, big but quickly diminishing white head. Medium to full body, a little prickly carbo, some alcohol warming. Not exactly Saison-esque, more of a tripel IMO, but still quite good.

Looks like a fruity apricot beverage maybe - pale orange - actually very "pretty". Aroma is spicy and very typical of a BSA. Decent body - not too sweet and not too heavy. The alcohol burns a little bit, but its warming. Definetly bananas here, but the commercial description told you that. Stone’s concept is interesting, so you have to support them, but there are other BSA beers I’d rather have.

In a rare occurance, this beer is pretty much exactly what the commerical description says it’s like - practically glowing orange in color, with a large but quickly diminishing head - aroma of citrus, spice, and a belgian sugar thing going on - very spicy and peppery flavor - quite yeasty, grassy, grainy - quite saison/beire de garde like, as the description says - yup, the banana esters are there, too, along with a kick of lime in the finish - quite easy to drink, which, with the alcohol content, could get you into trouble - good, but I’m not sure its worthy of the epic series.

OK... I obviously wasn’t patient enough to wait till 2012 as the bottle recommends. I can definitely tell that it would improve with age. A little mellowing wouldn’t hurt it at all. Pour is deep golden. Well carbonated with a generous head. Aroma is of bitter fruit like grape fruit. Touches of yeast and hops in the aroma as well. flavor followed the grape fruit theme. Pretty good stuff. I will have to try it again in a few years.

Aged: 04 bottle tasted June 30 07, 3 years old. This beer has faded in vibrancy significantly. The fruitiness is still there, but it is now muted with more of the sweetness coming out. The flavor still has some of the sharp grapefruit, but it is still muted and some pepperi-ness from the Belgian yeast. I can’t imagine this will be an exciting drink in 2012. Right now I rate it: 5/3/6/3/12