Stone 05.05.05 Vertical Epic Ale

A sort of brown ale combined with a belgian strong ale, innovative and tasty. Dark, sweet fruity aromas combine with chocolate, caramel and hops. Flavors of ripe dark fruit, plum, red grapes, raisin, a touch of lighter fruit, coriander, banana. Dark caramel notes creep in towards the finish, light chocolate notes are present as well. Hoppy, peppery finish. Easily beats the 4/04 and gives the 3/03 a run for its money.

Another good offereing from Stone. I’m not a big fan of the Belgian Strong Ale style so I’m not a big fan of this one. But it is full bodied, smells of cloves and its really dark for this style.

Deep reddish brown appearance, thick creamy head formation. Caramel aroma, mildly chocolaty and fruity. Smooth and chocolaty on the plalate, rich creamy fruitiness, warming alcohol finish and elevated hoppiness for the style. Nice flavor, good little complexities, but just lacks a little in the usual Stone boldness.

Armoa, fruity but imature, apperance good dark, flavor good yeasty, imature, palate crisp and tight, overall very good should wait to open until 2012

(on bottle) Had this baby a bit too warm, so...Dark, clear redish-brown, with a small beige head. Sent of fried bananas and a light molasses. Has more burn, mocca, notes in flavour, big sweetness and got cloying in the end. A bit of a alcoholic finish.

Poured a brownish-amber with a dark off-white fizzy head. Sweet aroma of grapes, figs, brown sugar, and chocolate. Taste is dark fruits, molasses, spices with a dry finish. Seems to be dwelling someplace between a belgian strong and a doppelbock. A bit of overwhelming metallic bitterness in the aftertaste which I don’t especially care for. Other than that, a very decent beer.

This is a really nicve belgian ale brewed by stone. Althogh I prefer hopped beasts, belgians offer a nice rotten fruit taste that tastes good.

Quite a sursprise as the dark brown colored liquid gurgled from the bottle into my Chimay chalice. Dark mahogeny color with a well retained dark tan colored head. The aroma is very Abbey Dubblish, rich chocolate malt, lots of spices, a really nice yeast strain, a bit of earth, bubblegum and a whiff of alcohol. Also, some dark, dried fruit, i.e. raisin/prunes. The flavor compares quite favorably with good Abbey Dubbles, sweet malt with chocolate, mutiple spices, orange, and a slightly sharp metallic off flavor. I predict a long life for this bad boy, as well as some nice smoothing out of its few sharp edges. Very enjoyable and drinkable now. Will be much better in a year or two, I predict. Who says Stone can’t make good Belgian styles?