Stone 05.05.05 Vertical Epic Ale

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

Bottle bought at the spirit haus a couple years back. Shared with some beer dork last sunday. Pour was a dark, hazy brown with a healthy white head. Nose is strong with brown sugar, a little alcohol, some clove and spices. Has a very sweet, yet refined, flavor--similar to a a nice, aged barleywine. Raisins, other dark fruits, belgian yeast was evident. This has held up well.

(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.

Beautiful dark clear mahogany with a thick beige head. Aroma of clove, banana, roastiness and plenty of hops. Flavor has notes of plums, raisins, cherries, yeast, clove, banana, spiciness, floral hops, caramel, roasted/toasted malt and a little chocolate in the background. Pleasantly sweet, some hop bitterness at the end as it warms. A little alcohol detected in the finish. Medium-full body with a smooth texture and lively carbonation. Great head retention. I really enjoyed this one.

I had a beautiful rating all written but I lost it when my browser crashed. Now I just don’t care.

22 oz. Pour is black with a ring of mocha cream. Aroma is spicy and roasty with a bunch of chocolate. Flavor is a pleasant mix of spices, yeast, alcohol, and chocolate. The body is right on. Smooth and clean. Very nice and still fresh tasting after over 2 years.

Ruby brown, clear, nice tan fluffy head. A mildly musty sweet aroma, with a trappist like note to it. It does remind me of Rochefort a bit, or even more recently, Chouffe Nice or Fantome Christmas, but much less assertive. Very smooth sweet flavor, with rich Belgian malty fruitiness. Spicy finish. This is a decent Belgian that will age, but may oxidize with time too much to enjoy by 2012.

Pours a light brown but parks in the glass a dark cherrywood tar with a low watt lamp glow. Firm, yellow-tanned creamy froth sits about a half inch tall, folds down to a light skim and skinny collar. Microcosmicly thin sheeting is placed ever so lightly around the edge with some normal looking ink blobs sticking in a few areas. Aroma is airy and pleasantly rounded in a soft display of tootsie roll chocolate, tender black licorice spice, plum, pale raisin, and the lightest of light hint of raspberry. Taste plays a little bit different then what the aroma leads to with more of a pale nut and light enduced roasty realm mixing with a milder tone of dark fruity malts. Banana, dull plum, even more so dulled raisin, slender nut bread and doughy hints of sweetness with puffs of dark cherry, licorice, and anise on the back end trailing into very deep and dark tanged molasses hangs on to a dry airy roast of an empty coffee can. Very subtle flavors continue to emerge and layer into some fairly complex characteristics as slick dark chocolate mingles into some of the flavors once it warms, as does alcoholic esters and dry yeast effects. Beautifully subtle and soft. Feel is about medium with just the right amount of give and take on the carbonation as its mildly effervescent and malty rich with smooth, soft, and slippery tones. Ghostly dark in character without giving away the farm with over abundant flavors. It subtlety is amazingly complex and rich with style. Damn good stuff! Appreciation is in full mode for this finely crafted brew.

Bottle from eyedrinkale. Pours a dark amber/ruby with a off white head. Very smooth with a slight tingle. Some cocoa and cinnamon and a small alcohol hint

22 oz bottle. Dark brown with a pocked tan head. Nose is brown sugar, raisin, banana and clove. Medium body with a sharp tang. Taste doesn’t quite deliver on the nose. Cane sugar, hints of molasses, with emerging sour dark fruits. Chalky, bitter finish.