Stone 05.05.05 Vertical Epic Ale

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

Deep brown in color with a nice tan fluffy head. Sweet musty aroma. Very smooth and sweet flavor. Nicely balanced sweetness. Finish is spicey. Drinkable. Enjoyable. Nice beer.

Black with a mahogany sheen. Frothy vanilla head films the glass with sticky cream. Port, nougat, and fresh prunes makeup the aroma. Deeply buried rum, melon, and black licorice scents. Dense and soft, but with an edge of fuzz. Opens sharply sweet and medicinal, reminiscent of liquefied black licorice and meaty port, but chased by dazzlingly interlocked airy phenols and peppery tobacco. Chalky snap of deeply kilned malt offers a flash of dryness and negates the body’s softness. Bittersweet at the center, with fluffy nougat hints coupled with an elegant clove and bubblegum tingle. Sweetness comes and goes, due to the subdued bright fruitiness. Drastically improves as it goes from cellar to room temperature, though, as the malt takes on a thickset cakey richness, which blankets the alcohol and medicinal astringency. Finishes with an alcohol induced dryness over a feathery foundation of malt sweetness, as clove-infused baked pears, black licorice, bubblegum, and cocoa dusted malt hulls override the lingering medicinal viscosity. Overall, the alcohol is overbearingly hot at times. And more yeast-derived bright fruitiness would lessen the prominent sweetness. Otherwise, this is easily the best in the series, thus far, and a complete turnaround from years past.

Mahogany in colour, thin dissipating tan coloured head, little to no lacing. The aroma is a bit thin, for some reason I picked up on some vegetables, lightly sweet with some caramel, light citric hops, some minor alcohol. The flavour is of some noticable alcohol, gingerbread, quite sweet, caramel, yeast and some light spice. Very sweet mouthfeel, medium body, medium carbonation. Finishes long and sweet with caramel and spice. This is holding up better then the other Vertical Epic Ales that I have had but this is younger. Again I’m not sure if this can last until 2012.

650ml bottle obtained in a trade with <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/ViewUser.asp?U target=blank>DarkElf, thanks Stephen.
Opened on April 21, 2007.

Normally I wouldn’t rate something this far past its prime, but since this is supposedly okay to age to 12/12/12 I will. Pours quite dark burgundy with nice persistent tan head. The aroma has aged malt, some oxidation signs (heavy cardboard), anise, malted milk balls and Belgian yeast. Medium smooth body with a papery feel and moderate carbonation. The flavor starts with f***-all oxidized dark malt, paper and dry spice. The finish is dry, papery and anise. This would be painful to drink on 12/12/12.

bottle - Pours dark brown with a finger’s width head of moderate endurance. The very substantial aroma is of roast malt, a bit of yeast, and very apparent fruit notes. The flavor is of strong dark fruit and is very sweet. The sweetness is almost cloying. It’s a little overdone. I assume they used some candi sugar and in my opinion could have done with a little less. Perhaps age will change that. Still, it tastes good with a mildly warming finish. It’s apparent that this is a quality beer. I just think maybe it needs to mellow a bit more.

Starts out looking proper for a Strong Belgian Ale. Deep, clear, ruby color with a small, somewhat fleeting Mocha colored head. Dates, raisins and brown sugar int he aroma. Dark fruit and caramel follow int he flavor. Full and satisfying palate make this an enjoyable Belgian style brew.

smells like a cheap & generic american strain of belgian yeast, if that makes any sense..a lot of banana, chocolate, and clove with strong sweetness and styrofoam characteristics...quite evident to me, the same yeast used in the vertical epic 03..though I could be wrong..either way, i don’t really care.. Pours a clear dark amber/mohagany with a solid sheet of tan froth. THick and sweet with a lot of chewing tobacco characteristics. This yeast is just a muddled strain of crap, yet they keep using it. Jesus christ, find a new yeast for your belgian ales, or just give up already! Hot alcohol and plasticy yeast laid over too sweet malt and tobacco flavors. Seriously, Stone might make a hella-good IPA but I’ve brewed better belgians with extract than these fools. This is a cumbersome mess of sweet, hot, and crappy yeast. The majority of all the flavors in this beer come from the crappy yeast strain..i like how Stone claims that it’s the artistic brewer’s talent that is to thank. Ha. Talent. The vertical epic series has done nothing but show that STONE CANNOT BREW BELGIAN STYLED ALES TO SAVE THEIR SOCAL HIDE!

Pours a medium-dark brown with a light brown head. Nose of malts, yeast, and a bit of fruit. Mostly Raisin’s and plums.